Sen. Tim Kaine’s Comments on the Origins of Slavery Epitomize the Historical Ignorance of the Left

Jennifer Van Laar reporting for RedState

Over the last few weeks, the historical ignorance of people on the progressive left has become impossible to ignore. People who took to the streets (allegedly) to protest against racism, to promote the idea that black lives matter, and against fascists toppled statues of famous abolitionists, of the president who signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and of the legendary British Prime Minister who literally defeated fascists.

When people in their 20’s display such a cringeworthy lack of education, we can blame it on the miserable state of education in America today – in both public and private schools. But when a long-serving legislator (as Lt. Governor, Governor, and then a United States Senator) either totally lies about or is ignorant of the origin of slavery in a speech on the Senate floor, well, it’s easier to see why the younger generation feels so comfortable in their ignorance.

While discussing law enforcement reforms Tuesday, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) said that we need to “dismantle the structures of racism that our federal, state, and local governments carefully erected and maintained over centuries.”

Sen. Tim Kaine: "The United States didn't inherit slavery from anybody. We created it." pic.twitter.com/VM86sRrtn1

— The Hill (@thehill) June 16, 2020

Then he went a bit further, entertaining the country with his historical “knowledge”:

We know a little bit about this in Virginia. The first African-Americans entering the English colonies came to Point Comfort, Virginia, in 1619. They were slaves. They’d been captured against their will. But they landed in colonies that didn’t have slavery. There were no laws about slavery in the colonies at that time.

The United States didn’t inherit slavery from anybody; we created it. It got created by the Virginia General Assembly and the legislatures of other states. It got created by the court systems in colonial America and they enforced fugitive slave laws.

We created it. And we created it and maintained it over centuries.

If he’d listened in history class, he’d know that’s not what happened.

Sen. Kaine, slavery was “literally” part of the first civilizations; the first “identifiable evidence of slavery comes from the Code of Hammurabi out of Mesopotamia.”

Kaine also must not have paid attention in church, since anyone who’s read the Old Testament knows that the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. Chattel slavery existed in Great Britain from before the Roman occupation until the Norman Conquest. And, contrary to what Kaine might think, slave traders in West Africa didn’t only send slaves to the United States.

Numerous other examples of slavery existing in areas outside the Colonies before 1619 could be listed, but it really isn’t necessary. Slavery was an abominable, inhumane practice, and it should have been abolished in this country long before it was. For Sen. Kaine to change that history for his America-hating political purposes – and to perpetuate historical illiteracy – is a violation of his oath as a United States Senator.