by Charlotte Mitchell at The Daily Mail
NPR has sparked outrage on social media by calling the Declaration of Independence ‘a document with flaws and deeply ingrained hypocrisies’ on July 4.
The broadcaster publishes and reads on air the Declaration every year to mark Independence Day but this year included a warning that also pointed to ‘a racial slur’ within the document.
In an online article, NPR stated: ‘Over the past 32 years, Morning Edition has broadcast a reading of the Declaration of Independence by NPR staff as a way of marking Independence Day.
‘But after last summer’s protests and our national reckoning on race, the words in the document land differently.’
In reference to the ‘flaws and hypocrisies’ within the historic document, NPR wrote: ‘It famously declares “that all men are created equal” even though women, enslaved people and Indigenous Americans were not held as equal at the time.’
The article went on to discuss the treatment of Native Americans within the document – in which they are described as ‘merciless Indian savages’ – and share the views of an Ojibwe author on feelings among the U.S. Indigenous community towards the Declaration.
NPR concludes: ‘The declaration is a document with flaws and deeply ingrained hypocrisies. It also laid the foundation for our collective aspirations, our hopes for what America could be.’…
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