Kendall Qualls and social scientist Wilfred Reilly discussed the 1619 Project and racism in America on the Fully Charged podcast this week.
Reilly is an associate professor of political science at Kentucky State University. He also holds a law degree and is the author of “Hate Crime Hoax: How the Left is Selling a Fake Race War” and “Taboo: 10 Facts You Can’t Talk About.”
Reilly and Qualls discussed the flaws in Nikole Hannah-Jones’ 1619 Project, which argues the American Revolution was fought mainly to preserve slavery in North America. Critics of the project have disputed the claim. Jones purports racism is in America’s DNA and is unchangeable.
“The 1619 Project appeals to a certain kind of guilty white liberals,” Reilly said. “The 1619 Project argues that a number of things about American life — the unhealthy nature of our diet, the congestion of traffic in the North — come out of our history of racial conflict.”
One of the main points of his writing, Reilly said, is to debunk myths that “claim there are complex theories about what we need to do to help minorities become successful.”
Instead, Reilly said if people are taught the basics — graduate high school, get a job, don’t commit a felony, get married before having children — almost everyone can have a productive life.
“If you you just teach people how to read and write and do math and keep them in school, most kids will do fine,” he said.
Reilly said as a social scientist he focuses on “non-flashy, non-romantic ideas” that will help black and Appalachian kids.
“We have truth on our side,” he said. “I don’t think truth-based victory is possible for the other side.” For example, the problem with claiming racism is to blame for racial disparities is that “it is not,” he said.
“If they [the left] continue focusing on racial tension between the average black guy and the average white guy, you’re not going to accomplish much except worsening racial tensions,” Reilly said.
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