Leftists fervently complain about how the American History taught in schools is always insufficiently progressive. This week, Time writer Olivia Waxman expressed disgust that students taught about Helen Keller learn about her childhood, and not her activities as a leftist adult activist, co-founding the American Civil Liberties Union, as well as being an early supporter of the NAACP and birth control. She was a member of the Socialist Party and read her Karl Marx.
Sascha Cohen, who teaches American Studies at Brandeis University, and wrote the 2015 TIME article “Helen Keller’s Forgotten Radicalism”, argues that Keller’s involvement in workers’ rights can help students understand the roots of the workers’ rights and inequality issues that persist today.
But Amanda Prestigiacomo at the Daily Wire expressed amazement at Keller being dismissed as “just another privileged white person”:
“[T]o some Black disability rights activists, like Anita Cameron, Helen Keller is not radical at all, ‘just another, despite disabilities, privileged white person,’ and yet another example of history telling the story of privileged white Americans,” TIME reported Tuesday.
“Critics of Helen Keller cite her writings that reflected the popularity of now-dated eugenics theories and her friendship with one of the movement’s supporters Alexander Graham Bell,” TIME added. “The American Foundation for the Blind archivist Helen Selsdon says Keller ‘moved away from that position.'”
Conservatives fired back. Mary Vought tweeted: “You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Mary Vought. “The woke mob is now going after Helen Keller for being white. Never mind the advancements she worked to achieve for those with disabilities.” Donald Trump Jr. replied to Vought: “[T]hey’re now canceling Helen Keller for being white. You can’t make this crap up anymore. You can never be woke enough.” Ted Cruz said “INSANE.”
