Liberal Reviews of Rush Limbaugh Books the First Patriots
It's disappointing that just 1% of the five,000 children's books published annually feature an American Indian character. But information technology's alarming how some of those Native characters are portrayed. In the by two years, bourgeois pundit Rush Limbaugh published three books as installments in his #1 New York Times–bestselling series, Time-Travel Adventures with Exceptional Americans. With a barcode labeling the books equally "history," the novels describe Rush Revere, a substitute instructor who enables his middle-school students to witness historical events immediate via his witty, talking, time-traveling equus caballus named Liberty. Limbaugh stated that he wrote the books because he wants his readers "to know the real story" of events such as the establishment of the Plymouth colony, the Boston Tea Party, and the Boxing of Bunker Hill.
The author's mixture of humor and thinly veiled political commentary has proven to be a hit amid his faithful. While it may be expected that Limbaugh manipulates historical events and people to suit the reading tastes of his fan base, it'due south inexcusable that the serial both minimalizes the complication of America'southward history of racial prejudices and perpetuates stereotypes of Native people. Tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) play an invaluable role by recommending sound literature to our communities, and Rush Limbaugh'due south Time-Travel Adventures with Infrequent Americans series is further proof of why we demand to be diligent about vetting the texts that the publishing industry is producing.
Limbaugh claims that he does "not have an agenda," but neither America's original inhabitants, the Pilgrims, nor the founding fathers would recognize the events as he portrays them. A case in point is that Revere's students cheerfully witness and pontificate about the fact that the Pilgrims were motivated by a desire to "be complimentary." This contradicts National Volume Award-winning historian Nathaniel Philbrick's merits that they were driven by a sense of correct and incorrect, rather than by "liberty and freedom," which were concepts "completely alien to their worldview." Limbaugh uses Governor William Bradford to make another political assertion when he claims that the formerly struggling Plymouth colony instantly turned the corner towards success "when every family was assigned its ain plot of land to work" and thereby stopped sharing the compensation of their harvest. Limbaugh has the famed Wampanoag, Squanto, affirming this version of history in succinct English, stating the change "made people costless. No more than slaves to the common house." Moreover, in later books the monetary motivations for the Boston Tea Party are alluded to but abased in favor of the noble version that inspired the Tea Political party faction of the Republican Party.
In an fault transcending politics, each of the books erroneously presents America's history of racism. In the opening author'south note in Blitz Revere and the Dauntless Pilgrims, Limbaugh writes that the founders of our country "believed all people were born to be free equally individuals." Of course this statement ignores America'due south history of both African American and American Indian slavery. In the novel, Squanto does discuss Natives existence forced into servitude, but he puts the blame solely on the Castilian and not on the Pilgrims. Similarly, ane of Revere'due south students is a non-tribally specific Ethnic girl named Liberty who is readily accepted during her brief visit to 1620s Plymouth because she adopts colonist clothing and tin can speak English.
In the second volume, Rush Revere and the First Patriots, an African American student, Cam, corrects the infamous firebrand Patrick Henry'southward assertion that he's Revere'southward slave by stating, "I understand that this is 1775 and you aren't enlightened to the reality of freedom for all men yet, but I am free and will always be gratuitous, just like this state." If this obfuscation of America's circuitous, deep-seeded racist by wasn't frustrating enough, in the third book, Rush Revere and the American Revolution, both Cam's and Freedom'southward races aren't even best-selling as they meet and strategize with eighteenth century Americans. Based upon these interactions, Limbaugh seems to imply that racism, and even slavery itself, could have been quickly overcome if its victims either assimilated or asserted themselves.
The series value is further stymied past Limbaugh's endowing Freedom with decades-sometime American Indian stereotypes. For example, when not time-traveling, Freedom wears feathers in her hair. She was named in accolade of existence born on the Fourth of July, and throughout the series her name and generous disposition win the angel of numerous contemporary and historical figures. Freedom is peculiarly close to Revere's equus caballus, Freedom. Yet while the horse's incredible abilities are attributed to a fateful lightning strike, it was Freedom'due south grandfather who somehow taught her to both read and link minds with animals. Besides perpetuating the myth that America's Indigenous people can readily district with nature, Liberty'due south "souvenir" is unnecessary considering she only reads the mind of the talking equus caballus.
Although it may announced that Limbaugh had pure intentions when he donated over 15,000 copies of Blitz Revere and the Brave Pilgrims to schools, the fact that he stated, "liberal heads have been exploding left and right as a result" calls his motives into question. Moreover, Limbaugh's donation helped to qualify him for the Children's Book Council (CBC) Author of the Year Award considering "finalists are determined solely based on titles' performances on the bestseller lists." The outcry over Limbaugh's personal purchases that qualified him for the award resulted in the CBC stating that they may accept into consideration "potentially-manipulable indications of the success of a championship" going forward. Limbaugh won the award this by May.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Nada in the earth is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and careful stupidity," and this may be most applicable when it pertains to education falsehoods to our children. The young minds nurtured by TCU campus and community libraries rely on accurate texts to inspire them, and and so we must resolve to ensure our shelves are filled with exciting, historically authentic, and culturally sensitive books. With some diligence on our part, nosotros can assist build a generation of readers who separate sound stories from the stacks of flawed publications.
REFERENCES
Bird, Due east. (2014, March 20). Press Release Fun: The CBC and the 2014 Children's Selection Book Awards. Retrieved November 2014 from http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2014/03/20/press-release-fun-the-cbc-and-the-2014-childrens-choice-book-awards/#_
Children'southward Book Council. (2014, May 14). Seventh Annual Children's Selection Book Awards Winners Announced During the 95th Annual Children'south Book Week. Retrieved November 2014 from http://www.cbcbooks.org/seventh-annual-childrens-selection-volume-awards-winners-announced-during-the-95th-annual-childrens-volume-calendar week/#.VHJjX8m9ZmO
King Jr., M.L. (n.d.). Quotes. Retrieved November 2014 from http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/23924.Martin_Luther_King_Jr_
Limbaugh, R. (2013a, September 5). It's My New Book! Retrieved November 2014 from http://world wide web.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2013/09/05/it_s_my_new_book_rush_revere_and_the_brave_pilgrims_time_travel_adventures_with_exceptional_americans
Limbaugh, R. (2013b). Blitz Revere and the Dauntless Pilgrims. New York: Threshold Editions/Simon & Schuster.
Limbaugh, R. (2014a, March iii). ten-Year-One-time Thanks Host for Rush Revere Books Donated to Her Schoolhouse. Retrieved November 2014 from http://world wide web.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2014/03/03/10_year_old_thanks_host_for_rush_revere_books_donated_to_her_school
Limbaugh, R. (2014b). Rush Revere and the Offset Patriots. New York: Threshold Editions/Simon & Schuster.
Limbaugh, R. (2014c). Blitz Revere and the American Revolution. New York: Threshold Editions/Simon & Schuster.
Philbrick, N. (2006). Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War. New York: Viking.
Philbrick, N. (2013). Bunker Hill: A Metropolis, a Siege, a Revolution. New York: Viking.
Reese, D. (2014, March 23). Rush Limbaugh's Blitz Revere and the Brave Pilgrims. American Indians in Children's Literature. Retrieved November 2014 from http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2014/03/blitz-limbaughs-rush-revere-and-brave.html?one thousand=1
Terrero, Northward. (2014, April 11). Kid Lit'south Primary Color: White. Amusement Weekly.
Ryan Winn teaches English, theater, and communication at Higher of Menominee Nation, where he also serves as the Humanities Department chair.
Source: https://tribalcollegejournal.org/native-characters-childrens-books-part-one-rush-revere/
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