The Historic Latta Plantation in Huntersville, N.C., recently advertised a Juneteenth event that aimed to tell the stories of βwhite refugees,β Confederate soldiers who were sad about losing the Civil War and freed slaves living βhigh on the hogββall from the perspective of an unemployed slave master.
Then, after people swiftly informed the history museum that this was both brazenly racist and a very stupid idea, the event description was deleted Friday.
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But the internet doesnβt forget, and neither does the Raleigh News & Observer.
The Observer reports:
βOn its website and on social media, the living history museum promoted the $25 ticketed event, called βKingdom Coming,β which was set to take place starting at 7 p.m. next Saturday, on Juneteenth, a holiday that commemorates the emancipation of slaves in the United States. The event has since been cancelled.β
β... The eventβs description, which didnβt acknowledge the significance of June 19, started with lines from a mournful slave spiritual some scholars say is aligned with the Underground Railroad: βSwing low, sweet chariot, coming for to carry me home.ββ
βThe event billing is sympathetic to those who owned slaves in the aftermath of emancipation, and inaccurately minimizes an unnamed slaveowner to an βoverseer,β referring to him as βmassa.β The post on Latta Plantationβs site also refers to βfreedmenβ but inexplicably omits that Black people were enslaved in the United States for nearly 250 years. Instead, the museumβs site refers to slaves as βformer bondsmen.β
What kind of Django Unchained, Rachael Kirkconnell, alternative facts white nonsense is this? I feel like we really shouldnβt be surprised that an actual plantation that has been transformed into a βliving history museumβ is out here intending to commit racist actsβon Juneteenth of all daysβbut yet, here we are.
Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles commented about the situation on Twitter.
βWe should not support any business or organization that does not respect equality, history, and the truth of the African-American peopleβs journey to freedom,β she said. βDespite intent, words matter. And the Historic Latta Plantation should know better.β
WCNC Charlotte reports that Mecklenburg County also denounced the ill-conceived event, saying that county parks and recreation officials didnβt know about the event until it appeared on social media. The county said it is now looking at its contract with the plantation regarding future programming.
The town of Huntersville co-signed Mecklenburg Countyβs zero-tolerance stance on programs that donβt βembrace equity and diversity.β The town announced Friday that it will hold its annual financial contributions to the plantation until investigations βinto the facts surrounding this eventβ are done.
Neither the Latta Plantation nor the event organizer have issued statements about the debacle as of Saturday morning.
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