Written with contribution from Sheriff David Clarke
Helen Keller has long been a historical figure emblematic of perseverance, determination, and the will to overcome severe limitations.
As a baby, Keller came down with an undiagnosed illness that left her fully blind and deaf at just 19 months of age.
As a child, she heroically overcame these crippling disabilities at a time when resources for such endeavors were limited, as The Blaze points out.
She was able to read, write, speak, and communicate and went on to pursue an impressive academic career followed by several successful published books and an active and prominent political life.
Keller, a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, was also a socialist, and co-founded the American Civil Liberties Union.
But she was white, and so it has now apparently gone out of vogue for the woke set to pay any kind of tribute to Keller who, whatever one thinks about her politics, was clearly a vastly impressive woman and truly great American.
The Blaze notes that a time magazine article blasts Keller, who also graduated from Radcliffe College, which is not part of Harvard University, as “just another privileged white person,” because of course.
In the piece, “Co-Founding the ACLU, Fighting for Labor Rights and Other Helen Keller Accomplishments Students Don’t Learn in School,” does give credit to Keller’s many achievements, but also gives an enthusiastic nod to critical race theory.
It notes:
However, to 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.
Cameron’s Twitter bio, The Blaze notes, describes her as a “fierce Black autistic lesbian” and member of the organization American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today organization and sports a Black Disabled Lives Matter” banner.
OK.
So Keller can’t be admired because she’s white and privileged? Is being white and economically affluent now a superpower, canceling out Keller’s disability?
No.
If polled I bet most blacks would rather be born black than going through life blind and deaf.
The critical race theorists would have you believe that Keller’s achievements are canceled out by her ethnicity and socioeconomic status morally and that she is less deserving of any accolades because other people throughout the entire span of human history have lacked certain advantages that she herself had.
In those days, I imagine it was quite common for “privileged white” families to send a blind and deaf child off to an institution to live their lives out entirely for the sake of being kept alive and tucked away.
There are more disadvantages in this world than simply being impoverished, and more blessings than simply enjoying comfortable wealth.
Not to the materialistic, progressive left who thinly veil their full-on Marxism with evocative phrases like “privilege” and “systemic racism” as they stoke up the same flames of resentment that have led to the death of millions living under communism and tens of thousands being killed in violent street confrontations by black assailants.
Tearing down the icons of a free nation that has brought millions out of poverty and into immense privilege and prosperity is the first step in such a cultural transformation.
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