“1619 and the Fight for Democracy.”

Josh Christenson:

The Arlington Public Library paid Nikole Hannah-Jones the princely sum to deliver a speech titled “1619 and the Fight for Democracy.” The talk focused almost entirely on backlash to her project, which claims that the American Revolution was fought to preserve slavery. Historians have criticized Hannah-Jones and the Times for the 1619 Project’s inaccuracies, although the project has not actually been banned.

Hannah-Jones is one of several American writers who rake in money from lucrative speaking engagements while accusing America of systemic racism. Universities and public school districts have paid Robin DiAngelo and Ibram X. Kendi tens of thousands of dollars to give talks on concepts like “white fragility” and “antiracism.”

The library’s contract with Hannah-Jones prevented recording of the event and pledged to pay her $100,000 if the contract were breached. The talk was live-streamed on YouTube but has since gone private. It is still available on an internet archive.

The Daily Wire obtained internal correspondence from library officials that shows Hannah-Jones’s visit pushed the library “$7,500 over and above the ‘approved’ budget.” One official noted in the lead-up to the event that it was “getting a lot of very ignorant and negative comments” from community members.