US Senator Tom Cotton has faced backlash after describing slavery as a 'necessary evil upon which the union was built' in comments to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The Republican from Arkansas defended his remarks, stating they reflect the views of the Founding Fathers and that the union was designed to put slavery on a path to extinction, as Abraham Lincoln noted.
Cotton is introducing the Saving American History Act, which would ban federal funding for the New York Times' 1619 Project. The project, which reframes US history around the arrival of enslaved Africans in 1619, has been criticised by conservatives as left-wing propaganda. Cotton argued that America is not systemically racist, but a great nation founded on equality.
The 1619 Project's founder, Nikole Hannah-Jones, responded on Twitter, suggesting that if slavery is justified as a means to an end, anything could be. Cotton denied justifying slavery, calling her comments 'lies'. The controversy comes amid Black Lives Matter protests following George Floyd's death, highlighting ongoing racial tensions in the US.
