PragerURenowned political science professor Carol Swain started out life with every possible disadvantage. She ended up teaching at two of the most prestigious universities in the country. How did she do it? She shares her story and her wisdom in this inspiring video.
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Script:
Let me tell you how my story ends:
I become a tenured, award-winning professor of political science at an Ivy League university and then at one of the leading universities in the South.
Now let me tell you how my story begins:
I grow up in rural Virginia literally dirt poor. I drop out of school in the eighth grade and have three children by the time I'm 20.
I consider myself to be a reasonably modest person, but even I have to admit that's quite a journey.
How did I do it?
I worked hard. Not crazy, 24/7 hard. Just hard.
I made good decisions. Not brilliant, three-dimensional chess decisions. Just good ones.
I met people along the way who helped me and sincerely wanted to see me succeed, not because they had something to gain, but because they were decent people. Almost all of these individuals, by the way, were white.
But mostly, I think I was blessed in one crucial way.
I was born in America, a true land of opportunity for anyone of any color or background. In this country, where you start your life does not determine where you end up.
That works in both directions, by the way. You can start out with every advantage and waste them all. Or start out with nothing and become a success.
It all depends on you. Your attitude is far more important than your race, gender, or social class in determining what you will accomplish in life.
When I hear young blacks, or anyone for that matter, talk about systemic racism, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I want to laugh because it's such nonsense. I want to cry because I know it's pushing untold numbers of young blacks into a dead end of self-pity and despair. Instead of seizing the amazing opportunities America offers them, they seize an excuse to explain why they're not succeeding.
I was born into a world where systemic racism was real â no fooling, outright bigotry, back-of-the-bus real. But here's what you need to know: yes, that racism shaped the black experience, but even then it did not define it.
Change was in the air.
Call it systemic reform.
The modern civil rights movement was in its infancy, and the leaders who fought for equal rights for blacks were men and women of all races.
They believed in America and were determined to see it live up to its highest ideals â ideals manifest in the Declaration of Independence, and the US Constitution.
Did I know growing up that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned slaves? I don't think I ever thought about it. If I did, I'd like to think that I would have had enough common sense to know that we can't judge men who lived 250 years ago by the moral standards of our own day.
But I know that Jefferson wrote the words in the Declaration of Independence that made slavery ultimately impossible; that all men are created equal. And, I know that Washington, Hamilton, Franklin, Adams, and the rest of the Founders risked everything to make my world, my America, possible.
How could I not be grateful for that and for the sacrifices so many others have made to preserve it?
The truth is, I cannot remember a time when I did not love America and feel pride in the belief that I live in the greatest country in the world.
I knew if I diligently pursued my ambitions, I could leave the poverty of my early years, with all its abuse and depression, behind me.
I was fortunate in another way. I was spared the life-sapping, negative messages about America that are crippling a generation of young people.
These ideas are poison:
White privilege.
Whiteness as a form of property.
Unconscious racism.
Reparations.
Microaggressions.Â
Police have it out for blacks.Â
That the United States was created to protect and promote slavery.Â
These are the ideas young people are told they must accept.Â
What I Can Teach You About Racism | 5 Minute VideoPragerU2021-01-11 | Renowned political science professor Carol Swain started out life with every possible disadvantage. She ended up teaching at two of the most prestigious universities in the country. How did she do it? She shares her story and her wisdom in this inspiring video.
Join PragerU's text list to have these videos, free merchandise giveaways, and breaking announcements sent directly to your phone! optin.mobiniti.com/prageru
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Script:
Let me tell you how my story ends:
I become a tenured, award-winning professor of political science at an Ivy League university and then at one of the leading universities in the South.
Now let me tell you how my story begins:
I grow up in rural Virginia literally dirt poor. I drop out of school in the eighth grade and have three children by the time I'm 20.
I consider myself to be a reasonably modest person, but even I have to admit that's quite a journey.
How did I do it?
I worked hard. Not crazy, 24/7 hard. Just hard.
I made good decisions. Not brilliant, three-dimensional chess decisions. Just good ones.
I met people along the way who helped me and sincerely wanted to see me succeed, not because they had something to gain, but because they were decent people. Almost all of these individuals, by the way, were white.
But mostly, I think I was blessed in one crucial way.
I was born in America, a true land of opportunity for anyone of any color or background. In this country, where you start your life does not determine where you end up.
That works in both directions, by the way. You can start out with every advantage and waste them all. Or start out with nothing and become a success.
It all depends on you. Your attitude is far more important than your race, gender, or social class in determining what you will accomplish in life.
When I hear young blacks, or anyone for that matter, talk about systemic racism, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I want to laugh because it's such nonsense. I want to cry because I know it's pushing untold numbers of young blacks into a dead end of self-pity and despair. Instead of seizing the amazing opportunities America offers them, they seize an excuse to explain why they're not succeeding.
I was born into a world where systemic racism was real â no fooling, outright bigotry, back-of-the-bus real. But here's what you need to know: yes, that racism shaped the black experience, but even then it did not define it.
Change was in the air.
Call it systemic reform.
The modern civil rights movement was in its infancy, and the leaders who fought for equal rights for blacks were men and women of all races.
They believed in America and were determined to see it live up to its highest ideals â ideals manifest in the Declaration of Independence, and the US Constitution.
Did I know growing up that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned slaves? I don't think I ever thought about it. If I did, I'd like to think that I would have had enough common sense to know that we can't judge men who lived 250 years ago by the moral standards of our own day.
But I know that Jefferson wrote the words in the Declaration of Independence that made slavery ultimately impossible; that all men are created equal. And, I know that Washington, Hamilton, Franklin, Adams, and the rest of the Founders risked everything to make my world, my America, possible.
How could I not be grateful for that and for the sacrifices so many others have made to preserve it?
The truth is, I cannot remember a time when I did not love America and feel pride in the belief that I live in the greatest country in the world.
I knew if I diligently pursued my ambitions, I could leave the poverty of my early years, with all its abuse and depression, behind me.
I was fortunate in another way. I was spared the life-sapping, negative messages about America that are crippling a generation of young people.
These ideas are poison:
White privilege.
Whiteness as a form of property.
Unconscious racism.
Reparations.
Microaggressions.Â
Police have it out for blacks.Â
That the United States was created to protect and promote slavery.Â
These are the ideas young people are told they must accept.Â
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Script:
As Columbus Day dies a slow, woke death, it might be a good idea to consider how this national holiday came about in the first place.
The answer might surprise you.
Ready for it?
The purpose of Columbus Day was to encourage Americans to be more accepting of immigrantsâspecifically Italian immigrants.
The Italian explorer, once universally regarded as a great hero, was the symbol of the holiday, not the focus of it.
Hereâs the historical context.
Following a mass migration from southern Italy beginning in the 1880s, the status of Italian Americans was at an all-time low. How low was clearly illustrated by one of the single worst episodes of racial violence in American history: the mass murder and lynching of 11 Italian Americans in New Orleans in 1891.
Hatred against the Italian newcomers had been brewing for years and was openly encouraged by the leading newspapers of the day. For example, in 1882 the New York Times ran an editorial under the headline âOur Future Citizensâ in which the Timesâ stated, âThere has never been since New York was founded so low and ignorant a class among the immigrantsâŚas the Southern Italians...â
In 1887, the same New York Times wrote approvingly about the lynching in Mississippi of a man they referred to as âDago Joe,â âdagoâ being an ethnic slur for Italians.
Anti-immigrant sentiment was especially intense in New Orleans where Italians were settling in large numbers. Local papers accused them of working for below-market wages, engaging in all manner of crimes, and being more loyal to the Pope than the President.
These seething resentments broke to the surface when the cityâs police chief, David Hennessey, was assassinated in the fall of 1890.
As the chief lay dying in the street, a witness claimed to have heard him say that âdagoesâ had shot him. In response, authorities rounded up hundreds of Italians, eventually charging nine of them with complicity in Hennessyâs murder.
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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. joins Dennis for a special discussion about the medical establishment, the CIA, climate change, and more. From hot-button topics and âcrazy conspiracy theoriesâ to issues on war, government, and culture, Dennis seeks clarity over agreement as he asks RFK, Jr. thoughtful questions to find out where he stands.
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@PragerUKids
SUBSCRIBE đ https://www.PragerUkids.com
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Weâre excited to announce that Alexisâwith all her passion, patriotism, and talentâis joining the PragerU team.
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#ubi #money #socialismAndrew Johnson: The President Who Wasnât LincolnPragerU2023-09-25 | Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated. To take the reins of power at this tumultuous moment required a man of compassion, discernment, and discipline. Was Lincolnâs vice president, Andrew Johnson, that man? Allen Guelzo of Princeton University has the answer.
It was April 1865. The Civil War was finally over. An exhausted, bloodied nation breathed a deep sigh of reliefâŚ
Then, suddenly, shockingly, President Abraham Lincoln was dead, felled by an assassinâs bullet while watching a play.
To take the reins of power at this tumultuous moment required a great man, a man of compassion, discernment, and discipline. Andrew Johnson, Lincolnâs vice president, was not that man.
This is not to say he didnât have virtues. He did. He just didnât have the stuff it took to meet the moment.
Born into abject poverty on December 29, 1808, Johnson was apprenticed â âsoldâ would be more accurate â to a tailor at the age of 10. Legally bound to serve until he was 21, he ran away after five years. He eventually settled in Greeneville, Tennessee, where he set up his own tailorâs shop and prospered.
In 1834, he was elected mayor of Greeneville. From there, he climbed steadily up the political ladder; the state legislature in 1835, the US Congress in 1843, Governor in 1853, and the Senate in 1857. He was still serving as U.S. Senator for Tennessee in 1861 when the Civil War broke out.
Although Johnson was a Democrat and a slaveowner himself, when Tennessee left the Union to join the break-away Confederacy and defend legalized slavery, Johnson denounced his stateâs secession on the floor of the Senate.
âI will not give up this Government,â he thundered in December 1860. âNo; I intend to stand by it, and I entreat every man throughout the nation who is a patriotâŚto come forward, that the Constitution shall be saved, and the Union preserved.â
After Union military forces occupied large parts of Tennessee in 1862, Lincoln tagged Johnson as the stateâs provisional military governor. It was a shrewd move on the presidentâs part: it demonstrated to Southerners and Democrats that they were welcomed as full partners with Lincolnâs Republican party in restoring the Union.
Johnson himself joined hands with Lincolnâs policies by freeing his own slaves in 1863.
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#gender #shorts #biologySex Is BinaryPragerU2023-09-18 | Are sex categoriesâmale and femaleâreal, immutable, and binary? Or are they âsocial constructsâ? Colin Wright, Ph.D. in evolutionary biology and fellow at the Manhattan Institute, has the answer.
Do you know the truth about transgender ideology and "gender-affirming care"? Take the quiz and sign the petition to protect kids from harmful ideology. đ https://l.prageru.com/3s9t12U
This video was made possible by a generous donation from Joseph U. Oswald.
Script:
Asked to define the word âwomanâ during her Supreme Court confirmation hearings in 2022, Judge Ketanji Jackson famously demurred, saying âIâm not a biologist.â
Well, I am a biologist, and Iâm here to help.
To that end, let me rephrase the question to Judge Jackson: are sex categories in humansâmale and femaleâreal, immutable, and binary, or are they merely âsocial constructsâ?
Answer: real (thatâs just the way it is and we all know it), immutable (it canât be changed), and binary (there are only two sexes, not three or four or fifty-seven).
This is true throughout the plant and animal kingdoms. An organismâs sex is defined by the type of gamete (sperm or ova) it can or would produce. Males have the function of producing sperm, or small gametes; and females, ova, or large ones. There is no third gamete type. There are only two.
Therefore, sex is binary. This shouldnât be controversial. Itâs just basic biology.
Every one of us is the result of a male and female (our biological mom and dad) successfully reproducing. Sorry to make you think about that. Without the existence of males and females, I wouldnât be here right now, and neither would you. Our species would have gone extinct long ago.
Many âgenderâ activists, however, falsely assert that sex cannot be binary and must be viewed as a âspectrumâ because a very small number of people have genitalia that appear ambiguous or mixed, phenomena known as intersex conditions. These idealogues claim the existence of such conditions renders the categories âmaleâ and âfemaleâ meaningless.
But intersex conditions donât undermine the sex binary at all because sex ambiguity is not a third sex. The existence of very rare borderline cases no more raises questions about everyone elseâs sex than the existence of dawn and dusk casts doubt on the existence of day and night.
Our society isnât experiencing a sudden dramatic surge in people born with ambiguous genitalia. We are experiencing a dramatic surge in people who are unambiguously one sex claiming to âidentifyâ as the opposite sex or as something other than male or female altogether.
Gender ideology seeks to portray sex as so incomprehensibly complex and multivariable that our traditional practice of classifying people as either male or female is grossly outdated and should be abandoned for a revolutionary concept of âgender identity.â
#education #gender #biologyCash Course: What Is an Economy?PragerU2023-09-18 | From eating at your favorite restaurant to starting your own business, weâre all entangled in the complex web of an economy. This episode of Cash Course teaches young people about different types of economies, how consumers and producers depend on one another for goods and services, and what they can do to participate in the economy to help our communities and country thrive.