The Cartoon Columbus Who Shrugs at Slavery
History class, rewritten by talk show hosts
“Being taken as a slave is better than being killed,” the animated Christopher Columbus says. “I don’t see the problem.” The two modern day children Columbus is speaking to seem aghast, and they try to explain that slavery is abhorrent. Columbus shrugs his shoulders and replies, “How can you come here to the 15th century and judge me by your standards?... You must ask yourself, ‘What did the culture and society at the time treat as no big deal?’”
Columbus seemingly glosses over the brutality of enslavement with a wink and a shrug, repackaging the evil as simply a matter of missing context or a cultural misunderstanding.
This is not a fringe video. There’s a chance your children will soon be watching one of the PragerU-produced cartoons in their American classroom.
Political commentator Glenn Beck recently said on his podcast PragerU isn’t whitewashing history, as they’ve been accused of doing, but that they’re simply “reigniting patriotism” for America’s 250th anniversary. Meanwhile, Beck himself has recently finished recording videos that he says will be used in Advanced Placement US history classes — courses meant to mimic what is taught in a college course, complete with a high-stakes test at the end that can give the student college credit if they score highly enough.
Beck and PragerU are key players in the new “anti-woke” education movement. It’s a movement filled with irony, as it claims it’s meant to save children from indoctrination. But in doing so, it’s become something far more frightening than anything it sought to destroy.
PragerU, which is not actually a university despite its name, is a nonprofit media company founded in 2009 by conservative radio host Dennis Prager and screenwriter Allen Estrin. In 2022, PragerU announced its goal of going “toe-to-toe” with PBS Kids and Disney — framing itself not just as commentary, but as a direct competitor in children’s educational media.
And Dennis Prager has never hidden the organization’s intent.