Jan. 6, 2021 was the worst day in American history since America was founded in 1619 as a nation dedicated to slavery and systemic racism. To commemorate the occasion, a day of infamy worse than Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, Pearl Harbor, 9/11, and Donald Trump’s election in 2016 combined, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi invited Lin-Manuel Miranda, famous for his portrayal of founding father/racist Alexander Hamilton, to address the nation.
Rather than going for a live performance as he would have for Broadway, Miranda opted to send Pelosi a video in a gesture dedicated to all the non-essential but truly more important workers out there conducting business via Zoom. In the video, he said, “We’re all stewards of the American experiment, working to pass down to our children and our grandchildren a more perfect union that treats all its citizens with fairness and equity. We should never take our rights and liberties for granted.”
Which, whoa, settle down, buddy. Have you not seen “1619: The Musical?” References to the American experiment are highly problematic, but so is Lin-Manuel Miranda.
First, as mentioned, he’s famous for his portrayal of Alexander Hamilton, who probably didn’t personally own slaves, but was related to and hung out with people who did. Hamilton also tacitly supported the three-fifths compromise, as well as America’s founding. And that’s not all.
“Hamilton: An American Musical,” while having a diverse cast, cancels black people who participated in the American Revolution, prioritizes the white-male perspective, and fails to call for a revolution to counter the American Revolution.
There’s also the fact that Miranda is a big fan of selfies and is just generally kind of cringe, although those things are only three-fifths as bad as Hamilton and the slavery stuff.
But given that Pelosi is a Democrat, it’s only fitting for her to promote such extremely problematic people as Miranda. May she learn her lesson before next year’s commemoration of January 6, 2022, yet another day that will live in infamy thanks to her callous insensitivity.
