In this Religion Media Centre Big Interview, Rosie Dawson speaks to Robert Jones about his latest book – “The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future”.
Origin stories are really important – they determine how America sees itself, and they are one of the reasons why we’re fighting so much over our history, right now,” says Robert P Jones, founder and president of Public Policy Research Institute in Washington DC.
In his latest book – “The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future” – Robert Jones argues that the stories America tells itself about its beginnings need to reach back beyond the Declaration of Independence in 1776 to the year 1493 when a Papal bull enshrining the “doctrine of discovery” gave European settlers divine justification for the enslavement and genocide of Native American peoples. Jones believes that it is only by coming to terms with this history that America can build a shared future.
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