NPR slammed for issuing warning about ‘flawed’ and deeply ‘hypocritical’ Declaration of Independence

National Public Radio (NPR) has a 32-year tradition of reading the Declaration of Independence on-air on Independence Day, but this year, it issued a controversial warning beforehand that quickly sparked backlash.

In the on-air warning, online article, and Twitter thread, NPR prefaced its July 4th reading of the document by calling it “a document with flaws and deeply ingrained hypocrisies,” noting: “It famously declares ‘that all men are created equal’ even though women, enslaved people and Indigenous Americans were not held as equal at the time.”

NPR also noted that the document included “a racist slur about Native Americans.”

“After last summer’s protests and our national reckoning on race, the words in the document land differently,” NPR noted.

“The declaration is a document with flaws and deeply ingrained hypocrisies. It also laid the foundation for our collective aspirations, our hopes for what America could be,” the outlet concluded before the annual reading.

“On one hand we are keenly aware of the ways in which this country has attempted to both take our homelands and to eradicate us. And yet a huge number of Native people are deeply patriotic. Native American people have fought in every war America has fought up until today. We remain committed to forcing this country to live up to its own stated ideals.” Author David Treuer, who is also Ojibwe from the Leech Lake Reservation, told NPR.

The Declaration of Independence represents America’s founding principles and many Americans hold the document in high esteem despite the fact that some of its original language may not reflect the evolution of our country.

NPR was met with a scourge of critics on Twitter, some even calling to #DefundNPR.

While many Americans criticized NPR’s choice, a few noted that one of the greatest parts about America is the freedom to exist, for example, as a longstanding, national broadcast program and accept federal funding whilst still being able to criticize the government and the nation’s past.

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