Tom Cotton calls slavery 'necessary evil' in attack on New York Times' 1619 Project

[Celerity]

a week old, but I could not find this on DU

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/26/tom-cotton-slavery-necessary-evil-1619-project-new-york-times

The Arkansas Republican senator Tom Cotton has called the enslavement of millions of African people “the necessary evil upon which the union was built”.

Cotton, widely seen as a possible presidential candidate in 2024, made the comment in an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette published on Sunday.

He was speaking in support of legislation he introduced on Thursday that aims to prohibit use of federal funds to teach the 1619 Project, an initiative from the New York Times that reframes US history around August 1619 and the arrival of slave ships on American shores for the first time.

Cotton’s Saving American History Act of 2020 and “would prohibit the use of federal funds to teach the 1619 Project by K-12 schools or school districts”, according to a statement from the senator’s office.


snip

[TexasTowelie]

1. The senator from Arkansas should be sent home to pick some cotton.

Josh Mahony was the only candidate to file for the Democratic primary, however he dropped out on November 12, 2019.[5] Because he dropped out after the filing deadline, the Democratic Party of Arkansas can only nominate a replacement if the candidate dies, becomes seriously ill, leaves the state, or files for another office. Alex Gray, an Arkansas attorney who works on state election issues, believes this means the Democratic Party of Arkansas will not be able to fill the vacancy.[6] The Arkansas Democratic Party announced on November 25, 2019, that they would not be able to field a new candidate to replace Mahony. A memo from the Cotton campaign to supporters details a strategy of sitting on opposition research regarding Mahony's employment history until after the filing deadline had passed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_Senate_election_in_Arkansas

Unfortunately the voters have to choose between Cotton and a Libertarian.