The Exists We Show to Secure Power
“I can not tell a lie.” For generations, that cherry‑tree myth was among the first points American kids found out about George Washington. It was a myth developed to display his honesty and ethical virtue– and it seemed much better than the reality. The genuine Washington spent years non-stop seeking Ona Judge, an enslaved woman that left his family. His dentures? Partly made from teeth drew from living enslaved people.
If historian Edwin Betts had his means, we would certainly still remain in the dark regarding Thomas Jefferson’s nailery at Monticello, where adolescent kids were defeated and whipped to “improve performance.” Betts purposely hid a letter defining the misuse to protect Jefferson’s image. Jefferson’s descendants rejected for over a century that he fathered children with the enslaved Sally Hemings– till DNA proof forced them to admit it. Even now, Monticello’s main narrative hedges, suggesting the partnership “might have been consensual.” It was not. Jefferson raped Sally Hemings. Her mom, Betty, was raped by Jefferson’s father‑in‑law. A white male raped her grandmother. This sort of generational physical violence is seldom recorded in history books.