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Mike Pence’s Black History Month Tweet Celebrating Abe Lincoln Has Public Schooling Him

Posted byBy Kiersten Willis | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

Mike Pence (Gage Skidmore)

Twitter lashed out at Mike Pence when he recognized Black History Month by acknowledging Lincoln’s submission of the 13th amendment, rather than commending Black activists who rallied for slavery’s end.

The vice president made the post about the legal document that ended enslavement on Feb. 1, which was the first day of the annual celebration of Black contributions to American history. The tweet did not mention Lincoln’s declaration he simply freed enslaved Blacks to help save the union.

The post garnered more than 10,000 likes, a couple thousand retweets and more than five thousand replies, many of which called out the Christian conservative’s failure to celebrate the many Black people who deserve recognition during the yearly observance.

Some pointed out the 13th amendment did not actually free enslaved Blacks but resulted in other rules and institutions designed to oppress Black people instead.

Several users shared their reaction to Pence placing a white man at the center of Black History Month.

https://twitter.com/crumpernickel/status/827012764552007684

https://twitter.com/JoelJGibbs/status/827134630050529281

https://twitter.com/SymoneDSanders/status/826985849405501440

https://twitter.com/CarmenCruz303/status/827213212886114304

One offered a suggestion for other Black leaders Pence could have tweeted about.

Others were unsurprised by the tweet.

https://twitter.com/mlangfordx/status/827005695065260033

https://twitter.com/xoamelia/status/826989714121035783

Celebrities also chimed in, including Ava DuVernay, who directed the Oscar-nominated documentary “13th,” about the amendment at the center of the discussion.

https://twitter.com/ava/status/827028989067747329

https://twitter.com/noredavis/status/827203374038843394

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