I often hear conservative talk show hosts talk about the current ‘culture war’ in the U.S.  They want the U.S. to go back to ‘the good old days’ when America was dominated by males who celebrated one Protestant religion, one language (English), and one Anglo-Saxon origin.  They say that that’s the way it should be, and that’s the way it always used to be, all the way back to 1607 when the first permanent British settlement in what became the U.S. was established at Jamestown. 

Well, real history can be inconvenient.  Every once in a while, it requires actual facts.

You see, by 1620, it was well-known back in England that many languages were being spoken at Jamestown.  So far, I’ve found Irish and Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, French, Dutch, German, Polish, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, and English.  It was known that the place had become a refuge for Catholics, Jews, and Dissenters.  Would you be shocked if I told you that one of the colony’s stockholders was, apparently, a Muslim with an Arab name?

So rather than a ‘culture war,’ I call this a ‘truth war.’  The side that can actually tell the truth about American history will win.