Last July, Anthony Hervey, an outspoken black advocate for the Confederate flag, was killed in a car crash. Arlene Barnum, a surviving passenger in the vehicle, told authorities and the media that they had been forced off the road by a carload of “angry young black men” after Hervey, while wearing his Confederate kepi, stopped at a convenience store en route to his home in Oxford, Mississippi. His death was in no small part caused by the gross level of ignorance, organized deceit and anger about the War of 1861. Much of the ignorance stems from the fact that most Americans believe the war was initiated to free slaves, when in truth, freeing slaves was little more than an afterthought. I want to lay out a few quotations and ask what you make of them.
During the “Civil War,” ex-slave Frederick Douglass observed, “There are at the present moment many colored men in the Confederate army doing duty not only as cooks, servants and laborers, but as real soldiers, having muskets on their shoulders, and bullets in their pockets, ready to shoot down loyal troops, and do all that soldiers may to destroy the Federal Government and build up that of the traitors and rebels” (Douglass' Monthly, September 1861).
“For more than two years, negroes had been extensively employed in belligerent operations by the Confederacy. They had been embodied and drilled as Rebel soldiers, and had paraded with White troops at a time when this would not have been tolerated in the armies of the Union.” (Horace Greeley, in his book, “The American Conflict”).
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I think it's important NOT to assume the mass majority of people still believe the civil war was strictly over the moral tragedy of slavery. It's also important to note...the confederate flag was use post civil war as means of intimidation and assumed by many southern state flags. So a small portion of good moral gester doesn't amount to the historical implications and references of hatred and killings (to include castration) that blacks assume when they see this flag. You've said you are open to see a difference of opinion. I hope you can at least respect this one .
ReplyDeleteRight on.
ReplyDeleteState pride took precedence over national pride. The southern soldiers fought for their states and the state's rights. Slavery was one aspect, and far from the most important of the reasons for the cause of the Civil War. Taxation, free trade and economics were the major reasons the war occurred. Just as any other topic, facts are cherry picked, to serve the side they benefit.
ReplyDeleteMost democrats would have us stop teaching history, or tell a story that is not factual, to further their cause. What most blacks fail to realize is that republicans are responsible for most of the advances in civil rights that have occurred and that democrats have held back their advancement, and now control them through the federal programs and ideologies that they require to support much of their population.
Let's be clear about who was responsible for the civil rights advancements... That would be the men and women who were involved in the social movement ... Which cause political pressure.. Which produces change...political leaders were very vocal about their racist views during the Jim crow era.. Why ? Because it was accepted..Grouping "most blacks" in a stereotypical way such as "most of them depend on govt assistance" is a complete antithesis of how social progress is made..civil rights movement made progress because those involved chose to view each other as equals.. Without grouping into stereotypes that society teaches us..and as far as republicans if your referring to old Abe .. The political landscape was completely different back then.. Regardless niether party can accept full credit for civil rights movement .
DeleteThe country was much better off when individual STATES had authority over their territories.
ReplyDeleteThat situation however had to be ended. It interfered with the international bankers ability to exert control over the lives and economy of this nation.
We Americans now live under the yoke of the power extended over us by the grandchildren of those evil bankers back in those days. The grandchildren are even more wretched and vile in their treatment of us serfs.