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You're right. If you want to read a really sad story, it's the history of how Reconstruction, which originally resulted in voting rights, property rights and even black office holders, was abandoned and the South was allowed to essentially re-establish slavery under the guise of Jim Crow laws.
That is true as as well. Whenever I hear about people saying "the South seceded for states rights not slavery", it's a load of bull feces to me. Slavery was at the core of it. Yes, states rights was a big part of it. And those states' rights centered around the right to keep slavery.
I say this for this reason. When the southern states were left to their own devices, they enacted the Jim Crow laws. They enacted ways to make sure it was nearly impossible for Blacks to vote. Schools were segregated by force, lynchings took place. The South went into a quasi-dictatorship aimed at keeping Black people in positions of subservience. This was also the time Confederate monuments started going up more and more.
Back in 1980, the late President Reagan made a speech at a fair in Neshoba County, Mississippi. He said to those attending his speech, that he was in favor of states' rights. Now, consider this. Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney, 3 civil rights activists, were murdered in Neshoba County, by police officers who happen to be in the KKK. Mississippi wasn't that far removed from the civil rights movement years. Imagine how "states' rights" sounds like music to the ears of those who weren't particularly thrilled about integration.
I hope all of the Confederate monuments come down. I won't miss them. Anyone who disagrees with me, I'm not changing my mind.
They come down I won't miss them at all either. I just think what a waste of time and energy worrying about them in the first place.
Most of those statues honor men who were Military heroes before the civil war and were highly respected by their counter parts even during and after the civil war. We can judge them 155 years after the fact, but who knew them better?
Banning books, or changing the plot of books to make them more PC. Destroying statues and re-writing history based upon PC virtues is a disservice to say the least.
I think those who favor such actions never took the time to actually read the true history of the civil war. The sacrifices made by both sides. The bravery under fire. The pure courage to even stand upon the field of battle.
Just my opinion but failing to recognize and respect such courage is not flattering of our society.
I hear people compare the confederate Generals to Nazis. Obviously those who do, know not a thing about the topic.
Were they traitors? By todays standards yes. Back then loyalty to state was right there with God and family. A different mentality than today.
The civil war didn't happen or start over night. It was the result of accumulative actions by both sides. Slavery was a major issue but not the root cause. Your average souther soldier didn't own slaves and likely never would. Your average Northern soldier had no respect for black people aka slaves and honestly didn't care a whole lot about slavery. For them it was about preserving the Union.
To say the civil war was about slavery is like saying that the covid 19 pandemic was from people not washing their hands enough. Yes some did get it that way, but not all and likely not most.
Being reported today, the Charlottesville Lee statue was melted down in to molten metal.. this is following a decade of guarantees that the statues would simply be removed from public squares and respectfully relocated to "museums" etc.
These were bad faith promises to pacify resistance.
And each media report is stating that the statue destruction was performed in secret, for the safety of the people melting it down. Implying that opposition to its destruction is the violent, lawless party. But over and over again, it were the statue haters who were violent. Knocking over historic statues and graves, dragging them in to rivers (Richmond).. pulling them down in near lethal chunks (Portsmouth), etc.
I understand why some people don't like the statues, my main criticism is that they never operated in good faith. They lied to suppress resistance, committed repeated acts of vandalism & destruction, and cannot demonstrate their alleged objective: how this is moving American race relations in a positive direction?
Not surprising to see leftist destroying any link to history, heritage and facts. They refuse to learn from them anyway. Their destruction gives the left a chance to cloak their hate, intolerance and bigotry in a twisted form of virtue signaling.
I suppose all Native American imagery should be eliminated as well. After all, they waged war against American citizens and slaughtered settlers for centuries before being defeated. Let alone anything commemorating Mexico, an entire nation that waged war against the US and killed American citizens. We should denounce the display of Mexican flags with far more outrage than the Confederate flag-yet choose to ignore that.
It's time, Robert E Lee actually is an inspirational person but the fact that he represents slavery and the Confederacy means he shouldn't be honored in public.
Robert E Lee, and the Confederates, were Democrat.
Progressives really think they can white wash, censor, and destroy their own history. It's clearly too embarrassing for them to confront and learn from.
Quote:
After the election of Abraham Lincoln, Southern Democrats led the charge to secede from the Union and establish the Confederate States
It's time, Robert E Lee actually is an inspirational person but the fact that he represents slavery and the Confederacy means he shouldn't be honored in public.
George Washington was a slave owner.
When do you plan to remove his statues?
America was not founded by angels, you would have erase all of U.S. history to find one.
Quote:
Many of the major Founding Fathers owned numerous slaves, such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. Others owned only a few slaves, such as Benjamin Franklin. And still others married into large slave-owning families, such as Alexander Hamilton
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