"I am sorry three people had to die yesterday. I am sorry this 1920 historical statue has be destroyed for PC reasons. I am sorry our President, who had NOTHING to do with what happened yesterday, and is getting all the blame."
Did you know that Donald Trump was responsible for three deaths in Virginia yesterday? That is what the MSM is reporting. Well, maybe not directly, but indirectly. Why? All those racists in the Republican Party. And they have been racists in the south for decades. Maybe not all of them, but the Alt Right, for sure.
Whereas the Democrats are and always have been the party of caring, all the Republicans have wanted to do is "keep those colored folks down on the farm." Really? I think it might be time to look at some cold hard facts.
First off, the statue. The Robert E. Lee statue at Charlottesville in particular. The one which was the epicenter of this weekend's protest. This statue has been situated where it is for a number of years now. How many? Since the 1920's. And since then, Republican Governors, for 50 years (1920 to 1970), let this symbol or racism stand.
Who were these racist Republicans? Let me list them from 1920 to 1970 - and it is a long list:
Elbert Trinkle, Harry F. Bird, John Pollard, George Peery, James Price, Colgate Darden, William Tuck, John Battle, Thomas Stanley, James Almond, Jr., Albertis Harrison, and Mills Godwin.
Whew! That was quite a list to recite! And not one error! Well - except one. They were not all Republicans. In fact, not one even one of them. They were all Democrats.
In fact, one of those Governors, Harry F. Bird, also went on to become a United States Senator. Oh - not to be confused with Senator Robert C. Byrd from West Virginia. There was no relation between the two Senators, except they were both Democrats.
Speaking of another Senator Byrd from another southern state, can we look at Robert Byrd's record for just a minute? This fine Senator, who served in the Senate until he was minutes from death, had an interesting history. Not only was he a leader in the KKK (yes, a Democrat of good standing), he had this interesting quote from a letter written by him to Senator Theodore Bilbo in December of 1944:
"I will never fight in the armed forces with a negro by my side. Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongols, a throwback to the blackest specimen of the wilds."
That ladies and gentlemen, is racism in its purest form. From a man who became almost worshiped in the Senate. In all my years as a conservative, I have NEVER heard anything CLOSE to that type of speech. If anything, I have heard just the opposite.
What happened yesterday in Virginia was not about Republicans, Democrats or Donald Trump. It was about some very misguided and sick young people trying to make a point. On both sides. People who harbor hate. On both sides.
The reason I had to bring up this painful history is only for one reason. Our past sins were not one sided. Many hands went into the injustices back then. But that was then, and this is now. We will never move forward so long as we insist of revision history. The sins were numerous and the forgiveness for those, sparse.
Do I care about Robert E. Lee? Only as a person of history. Do I want to see him liquidated as the Soviets would do to people out of favor? No. If we do not learn from history, we will be forced to repeat it.
I am sorry three people had to die yesterday. I am sorry this 1920 historical statue has be destroyed for PC reasons. I am sorry our President, who had NOTHING to do with what happened yesterday, and is getting all the blame. Mostly I am sorry we are focused on this when right now we have much bigger things facing us. Like what? Like we might have to finish a war which has been festering since 1953.
This trend of removing flags and statues got legs with the Charleston church massacre by Dylann Roof, a white supremacist shown on social media sites with the Confederate flag draped around his shoulders.
ReplyDeleteThe artifacts have a long and storied history.
The overwhelming majority were installed following the collapse of Reconstruction and during the rise of the Jim Crow era.
But not all fall into these categories.
Arizona wasn’t even a state, let alone part of the Confederacy, during the Civil War. Yet, it boasts three Confederate statues, the last of which was erected in 2010. Getting rid of them is more than a notion.
The latest episode highlights the ongoing conflict over Confederate symbols, and has been the source of significant debate as to what motivates some people, especially whites of both parties, to support the continued presence of those symbols in public life.
Opponents of these symbols argue that the Confederacy stood for the subjugation of a race of people, and that their display is a constant reminder that many people continue to endorse, or at least tolerate, the racial oppression for which the Confederacy fought.
I doubt if the President cares at all, anymore than he tolerates the Rainbow flag of the LGBT community or the state flag of California. He is a biased and intolerant NY businessman.
I doubt if he will ever visit anyplace in this country west of Des Moines during his first term.
And I hope he does focus on bigger things, while he still has the opportunity, and a Republican majority.
David Gjerdingen
Outstanding, Mr. Bird (no relation to the aforementioned Byrd)! This article very nicely summarizes and illuminates the thoughts that have been banging around my head since this happened.
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