Educators Debate Efforts to Rename Schools (named after Confederates)(historical assassination)

Yahoo! News ^ | December 26, 2003 | STEVE SZKOTAK

[El Conservador]

This is Orwell on steroids...

[FoxInSocks]

George Washington Elementary School was renamed for Dr. Charles Richard Drew, a black surgeon who organized blood banks during World War II.

It's not like George Washington was the first president or a general in the Revolution or anything; he was just another slave-owner, so his name should be erased from history.

[FoxInSocks]

Here's an idea. Rename GWES after a different figure in science: GEORGE WASHINGTON Carver.

[BenLurkin]

It is very sad.

[boycott]

Okay, most every city in the USA has a MLK, Jr highway running through it. Why not just change to name of the entire country to MLK, Jr. just please all these folks?

I am offended because I don't like my streets being named after a philandering communist. MLK,Jr. name should be banned. <./sarcasm -- just making a point about all this PC BS.

[Smokin' Joe]

I knew a lot of black Washingtons and Jeffersons, many other former slaves took the same name as their former owners as a surname. I have never known a black Lincoln...

Make of that what you will...

[Smokin' Joe]

Yes, but when our history becomes a fable about a war being fought to free slaves, this is to be expected.

[Finalapproach29er]

"They can't help but wonder about honoring a man who wanted to keep them in servitude." ..................



Damn fools.

Does this mean we can erase MLK from buildings because he was a Marxist?

Should we erase RFK from the Dep. of Justice because he broke wiretapping laws?

[capitan_refugio]

"Yes, but when our history becomes a fable about a war being fought to free slaves, this is to be expected."

You are quite correct that freeing slaves was not the primary, or initial, motivation of the Federal government in the War Between the States. However, it is also a fable to deny that the primary motivation for Southern secession was the protection of the institution of slavery and the protection of their agrarian economy.

Many in the Confederate military had admirable records before the WBTS (or, as I like to call it, the War for Southern Independence). Many in the Confederate military made a difficult choice between their home State and their Country. It should be remembered that the concept of the American "nation" was not as understood by those who lived in the 1850's as those who lived after the WBTS.

Slavery was an unfortunate aspect of the Nation's history, but to fail to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of the slave-holding Founding Fathers, Framers of the Constitution, and other Southerners who lived prior to the WBTS smacks of political correctness.

Those today who rail against everything related to the CSA not only misunderstand the history of the country, but they also forget the intent of Lincoln's second inaugural address.

[Smokin' Joe]

Perhaps you can tell me why slave-holding is only recognized as a white, southern, activity. There were free blacks and free black slaveholders, and not just in the South. Northerners owned slaves as well, but in the final reckoning, children are being taught that it was white Southerners fighting to keep slaves picking cotton who decided to opt out of the union just to keep their slaves.

Not only is the picture presented highly inaccurate, but it is not presented in light of the pre WBTS political climate, nor within the social context of the day.

Socialist teachers and their dupes are being used to further foment divisiveness in our culture by teaching our children a grossly oversimplified fable in lieu of history.

The root of the war is economic, slaves were only a part of the overall economic reasons the South chose to secede.

That Robert E. Lee, West Point educated and offered command of the Army of the Potomac, chose instead to fight for Virginia, perhaps knowing full well that his family lands would be forfeit (now Arlington National Cemetary) bespeaks the conflict of loyalties present. That he is reviled by some as a traitor only indicates which side won.

Many patriots were hanged as traitors during the Revolution, and are only well-remembered because their side ultimately prevailed.

[tj005]

<> Isn't this sort of... 'reverse' descrimination?

[tj005]

<> Well, thats the part the revisionists play, they dont mention that slavery was only one issue of the civil war, but alas, we cannot clutter such things with facts..

[tj005]

Gotta agree with that one too...

[Smokin' Joe]

To teach other than fables requires facts, honesty, knowledge, and thought.

To do anything other than gloss over the reasons for this nation's formative conflicts would require teaching why those conflicts occurred.

To do so would expose the current government for what it is--way off base, Constitutionally bankrupt, thieving, and totalitarian compared with the rule of the British.

Economics alone would spark revolt when students learned that the colonists revolted over a total tax burden of three percent..

With empahsis on self-esteem, and the denial that the guy who cleans the toilet is as important as the guy who designs it (Ya want a dirty toilet?), the loss of self-esteem in finding out that most of our ancestors milked cows, picked (whatever crop), and farmed for subsistence or even profit, whether they owned the land or not just might be devastating.

It is far easier to present a fable of 'haves' and 'have-nots' engaged in some pseudo-proletarian clash. It fits better with the Socialism being infiltrated into every aspect of our education, our workplace, and our lives.

[Alissa]

In Gadsden, Ala., however, officials have resisted efforts to rename a middle school named for Nathan Bedford Forrest, an early backer of the Ku Klux Klan.

Then they need to change all the places named after Robert Byrd in West Virginia!

[Polybius]

It should be remembered that the concept of the American "nation" was not as understood by those who lived in the 1850's as those who lived after the WBTS.

That's correct and it is difficult for us to set aside the mindset of 21st Century America in order to understand the mindset of ante-bellum America.

Twenty years from now, the European Union could have a civil war over the issue of whether Britain, Poland and Spain have a right to seceed from the European Union.

What is the "correct" answer to that issue?

Can Britain, Spain and Poland freely withdraw from a Union they freely entered?

Does signing a European Constitution that never addresses the issue of secession destroy forever the concept of Britain, Spain and Poland as sovereign states?

Should the Polish General in command of the European Union Army stay in Germany to lead the E.U. Army into "rebel" Poland or should he resign his European Union commission and return to "independent" Poland to lead the Polish Army in defense of the land of his birth?

In America of 1860, the "correct" answers to the questions of the day were as uncertain as the "correct" answers to the hypothetical questions above.

[Tax-chick]

In San Antonio, they renamed a Jefferson Davis Middle School after S.J. Davis, a local black school board member. Mr. Davis said, "Joke's on them - 'S.J.' stands for 'Stonewall Jackson' Davis!"

[Rutabega]

Lee Davis High School Confederate Alumni BUMP

[Holden Magroin]

This would not be an issue if there were a separation between education and state.