Posted on 06/11/2020 8:18:23 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
This week, if there had been no pandemic, I would have been on leave, heading for Gettysburg in Pennsylvania - the site of the famous battle in the American Civil War of 1861-65.
For some reason this conflict captured my interest as a child. I've always wanted to attend the Gettysburg College Civil War Institute's annual summer school. Sadly, that has been cancelled this year because of Covid-19.
On frequent trips to the States, I used to buy a historical magazine about the war whose masthead slogan proclaimed: "For those who still hear the sound of the guns."
This reference to the echoes of the conflict through the ages is, I think, why the war still fascinates me today.
As the Black Lives Matter movement demonstrates, for many Americans there is still unfinished business from the Civil War years.
The benefits of black emancipation were partial and never fully realised. Oppression, disproportionate poverty and racism continue to this day, more than 150 years after the conflict ended.
Other Americans who still hold to the myths about "the old South" take a very different view. And then there are the hardcore right-wing and racist militias, who freely use the symbols of the Confederacy to symbolise their own cause.
Indeed, the Civil War is rarely out of the news, be it for controversy over statues commemorating Confederate leaders or famous generals or, most recently, for the long-standing naming of a small number of US military bases after rebel commanders.
In the wake of George Floyd's killing and the wave of protests that have followed, the questioning of the visibility of the Confederate's public heritage has reached a new intensity.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
This.
“America’s dark past.”
Hypocritical BBC A$$holes; like Britain didn’t profit from slavery.
“Oppression, disproportionate poverty and racism persist to this day” -Jonathan Marcus
OK, jerkwad, show us.
Even if that were true is is because of scum leftist race hustlers like you.
Forget the past. The future looks very dark.
They do know those bases were named while their hero, Woodrow Wilson, was President, right?
Yes it does.
I recall in the sixties half of the Communist Party USA’s revenue came from dues paid by FBI informants. At events where they had undercover agents you could spot them because they were the only guys with dry-cleaned jeans.
“to this day, more than 150 years after the conflict ended.”
1860: 4.1 million African-American
2020: close to 40 million
Manchurian Education
With boys Ritali-zed first.
heard one BBC reporter talking to some Dem operative during the week and the BBC guy said (paraphrasing): “but there are still Confederate monuments standing”.
don’t trust the Beeb. they have an agenda too.
I don’t have a problem with this so STFU
Naw
Watch “Paris Blues” with Sidney Poiter and Paul Newman.
Very different attitudes at that time.
Eddie Cook:
Look. Here, nobody says, “Eddie Cook, negro musician.” They say, “Eddie Cook, musician,” period. And that’s all I want to be.
Connie Lampson:
And that’s what you are here.
Eddie Cook:
That’s what I am here. Musician, period. And I don’t have to prove anything else.
Connie Lampson:
Like what?
Eddie Cook:
Like: Because I’m negro I’m different. Because I’m negro I’m not different. I’m different. I’m not different. Who cares? Look, I don’t have to prove either case. Can you understand that?
Connie Lampson:
There isn’t a place on the face of the Earth that isn’t hell for somebody. Some race, some color, some sex.
Eddie Cook:
For me, Paris is just fine.
The irony is the North fought to save the Union..and to that end recognize the veterans of the south
and now left want to destroy it
>> America’s “dark” past
Dark as in black?
GTH, Jonathan Marcus, ya’ pathetic rat.
I haven’t, but I respect and appreciate what you have done.
The BBC. LOL.
They are the CNN or the LSDNBC of the UK.
As for the British, they have no room to be criticizing the past of any country. They need to study their own history.
“I take this tyrannical Taliban-like history erasing personally.”
From some future conversation...
Teacher: We must always remember the horrors of slavery
Student: What was slavery and who did these horrors?
Teacher: Those who did these things have been stricken from all recorded history never to be remembered.
Student: OH! Then what is it we must remember and how do we even know it ever happened?
Removing Confederate statues from public places isn’t going to erase the history of The Civil War and what the Confederacy did to America. If the modern day Confederates feel so strongly about the statues then they should buy a piece of property and put all the statues they want on it. Or put themselves between the mobs and their beloved statues.
I don’t support vandalism, rioting and lawlessness or the destruction of a Confederate statue. I do support their removal and I have the right to my opinion. Never forget what the Confederacy sought to achieve. They and their supporters split this nation in two and caused the greast loss of life in American history. I don’t see anything honorable in that.
“Leftists think they are striking at the heart of President Trumps base destroying statues”
They are likely pleasantly stunned that it was so easy. They suffered more injures from falling statues than law enforcement or outraged citizens.
Oh no not our ‘dark past’. You mean what was the greatest country on earth?
How about the worlds ‘dark past’? How about Africa’s ‘dark past’ Opsie, is that racist?
Horse hockey
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.