Posted on 06/24/2015 9:21:37 PM PDT by NRx
Four years ago, I became a national news story after I hung a Confederate flag in my dorm room window at the University of South Carolina Beaufort. Controversy wasn’t my intention. For me and many Southerners, the flag celebrates my heritage and regional pride. One of my ancestors, Benjamin Thomas, was a black Confederate cook, and I do not want to turn my back on his service to the South. So I hang the flag in honor of his hard work and dedication to South Carolina during the Civil War.
My Confederate flag isn’t racist; after all, I am black. I’m also an American who strongly believes in the constitutional right to free speech. I fought back against the university’s demand that I take my flag down simply because others view it as a symbol of racism. I fought back against the racist interpretation of the flag and I won.
Now there’s a similar debate about the Confederate flag that flies over South Carolina’s statehouse. In the wake of the Charleston church shooting and pictures of the accused killer posing with the Confederate flag, people have demanded the flag be permanently removed from the statehouse grounds. I deeply respect and honor the nine people whose lives were lost in that church, who died with love in their hearts even though evil was among them. I felt that lowering the flag would give power to the racist terrorist who killed them. For a long time, it bothered me that every time someone raised the Confederate flag, someone else fought to have it removed. Racists hijacked the Confederate flag, and by effectively banning it on college campuses and government grounds, we would allow them to keep it.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I have also wondered if American black citizens have contemplated what their lives would be like today if their ancestors had not been brought to America as slaves. Surely they must have.
I have read accounts that they were sold to Arab slave traders by the Chiefs of their tribes. I was visiting an old plantation in Louisiana and a black woman broke into tears when she was told that the owner of the plantation was black and he had owned black slaves.
Slavery is an abomination and the fact that there are still slaves, I have read, in places today is horrible!
“One does not need to be a “bleeding heart” to detect the aroma.”
Heck, I would think that “bleeding hearts” would love for there to be more StormFront trolls posting on FR. “See, I told you conservatives were all racists - just look at those Freepers over there.....” - that kind of thing.
It is the Democrat Party that has this heritage of hate. No Republican EVER held slaves - ONLY DEMOCRATS. The Democrat Party has NEVER apologized for slavery! If we are going to ban anything meaningful because of slavery - BAN THE DEMOCRAT PARTY !!!
Oh, just because Alexander Hamilton once owned a slave doesn’t make him a “slave owner”—at least not the way Hamilton would have preferred the term defined; the definitions are slippery and many historians depend on last wills and testaments to define the status. That would require a life and death owning slaves. Freed slaves also owned slaves. Jews owned slaves. Even the Cherokees driven out of the south by Andrew Jackson owned slaves. Ah, it’s in our DNA! Like original sin.
Slave owners wanted slaves to count as full people to boost their power in Congress. Those who opposed slavery argued that slaves should not be counted in determining the number of congressional representatives a state would have.
I’m sure they have given some thought to whether life in Africa would be better than the racism, injustices, and disrespect given them by the other races who endure in America today. Most have decided to stay and more want to come because America will resolve all their issues and foot the bill for them. They are not stupid. The rest of us are for expecting them respond with appreciation, take responsibility, get an education, and work to improve their image in mainstream America. Instead everything is not working out for them as they had planned. As a result, I believe they are are worse off than prior generations given the course of events over the last 50 years.
That is the problem. This redistribution of wealth and contempt for the working class, law and justice, and authority cannot continue forever. They must decide to pull with us, not against us. We have given, they have taken. It’s time they give back something other than hate, civil disobedience, and violence. They could at least give us recognition for our attempts to help them succeed. Instead all we get is the blame for having failed them.
That is why they should really examine themselves and determine whether they can ever be happy in America. If they can’t live with us, then they need to find another place to live where they can live their lives in peace and prosperity.
Let me get this straight:
So, because the Unions’ Constitution was amended AFTER the war (it sure wasn’t a ‘Civil War’ by definition - the Conf. had their own seat of power, the North theirs, but I digress); the Emancipation being an unlawful edict (that did NOTHING for the Northern blacks) of Lincoln...that’s ‘OK’?
But, the Confederacy, having LOST the War, is ‘bad’ for not changing their Constitution...though they not longer existed?
e American Constitution listed slaves as 3/5ths of a human.
Article I, Section 2, Paragraph 3:
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.
Your statement is not correct. The Constitution apportioned representation according to citizenship. Delegates from thhe states in which slaveholding was widespread wanted to count slaves as citizens, and apportion representatives in Congress according to their number. Delegates from the states in which slaveholding was not widspread wanted to restrict citizenship to "free" persons and apportion representatives according to this smaller census. It was, in reality, a power struggle over numbers of representatives in Congress. "Three Fifths" was a compromise, nothing more. Note that "Indians not taxed" were not considered citizens, and were not counted at all for the purpose of congressional representation.
My family came to this country from Scotland in the 1700’s prior to the Revolutionary War. My ancestor fought with Washington. None of my family was ever rich enough or wanted to own slaves. Most Southerners didn’t. The only people in the South that could own slaves were the rich plantation owners and politicians.
When I was little I remember talking to my great-grandfather about the Civil War. He was born in 1865 and had memories told to him by his father. None of my family would have ever fought in that war until the Yankees burned their farms and the farms of other Southerners just for being Southerners. They were poor farmers that only had enough land to grow food for themselves. This happened all over the South. This “Northern Aggression” is what made so many young men join the fight, not slavery. To me, the Confederate flag stands for all of the innocent people that died in that war and that is most of them because it was the poor people that ended up fighting for their lives and their culture. Owning slaves was not their priority; staying alive and protecting their homes and culture was.
The North had a lot more reasons for crushing the South than slaves. That war never should have happened. Slavery should have never happened but it did. Slavery could have been abolished without that war. Slavery was the excuse. The Federal government was doing the same thing then that it is doing now. It’s about control and money.
The South in 1863 wasn’t willing to be attacked by the government anymore than the colonies were willing to be attacked by England. I worry about my precious South and our culture. I detest the racists and hate groups like the KKK and Skinheads that have hijacked that flag for their hateful purposes.
You are correct, most rural whites lived in cabins just like the slave cabins on plantations. My ancestors built such a cabin in east Texas in the 1820 or 1830.s and I was able to see it many years ago when I was about 12 .
Since I was so young I didn’t know where it was exactly and I couldn’t find it again when I was older and looked for it.
It was called a “ dog trot” cabin. There were 2 rooms joined together by a open roofed area between the rooms.
The facts you have stated are correct. I believe you are wrong in saying my “statement is NOT correct. At that time we had “free” persons who were citizens, Indians not taxed, and other free persons who were not citizens. So far as I know the only legal slaves we had were the ones that were considered as 3/5ths. Were there other slaves I don’t know about that were not counted as 3/5ths?
The facts you have stated are correct. I was not able to put my hands on my copy of the Constitution when I was writing my comment. I am well aware of the compromise nature of the 3/5ths inclusion. I believe you are wrong in saying my “statement is NOT correct.” At that time we had “free” persons who were citizens, Indians not taxed, and other free persons who were not citizens. There were also free Persons bound to Service for a Term of Years, also known as Indentured Servants. So far as I know the only legal slaves we had were the ones that were considered as 3/5ths. Were any other categories that were not slaves and not free persons? Were there other slaves I don’t know about that were not counted as 3/5ths?
" listed slaves as 3/5ths of a human. I am not sure what they did about free Negroes."
I am making a subtle semantic point, but one which I think is important. Please bear with me ...
1) What they did with free Negroes, at the time of framing the Constitution, was to count them as free persons. Each of them added "1" to their respective state census numbers.
2) Which brings us to the dreaded 3/5 and the often overlooked ZERO. The question was not whether enslaved negroes (or "Indians not Taxed") were human beings, much less what fraction of a human being they were. The question was of citizenship. Everyone agreed that the Indians weren't citizens, and would not be counted in the census. That DOESN'T mean they considered the Indians not human beings. The "Slave States" wanted to consider their slaves as citizens (for the purpose of the census), in order to boost their representation in Congress. The Non-Slave States wanted to consider slaves as NOT citizens), so as to reduce the Slave States' representation in Congress. Again, the question was of citizenship, not humanity. Slaves were considered 3/5 of a citizen: more than an Indian (and more than the Free States wanted), but less than a free man (and less than the Slave States wanted).
I think I’ve addressed your points more or less in #53 ... if not, say and I’ll try to address it.
Thx ...
Texicanus wrote:
“...Many black people have a slave heritage. It is one of sadness,but they weren’t the only ones brought to America as slaves and indentured servants and they were not the only ones to experience hardships. ...”
Many Irish and Scots were sent to the colonies as indentured servants...
the English took people from their homes to make room for sheep; this was called the Highland Clearances.
I saw this exact same post of yours...earlier.
Trolling? No. Calling him out on the WN crap? Sure.
Good luck
Interesting lecture! Would any of it be found in a history book?
You seem to be very angry. Are you angry at the thousands of blacks who owned slaves? Are you angry at the black slave breeders who sold their own children into slavery?
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