Confederate Statues Fall
Across the country, statues commemorating the lives of Confederate soldiers are being struck down and stored away until the firestorm of anti-racism cools. Should anti-racism cool? That is the real question. Anti-racism is a thing, and that is because racism is and once was a thing.
In 1861 portions of the country (that is to say, groups of people) began declaring themselves apart from the United States in hopes of forming a Confederate States of America. It was assumed among the groups, that if enough followers would back them and join together, slavery would not be abolished. The United States was fighting to defend the constitution, in the mean time.
Some were hoping to keep slavery in place, whether it may have been for reasons of business, quality of life, or fear of conflict at their homesteads. Head-of-homestead owners, could simply have wanted the credit for freeing their own slaves. After years of hard work (and not all "masters" were bastards) the "masters" may have simply wanted to see the smile on their friend's face when they said, "You are free". They may sound outright ridiculous to some and it ought to. But put yourself in the shoes of a plantation owner, over one hundred years ago. Those people probably felt like they had their own little country. That much land, ten children, their farms feeding an entire colony. On that farm they had a slave who was purchased with the stipulation that they could work their way to a free American citizenship. Then the U.S. Government was abolishing slavery from the capitol. Either it was a slap in the face for taking their investment, or it was a slap in the face for taking their pride of helping someone earn citizenship. Whatever it was, horses travel fast, and word with it.
That word, falling on ears of heated plantation owners, may have made the residents and owners of more rural places of the United States easy targets for recruitment of the Confederate Army (which was never truly acknowledged by the U.S. as an entity). During the 1860 election Abraham Lincoln supported banning slavery but the Southern States viewed it as a violation of their constitutional rights and wrongly assumed that European nations were dependent on 'slave picked' cotton. That assumption enticed them to fire on Fort Sumter, and then Lincoln Signed the emancipation proclamation which made ending slavery a goal of war. The exact reasons for the war are a hot item for debate, but the research I have done seems to point to what I have stated. How this war began is always chocked up to assumptions, and you know what they say about assuming. In the civil war, however, assuming made asses out of more than you and me; it made asses out our entire nation. Still, the Confederate Army remains a stain on American History.
History is something we all can be proud of; yes, even the ugly parts. Now stands the Hiroshima Peace Memorial where 70,000 people where instantly eradicated. It is a testament to peace. The bones of the dome-like structure, the only thing left standing at the focus point of the Atomic bomb's delivery. It was a heated debate, with some civilians wanting it torn to the ground after the tragedy, but the memory lives on. In Auschwitz stands a preserved and cherished site from the Holocaust. Gas chambers and crematoria, standing as ancient witness to over one million people, mostly Jews, killed in 1940 after the taking of Poland in the town of Oswiecim. Countless dollars have been spent on the restoration and preservation of these sites. If not to remind us of our achievements, then why?
Achievement is a hairy word. It can get stuck in the throat like a hair ball when we talk about abolishing slavery and killing millions to stave off war, in all of its ugly and childish forms. On one hand, the ugly sound of a cat "Hacking" is disgusting. On the other hand, the nasty ball of hair that we see hit the floor is a blessing, and not soon forgotten by the cat; at least until next cleaning. Should the cats erect a fur ball monument to remind themselves of the licking problem?
What gets out of hand is that there are still 'groups' in every country. Small groups that think that everyone will back their cause seem to grow their focused and righteous hatred into too broad of a context just to recruit more followers. In my opinion, flying a confederate flag on the back of your pick up truck is ignorant and hateful. Also in my opinion, a confederate flag carved into a statue that commemorated fallen casualties of any war is simply history. How do you recruit enough followers to demonstrate against those who fly Pickup truck confederate flags without being the owner of Twitter or Facebook? One thing is for sure, ignorance is a problem in this country and abroad.
Imagine one hundred years from now, when artificial growth of an embryo is the only form of conception, looking back and trying to forget that we one day came from a vagina and then starting a revolution to forget the fact, because it was disgusting. Sometimes history is ugly but that doesn't make it untrue. A tree carries the memory of its seed as it reaches faithfully and thankfully for the Sun, but a Tree's knowledge is worth only as much as the condo that can be built over it. I am a white self-proclaimed journalist who one day voted for a black president, so what does my opinion really matter; in the end, opinions stink, because we all have them ... and you know what they say about assholes.
Written by Jay M. Horne 2017
Tweet: Share Jay's blogs with your friends on Twitter
http://www.jaymhorne.com
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_states_and_free_states
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima_Peace_Memorial
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/afp/2017/01/poland-germany-history-wwii-museum.html
 |
| Jeff Greenberg Universal Images Group Editorial/UIG via Getty Images |
Some were hoping to keep slavery in place, whether it may have been for reasons of business, quality of life, or fear of conflict at their homesteads. Head-of-homestead owners, could simply have wanted the credit for freeing their own slaves. After years of hard work (and not all "masters" were bastards) the "masters" may have simply wanted to see the smile on their friend's face when they said, "You are free". They may sound outright ridiculous to some and it ought to. But put yourself in the shoes of a plantation owner, over one hundred years ago. Those people probably felt like they had their own little country. That much land, ten children, their farms feeding an entire colony. On that farm they had a slave who was purchased with the stipulation that they could work their way to a free American citizenship. Then the U.S. Government was abolishing slavery from the capitol. Either it was a slap in the face for taking their investment, or it was a slap in the face for taking their pride of helping someone earn citizenship. Whatever it was, horses travel fast, and word with it.
That word, falling on ears of heated plantation owners, may have made the residents and owners of more rural places of the United States easy targets for recruitment of the Confederate Army (which was never truly acknowledged by the U.S. as an entity). During the 1860 election Abraham Lincoln supported banning slavery but the Southern States viewed it as a violation of their constitutional rights and wrongly assumed that European nations were dependent on 'slave picked' cotton. That assumption enticed them to fire on Fort Sumter, and then Lincoln Signed the emancipation proclamation which made ending slavery a goal of war. The exact reasons for the war are a hot item for debate, but the research I have done seems to point to what I have stated. How this war began is always chocked up to assumptions, and you know what they say about assuming. In the civil war, however, assuming made asses out of more than you and me; it made asses out our entire nation. Still, the Confederate Army remains a stain on American History.
 |
| "Let's look at the Special Exhibit: Hiroshima on October 5, 1945". Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Retrieved 15 August 2010. |
History is something we all can be proud of; yes, even the ugly parts. Now stands the Hiroshima Peace Memorial where 70,000 people where instantly eradicated. It is a testament to peace. The bones of the dome-like structure, the only thing left standing at the focus point of the Atomic bomb's delivery. It was a heated debate, with some civilians wanting it torn to the ground after the tragedy, but the memory lives on. In Auschwitz stands a preserved and cherished site from the Holocaust. Gas chambers and crematoria, standing as ancient witness to over one million people, mostly Jews, killed in 1940 after the taking of Poland in the town of Oswiecim. Countless dollars have been spent on the restoration and preservation of these sites. If not to remind us of our achievements, then why?
Achievement is a hairy word. It can get stuck in the throat like a hair ball when we talk about abolishing slavery and killing millions to stave off war, in all of its ugly and childish forms. On one hand, the ugly sound of a cat "Hacking" is disgusting. On the other hand, the nasty ball of hair that we see hit the floor is a blessing, and not soon forgotten by the cat; at least until next cleaning. Should the cats erect a fur ball monument to remind themselves of the licking problem?
What gets out of hand is that there are still 'groups' in every country. Small groups that think that everyone will back their cause seem to grow their focused and righteous hatred into too broad of a context just to recruit more followers. In my opinion, flying a confederate flag on the back of your pick up truck is ignorant and hateful. Also in my opinion, a confederate flag carved into a statue that commemorated fallen casualties of any war is simply history. How do you recruit enough followers to demonstrate against those who fly Pickup truck confederate flags without being the owner of Twitter or Facebook? One thing is for sure, ignorance is a problem in this country and abroad.
Imagine one hundred years from now, when artificial growth of an embryo is the only form of conception, looking back and trying to forget that we one day came from a vagina and then starting a revolution to forget the fact, because it was disgusting. Sometimes history is ugly but that doesn't make it untrue. A tree carries the memory of its seed as it reaches faithfully and thankfully for the Sun, but a Tree's knowledge is worth only as much as the condo that can be built over it. I am a white self-proclaimed journalist who one day voted for a black president, so what does my opinion really matter; in the end, opinions stink, because we all have them ... and you know what they say about assholes.
Written by Jay M. Horne 2017
Tweet: Share Jay's blogs with your friends on Twitter
http://www.jaymhorne.com
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_states_and_free_states
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima_Peace_Memorial
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/afp/2017/01/poland-germany-history-wwii-museum.html
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