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[L Verge]

(06-08-2018 07:56 AM)Rsmyth Wrote:  Tipped my hand Joe? I think my stand on the issue has been well documented. And comparing the confederacy to nazi germany grossly unfair? Let's see; six million Jews loaded on to train cars for the final destination. Four million slaves crowded onto boats and shipped to the U.S. where all men are created equal, only to have families ripped apart on the auction block never to be reunited and sold into slavery only to be raped, beaten and lynched. Six million, four million; ok, say maybe 1/3 less guilty. I know Lauries position and why but Joe, why do you continue to idealize the confederacy?

Rich - To state (unequivocally) that all four million slaves were brutalized is a slight stretching of the truth - even when we clearly understand that the institution of slavery is an atrocity. Of course, most understand that many civilizations throughout history have practiced the institution of slavery and still do.

I am sure that many service groups who are fighting against current situations would love your support. Or, closer to home, are you using your convictions to help with the poverty situations in the inner city, food banks, reading with students in schools and libraries to help them improve and become good citizens? Constantly preaching about the evils of slavery and trying to wipe out any vestiges of it on our landscape is not going to cure the problem. In fact, without education, preaching such stuff only tends to breed more violence and hatred.

I would also hope that you recognize the fact that all the sins of slavery cannot be heaped on the backs of white Southerners. From Africa to Europe to colonies in the Caribbean and South America, there was a chain of economic benefits being formed by many others before the enslaved even reached a Southern plantation. Have you checked your Yankee family tree for any ship captains or traders?

I make that last statement not as a personal insult to you, but as an element of the whole story that many of the naive protesters today need to ask themselves. How did my ancestors play a role in the institution of slavery in the U.S.? I'll bet that some people might be in for a rude awakening.