The judge is Laurence Silberman of the D.C. Circuit.
Silberman [wrote]... that his great-grandfather had fought for the Union as part of Ulysses S. Grant’s army and was badly wounded at Shiloh, Tennessee. His great-grandfather’s brother, meanwhile, joined the Confederate States Army and was captured at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. “It’s important to remember that Lincoln did not fight the war to free the Slaves Indeed he was willing to put up with slavery if the Confederate States Returned,” he wrote (lack of punctuation and errant capitalization in the original, and throughout). “My great great grandfather Never owned slaves as best I can tell.”From the clerk's pushback:
[M]y maternal ancestors were enslaved in Mississippi.... [M]y ancestors would not have been involved in the philosophical and political debates about Lincoln’s true intentions, or his view on racial equality.... [Y]ou talked about your ancestors, one that fought for the confederacy and one that fought for the Union.... [N]o matter how bravely your uncle fought for the Confederacy, the foundation of his fight was a decision that he agreed more with the ideals of the Confederacy, than he did with those of the Union.Silberman, a Reagan appointee, is 84 years old. Giving him the Medal of Freedom in 2008, President George W. Bush said:
Few men have played roles in as many memorable moments in recent American history as Laurence Silberman. He was a senior official in the Justice Department in the aftermath of Watergate, and helped to restore America's confidence in the Department. As Ambassador to Yugoslavia, he was a vigorous representative of America's values behind the Iron Curtain. He was a fierce advocate for the "peace through strength" policies that helped win the Cold War.
As a federal judge on the D.C. circuit -- often called the second-highest court in the land -- Judge Silberman has been a passionate defender of judicial restraint. He writes opinions that one colleague has described as always cutting to the heart of the matter -- sometimes to the jugular. (Laughter.) His questioning is crisp and incisive -- and at least one lawyer who was subjected to his inquiries actually fainted. (Laughter.) Judge Silberman was a particularly important influence on two other members of that court: Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. When each was nominated to the Supreme Court, Judge Silberman, in typical fashion, was not sad to see them go. That's because when Scalia left the court, Judge Silberman gained seniority. And when Thomas left the court, Judge Silberman gained his furniture. (Laughter.)
In a new and dangerous era for our country, Larry Silberman has continued to answer the call to service. He served with distinction on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review. He took a year off from the federal bench to serve as co-chairman of a bipartisan commission on intelligence reform. And in all his work, he's remained a clear-eyed guardian of the Constitution. He continues to leave his distinctive mark in the opinions he issues, and the generations of bright and talented lawyers he has trained.
For his resolute service to the nation and his stalwart efforts to advance the cause of ordered liberty, I am proud to bestow the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Laurence H. Silberman. (Applause.)
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102 comments:
History began this morning for that clerk and the rest of the neo-Marxist left.
One's talking structure, one's talking feelings.
Enough with the retroactive thought Police.
My own great-great-grandfather fought for the Union and was horrible maimed. Does that mean I have some kind of virtue? No.
Why is there a Presidential Medal of Freedom? It makes as much sense as honorary degrees. Just a way for governmental politicians or academic politicians to say, "See how great my people are."
A living constitution judge would find the former unconstitutional as a "title of nobility". Indeed, it functions much like the UK institution of "life peers".
"[M]y maternal ancestors were enslaved in Mississippi."
He should thank the slave-traders, both black and white, who made that possible, because now the whining person is a circuit court law clerk in the USA (thanks also to 'affirmative action' by Americans) and not living in some slum in Africa.
History began this morning for that clerk and the rest of the neo-Marxist left.
The facilities in question only date to World War I (some may even be WWII). The Army gave the host states the opportunity to name the bases as a PR move to make the seizure of private property more palatable to the locals.
Not only that, but some of them (e.g., Bragg and Polk) were pretty crappy generals.
We have a sense of the past where everybody wasn't poor and discriminated against. There is the nostalgia, pride and self-congratulation because "our grandfathers" were soldiers that dislodged slavery in the South. Or defeated Nazism. Or whatever.
Black people have a different perspective. They are simultaneously more sober and less parochial about America's past.
It has been estimated that over 65,000 Southern blacks were in the Confederate ranks. Over 13,000 of these, “saw the elephant” also known as meeting the enemy in combat. These Black Confederates included both slave and free. The Confederate Congress did not approve blacks to be officially enlisted as soldiers (except as musicians), until late in the war. But in the ranks it was a different story. Many Confederate officers did not obey the mandates of politicians, they frequently enlisted blacks with the simple criteria; “Will you fight?” Historian Ervin Jordan, explains that “biracial units” were frequently organized “by local Confederate and State militia Commanders in response to immediate threats in the form of Union raids…”. Dr. Leonard Haynes, an African-American professor at Southern University, stated, “When you eliminate the black Confederate soldier, you’ve eliminated the history of the South.”
------------==========
just add any other name from this list to various Black Confederate Lives Matter
My grandparents came to America in the 1890s from Germany, and settled in Minnesota as farmers. They never owned slaves nor were they or anyone else in my family involved in the slave trade. I have no dog in this fight, right?
i think we can ALL AGREE that we MUST PURGE THE PAST!
Even though, the purge will result in a another civil war that will destroy our country and cause 100 to 200 MILLION deaths... IT WILL BE WORTH IT, if we can PURGE THE PAST!
right?? I mean, right?
Is there anyone alive today we could erect a statue to who everyone would agree deserves it?
History leaves us one funeral at a time.
Why do only the descendants of enslaved people have the moral standing to pass judgement on Civil War generals.....I don't think there are many people who know who General Bragg was. I didn't until just recently. Fort Bragg is famous for being Fort Bragg. It doesn't reference General Bragg. It is its own reference point. Same with Yale and Brown. Who thinks of these college in terms of their founders?....I can't get worked up, one way or another, about renaming military posts, but the self righteousness of those who demand they be renamed is annoying.....The Caribs were a cannibalistic tribe famous for hunting down and eating they gentler neighbors. Shouldn't the Caribbean Sea be renamed after one of the gentler tribes of that region. Rename it the Arawakan Sea. Every time I think of Caribbean, I think of those flesh eating tribesmen and feel threatened and haunted by terrible memories of our dark past.
Let’s toss all our history in the trash because it’s imperfect and irredeemable. Besides, nothing bad can happen if you forget your cultural past, warts and all. Everything past is bad, everything forward is perfection.
Does that sound sane, or nah?
So "bodied" is past tense for "to body"? That's a new one on me.
Anyway, I thought WEB Dubois's dissertation interesting, that slave traders in the south were so worried about a future emancipation that they started bringing them in by the thousands, until the locals were surrounded. Hence the origin of the Black Belt through Georgia, So Carolina and Alabama.
The whites were probably more worried more about uprisings than losing the free labor, though no one wanted to do farm work in that environment either. You got Negroes or Indians to do that. Now, first gen Mexicans and Guatemalans.
Nobody wants to work that hard. I knew whites who picked cotton or fruit as teens during WWII and they were scarred for life. LOL.
Hes the judge who encouraged clarence thomas to accept a judgeship.
Gets thoroughly bodied by clerk.
WTH?
Bloodied? Or is 'bodied' something all the hip kids are saying?
Nuke history. And all white men.
certainly that will lead to a bright future. Purge
Clerk flunked F. Scott Fitzgerald's test of a first rate intelligence: the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
One's talking structure, one's talking feelings.
I disagree. They're both talking structure and feelings. Lincoln allowed his feelings about unity and stability to influence his policy on structure and governance. The clerk's ancestor allowed his feelings on forced servitude and abuse to influence his support for self-determination and liberty.
Let's not make the mistake of thinking this is going to stop once the Confederates are erased from history.
Anyone who was less woke than last year's graduating class at Oberlin is going to be erased.
So I guess COVID's officially over as a "thing"?
The clerk is just an overly entitled black who thinks we should rearrange society to please him and his whims. We all are offended by things and think other things should be changed to suit our tastes. So what?
These army bases have been named for Confederates for 100 years. Why in 2020, does this man NOW, suddenly care? But then I think historically, and most Ameicans don't. Every day, the world starts afresh, and what's happened for 100 years means nothing.
As for Silbermann's canard about Lincoln. Honest Abe was anti-slavery, but as he stated many times, he had no power as President to enforce his personal beliefs. His job as President, was to save the Union. Obviously, had the Confederacy won, the ability of the North to end slavery would have been zero. The only way to end slavery was to save the Union. But that seems to be too complicated for many. Further, several key states: Missouri and Kentucky were slave states. They had to be humored and kept on the Union side. Again, this is too subtle a point for most.
Everybody has ancestors who did horrible things. Everybody has ancestors who were the victims of horrible things.
Treat people right today and get on with your life.
"[N]o matter how bravely your uncle fought for the Confederacy, the foundation of his fight was a decision that he agreed more with the ideals of the Confederacy, than he did with those of the Union."
Not necessarily. Far more likely, he fought for his neighbors, comrades, and his state.
In a saner world, the black clerk would be mocked for spending his time on such trivia and being so sensitive. IOW, he has the outlook of a 14 y/o Girl. But in 2020, all black thoughts matter. So, we are supposed to cheer when he "destroys" or "Calls out" the Federal Judge who disagrees with him.
Does the clerk want the suffering of his ancestors to be erased? When you pull down statues, you erase history.
Two things.
1. I return to my prior example of the ACLU's defense of American Nazis who wanted to demonstrate peacefully: the ACLU didn't defend that right because they supported Nazism, but because they supported a different (and in that case at least, greater and far more important) principle. People fighting for the Confederacy might have listed their reasons for choosing that side a lot differently from the current assumption that Southern priorities across the board were slavery, then states' rights, and only then familial or historical loyalty.
2. I enjoyed the fact that the judge's errant capitalization is called out by the narrator, but the clerk's lack of any capitalization is just corrected without comment. I haven't been to the source, but assume this wasn't an Althouse action.
These military bases were built for our WWI Army training. That was done only 50 years after these states had been pillaged by yankees, and fear of southern states still not getting along with their yankee conquistadors was a big deal. So as a token of reconciliation, the new bases in the south were not named for conquering Yankee soldiers but for respected southern soldiers. That’s how history happened .After 100 years writing out that history would be an act of revenge for what long dead people did. That is madness.
As Sailer remarked yesterday, we have lived long enough to see the first word of the "Washington Redskins" become the most problematic. But the Blacks will be so much better off when all Confederate statues are removed, when Washington and Jefferson images and monuments are all pulled down and when the names of every slave-owing President are literally erased from history. And the beauty part is, that anyone who disagrees will be self-identifying themselves as racists who need to be fired and sent to the reeducation camps.
And also: what the hell does "thoroughly bodied" mean? Is it like "Shapiro DESTROYS weeping soy boy"? For heaven's sake.
"the foundation of his fight was a decision that he agreed more with the ideals of the Confederacy"
Evidence?
Even if so: therefore --?
Gets thoroughly bodied by clerk.
So even editors don't "grok" English any more?
I'm reaching the point where I'm against renaming things now, even if I might have been in favor awhile ago, or might be awhile from now. Even for a base named in honor of some incompetent Confederate general to make some segregationist southern Democrat pony up the money for someone's pet project. It's not an emergency because you've suddenly realized it.
Maybe the base never should have been named that in the first place. Maybe the renaming is a good idea. But if it's as part of the same frenzy that leads the memorial to the Massachusetts 54th to be vandalized, I say, let's wait til the irrational calm down, then let's have a discussion among rational people.
The monster that liberalism created is turning its attention away from the happenstance seeming enemies that dot its path and directly towards its creator: Dr. Liberalism. The KKK, a liberal boogeyman beaten with regularity by White liberals to prove their fealty to the social justice causes no longer satisfies the monster. They are onto the liberal’s tricks.
Conservatives must back away from this true civil war that is beginning. The left and its creations need to fight it out to the death.
MadisonMan, you must change your name to simply, Man.
Madison was a slave holder.
Ancestors who were slaves do not make the present generation slaves. That we all agree upon.
If those who had slaves for ancestors wish to remain bound by the chains of their ancestors' slavery, I cannot stop them, except to tell them they are not slaves, and are welcome to drop the chains they think are binding them.
This is the bitter fruit we now harvest from letting Liberalism infect and infest our educational system for the last 50+ years.
I assume they meant “bloodied”?
I'm of Scottish descent and my family folklore suggests my greatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreat grandfather was mistreated by the Romans.
I want free kilt dry cleaning for the rest of my life.
The struggle must be nearly complete, "Aunt Jemina" has been canceled. As I only use maple syrup, does that make me privileged or fortuitously woke?
https://nypost.com/2020/06/17/aunt-jemima-racial-stereotype-gets-the-axe-amid-blm-backlash/
Confederate base names were a sign to both sides that the Civil War was over. Is this a sign a new one has begun?
Many of the bases in the North closed because they had too few local recruits and too much local opposition. And too cold.
Purge the past, and Slavery disappears too. Sounds good. Lets do it.
This video essay was addressed at the push to eliminate "Gone With the Wind", but its theme fits here, too. Trying to erase the past won't stop with Bragg, Polk, Lee, etal. You will find that the demands never end once you grant the first ones. You should never give in to the demands of lunatics and the otherwise immature. A stand has to be made.
And, given Mr. Lincoln's views on Union over slavery, and Liberia, he shouldn't get too comfortable sitting in that Memorial. 2024's Get Out the Vote will see him out.
Democrats love controlling people. First it was slavery, but that was outlawed in the US and they're still angry about losing that control. Now they're going for everyone. Not one thing they do disproves that theory.
“...began the career-risking reply-all email..."
Fact is, no it wasn't and no it didn't. Wish that was true of all people who sincerely speak their minds these days.
Nobody wants to work that hard. I knew whites who picked cotton or fruit as teens during WWII and they were scarred for life. LOL.
My grandfather supposedly refused to set foot in a cotton field after his teenaged years.
This is just more absurdity. The judge appears to be speaking, right or wrong, about statuary reflecting history. The clerk, speaking from a wonderful, “privileged” job* given him by the judge, takes up the never-ending whine about an injustice he never felt feeding the election year bullshit distracting from the inability of Democrats to govern.
The problems faced by African-Americans today stem from the unwillingness of many young black males to stop reinforcing justifiable stereotypes stemming from epidemic black crime (like this and worse: https://abc7.com/manhattan-gramercy-park-elderly-woman-attacked-attack/6250400/ ), unworkable Democrat social policies supported by Republicans that have led to the devastation of black families and the failure of the mediaswine and the political establishment to tell the truth about either.
The “systemic racism” endured by Americans is reflected by the preferential treatment afforded African-Americans by every institution except the police. The Marxist-inspired BLM seeks to eliminate that exception by intimidation and prevarication aided and abetted by the useful idiots.
*I speak from past experience.
Madison was a slave holder.
Diversity is a progressive condition spread through social contagion. #ProtestMadison #OccupyMadison #SterilizeMadison... Wisconsin.
A little weird that the judge used the forum to rant that Lincoln wasn't trying to free the slaves. Guess he was trying to stick up for Trump.
Book burning next?
"I say, let's wait til the irrational calm down, then let's have a discussion among rational people."
LOL. I hope this was sarcasm.
Frenchy:
I don’t think it works that way. You have to have a dog in the fight. And you have to be fighting on the “correct side”.
See, they have a phrase: “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”
Cute isn’t it? With us or against us. Heads I win tails you lose.
Spiros: “Black people have a different perspective. They are simultaneously more sober and less parochial about America's past.”
Yes, BLM and their looters reflect that. In my home town, for example, BLM soberly defaced a statue of John Greenleaf Whittier, a notable Quaker abolitionist.
Do you have any other delusions you feel a need to share?
There will be a time that the reaction of most people to the self aggrieved radicals will be " I just don't care". Perhaps that privileged clerk should contemplate the alternative history where his ancestors were never sold into slavery and where he would be today.
There's no way forward in critical race theory. There's only a switch of positions between oppressor and oppressed, round and round. It's pernicious, dangerous, destructive, and (God, I hope) self-limiting, like the Shakers' religion.
The argument (or "argument") is "You're evil and always will be, you and your children, no matter what you do or say!" Not persuasive. And yes, I know the goal is not persuasion - but I have yet to be persuaded that any goal besides persuasion is effective in the long run at "dismantling a system." Sooner or later you run out of people willing to see themselves as evil and irredeemable, and to lick your boots on that account. (And how does it improve your or your ancestors' lot to have your boots licked? Is the momentary thrill worth the shit cake you can expect one day to be served, a la The Help?) Nor will the other side be endlessly willing to accept that you are noble by birth.
You called it asymmetric trench warfare, and you'll end up in the same trench as you started, with only (if you're lucky) the asymmetry's going in your favor temporarily.
Ordinary black Americans who, in the manner of ordinary Americans of all flavors, only want to live a good life and offer their children a better one are caught in No Man's Land, ducking the bullets. It's horrible.
Trump should agree that each political party's caucus in congress should get to recommend which monuments to a member of that party should be removed because of past transgressions, where that party affiliation is known.
To avoid any partisan infighting or recrimination, of course.
Renaming the base will be moot. Once it is determined to be a symbol of white oppression, it will have to be closed down anyways.
frenchy said...My grandparents came to America in the 1890s from Germany, and settled in Minnesota as farmers. They never owned slaves nor were they or anyone else in my family involved in the slave trade. I have no dog in this fight, right?
My relatives came from Norway and Scotland after the Civil War. They were farmers in the Upper Midwest and it is unlikely that they ever saw Black people muchless enslaved them.
However, since we have benefitted from "White Privilege", we not only have a dog in the fight, we are the dog.
One of my friends was raped by a Negro. Your negritude reminds me of this awful event, and makes me feel unsafe. Please bleach yourself. Please.
@William said at 8:47 AM:
"I don't think there are many people who know who General Bragg was. I didn't until just recently. Fort Bragg is famous for being Fort Bragg. It doesn't reference General Bragg. It is its own reference point. Same with Yale and Brown. Who thinks of these college in terms of their founders?"
Great point! Here in Texas, many of us have long family and military ties to Fort Hood as an institution. My wife grew up there because her dad was career Army. My step-mother and her family were only given 30 days to leave their farm at the beginning of WWII because it was within the area needed for Fort Hood. Even with those close associations, I never gave a second's thought to its Confederate General namesake. Fort Hood looms large in Texas because, as William said, it is its own reference point.
They're going to rename Plummer auditorium at Fullerton College because Louis E. Plummer was a member of the KKK. I don't think that anyone really knew anything about Louis E. Plummer until this week. Now, all that people know is that he was a member of the Klan. That's the risk about having something named after you; at some point you might actually be remembered for the bad things that you did. (And then, that's all that people will remember.)
Is there anyone alive today we could erect a statue to who everyone would agree deserves it?
Neil Armstrong?
The clerk's family was enslaved long before they reached the Western Hemisphere.
The clerk is claiming virtue over the judge because some of the judge's ancestors fought for the Confederacy. But the clerk forgets, or doesn't want to know, what his own ancestors did.
Not that it would be likely that the clerk would know much about his ancestors since most people no so little about their ancestors.
But in a general sense we know the clerk's ancestors came from a continent where slavery was practiced everywhere, where the enslavement of people must have been constantly ongoing, and of course that means there were people doing this enslavement. And where there is no record of even a single black nation or tribe on this continent that did not practice slavery. And neither is there a record of even one of these African peoples giving up slavery on their own.
If we are going to judge people by their ancestors then someone who has forgotten his past has an obvious advantage.
For more reasons than just this we must judge people solely by what they themselves have done and not what their grandfathers did.
Jamie said, "I return to my prior example of the ACLU's defense of American Nazis who wanted to demonstrate peacefully:"
I think you are naïve. The more practical concern was possibly, or I should say probably, all of those American Communists and their fellow travelers that had supported the Nazis during the 1930s and in fact continued to do so up until 1942.
This may have been erased from the history books but back in the 1960s there were still a huge number of people that were very much alive that could remember this.
The ACLU's concern was that if it were okay to bar Nazis from employment, and academia, because of their politics, then this could negatively impact a good part of the left.
Spiros said...
Black people have a different perspective. They are simultaneously more sober and less parochial about America's past
Based on my experience the average black person knows little about America's past, and even less about world history. And the number that believe Aids was introduced to Africa by the CIA is astoundingly large.
The average white person not much more.
traditionalguy said...
These military bases were built for our WWI Army training. That was done only 50 years after these states had been pillaged by yankees, and fear of southern states still not getting along with their yankee conquistadors was a big deal. So as a token of reconciliation, the new bases in the south were not named for conquering Yankee soldiers but for respected southern soldiers
Back in the early 1970s my uncle and I visited some shirttail relatives in South Carolina near the Georgia border.. The older aunts and 2nd and 3rd cousins talked about Sherman's March to the Sea as if it had happened to them. The referred to USMA at West Point as The Citadel of the North, obviously an inferior institution. I can totally see the point here. Back then when the older ladies talked about Sherman's March to the Sea- it would have happened to them.
I wonder how the older ladies down there now talk about Sherman's March to the Sea? The older ladies now are my age....(and up)
Carol said...
The whites were probably more worried more about uprisings than losing the free labor, though no one wanted to do farm work in that environment either. You got Negroes or Indians to do that. Now, first gen Mexicans and Guatemalans.
Nobody wants to work that hard. I knew whites who picked cotton or fruit as teens during WWII and they were scarred for life. LOL.
Six generations of my family farmed in western NC. They did quite well considering that they owned no slaves. Thanks for letting me know what lazy scumbags they were.
“ frenchy said...
My grandparents came to America in the 1890s from Germany, and settled in Minnesota as farmers. They never owned slaves nor were they or anyone else in my family involved in the slave trade. I have no dog in this fight, right?”
I’m sorry, but I don’t think you’re allowed to opt out. It’s like the stain of original sin in the new woke religion. White = sinner.
Is there anyone alive today we could erect a statue to who everyone would agree deserves it?
Weird Al Yankovic?
Speaking of BLM, Rasmussen polls them at 64% approval. We have become a nation dominated by pinheads.
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/blogs/rita-panahi/blm-are-radical-neomarxists/news-story/8ed22f8b57042417bf23745dba70ad7c
However, since we have benefitted from "White Privilege", we not only have a dog in the fight, we are the dog.
My two great great uncles who died in the Civil War would be amazed today. "What have you done for me lately?" That should be the battle cry.
I've been to the grave of one, The other is buried in Memphis in an unknown grave. He left a wife and two children.
I knew whites who picked cotton or fruit as teens during WWII and they were scarred for life. LOL.<
Sam Rayburn did as a child and he ended up pretty well.
From the clerk's pushback:"[M]y maternal ancestors were enslaved in Mississippi"
Meaning, the clerk is an AA hire. "Who cares it they're competent?"
“ The “systemic racism” endured by Americans is reflected by the preferential treatment afforded African-Americans by every institution except the police. The Marxist-inspired BLM seeks to eliminate that exception by intimidation and prevarication aided and abetted by the useful idiots.”
Actually, blacks are probably over represented in the police too, esp at the top levels. We have seen plenty of incompetent black police chiefs over the last couple weeks kowtowing to the mobs. But more importantly blacks are less likely to be arrested for any crimes they commit on a per crime basis, and more likely to kill a white, than be killed by a white. Etc.
Excellent point, Mac. The clerk could have said his ancestors were SLAVES in MISSISSIPPI, instead of ENSLAVED there, but he went full Tim Kaine.
It’s a common locution , even taught in schools. Even those not childish enough to believe in the Roots fantasy of Blacks being kidnapped by white slave traders, instead being subjugated wholesale by other African tribes and traded by Arabs, still seem to believe that they were simply held captive, awaiting shipment, but not enslaved until evil, greedy Whitey added that final indignity in America, as if there was no work to do in Africa, no cotton to be picked.
“They're going to rename Plummer auditorium at Fullerton College because Louis E. Plummer was a member of the KKK. I don't think that anyone really knew anything about Louis E. Plummer until this week. Now, all that people know is that he was a member of the Klan. That's the risk about having something named after you; at some point you might actually be remembered for the bad things that you did. (And then, that's all that people will remember.)”
This is going to be interesting. It seems that half the federal buildings in West Virginia were named for the late Sen Robert “Sheets” Byrd, mentor to China Joe Biden. Byrd was a former Grand Kleagle of the KKK, and thus one of the higher ranking Klan to ever grace the halls of Congress, and definitely to serve as President Pro Tem of the Senate, most recently under President Obama.
The left has a big problem here, because their party, the Democrats, was the Klan Party. Or, rather for the century after they lost the Civil War (and their slaves freed), the KKK operated as the shock troops for the Dem Party, the function now apparently filled by AntiFA and its fascist thugs. Even after the rest of the political offices in WV had swung Republican, Sheets Byrd was able to hang onto his perch in the Senate until carried out in a casket, a mere decade ago, thanks to all of the federal largess, often in the form of buildings and infrastructure named after himself that he brought home.
Should be a lot of fun.
[N]o matter how bravely your uncle fought for the Confederacy, the foundation of his fight was a decision that he agreed more with the ideals of the Confederacy, than he did with those of the Union.
I doubt most of the people who actually fought for the south had it as their highest priority that slavery must be preserved. My guess is the overwhelming majority of everyone who fought for the south did so because they felt like their home was being invaded by the Federal army. When they heard about federal troops in south they probably thought this was exactly the kind of tyranny we were fighting against 80 plus years ago against King George.
The US civil war was very bloody; over 600,000 people were killed in it. If that were in today's numbers that would be over 6,000,000. There were families divided, brother fighting against brother. And it was only ended with General Sherman's destructive march to the sea. And after the war was over, we (meaning the north) had two choices, we could either try to subjugate the south and treat it as a federal territory, administered by Federally appointed people for eternity, or we could get on the path of having the south become full-fledged states and welcome them back into the fold. We chose the latter. In order to carry this out we would need reconciliation. This would take generations. And part of reconciliation is allowing those that fought for the south and their families to have some measure of honor and dignity. This is they way I view most civil war monuments that have confederate soldiers in them to promote reconciliation and heal the wounds of division from the war.
"[N]o matter how bravely your uncle fought for the Confederacy, the foundation of his fight was a decision that he agreed more with the ideals of the Confederacy, than he did with those of the Union."
Not that nuance matters to people in this era, but agreeing with the ideals of a planter elite were less motivating to most southern soldiers than the fact that northern troops were invading and destroying their homes and endangering their families. Right or wrong, it must have been no fun for anyone.
It was too bad that the slaves did not have a successful revolt and win their own freedom. That would have engendered more self respect than having it given to them. Some things can't be given, they need to be taken.
And yet the fact remains. It was white men who ended slavery.
Period.
IT WILL BE WORTH IT, if we can PURGE THE PAST! right?? I mean, right?
Humans have attempted and advocated this so many times that it's crazy not to see that it's human nature to do it. We condemn our past, we don't learn our history, and we act surprised when history actually repeats itself.
I'm glad I'm in my mid fifties and only have 20 more years (or so) to watch this nonsense unfold. I wish I were born in the teens or twenties and lived through the country's heyday. What a sucky time to be alive.
Will we someday remove the Vietnam war memorial? And treat those fallen soldiers as remnants of an unjust war for which they fought for the wrong side?
Is there a difference here with the Confederate soldiers?
It's worth remembering here that soldiers take an oath. Civilians decide to wage war, and soldiers honor their oath without regard for the civilian decision. That's true for officers and enlisted. And historically, serving in the military was not a choice -- it was compulsory.
So we dishonor the images and names of soldiers, who fought with honor, based on decisions made by civilians -- most of whom have been forgotten and left in peace.
There will be a time that the reaction of most people to the self aggrieved radicals will be " I just don't care".
Sorry, cubanbob, but that's never going to be good enough. You will be MADE to care. Employers make people take diversity training. People are fired from jobs for making their own views known. Protesters pick out white neighborhoods to march in (like here in the Detroit area) to "afflict the comfortable".
And if you STILL don't care after that, then you're either JK Rowling and filthy rich enough to not care, or you really DON'T care, which makes you a strong, commendable person for being able to still feel that way after everything has been taken from you.
(Note - I don't mean you in particular; I mean the person who doesn't care.)
The left has a big problem here, because their party, the Democrats, was the Klan Party.
Why do you think they are so intent on destroying history ? They may be evil but they are not stupid.
Well they might as well leave Fort Bragg alone. Bragg’s defense of Missionary Ridge eventually cost the Confederacy the entire western theater of the war.
There's no way forward in critical race theory.
Using critical race theory to solve racism is like fucking to prevent pregnancy.
I hope this judge takes senior status and is replaced by a Trump nominee during his second term as president.
So only Weird Al Yankovich and Neil Armstrong get statues? Why only musicians?
The renaming and tearing down monuments is just the Dem way of erasing their bloody, racist past from history. It's the one way they can succeed in blaming it on the Republicans.
Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben are headed for the Memory Hole. How much longer for the Cream of Wheat guy?
To many of us, military base names are no big deal. We refer to Ft. Polk as Ft. Puke. There are plenty of Medal of Honor awardees that could/should be used as candidates for new installation names. Audie Murphy and Alvin York come immediately to mind and there are many minority awardees deserving of the honor.
Regarding the renaming of consumer products, Victory Gin, Victory Cigarettes seem to set the example.
Oh, I forget Ft. Leonard Wood as Ft. Lost-in-the-Woods. Seems legit.
Us boomers had our own arrogance in youth, but I don't think we had anywhere near the self-assured ignorance of today's youths. Today we see people with zero experience and just as little context due to poor education who are convinced they know everything, and that anybody who disagrees, regardless of what they have seen or done, is not only wrong, but they believe are lost in ignorance. The myopia is astounding.
I remember being young and liberal. I had no real understanding of the conservative arguments or values or why they made sense to the other side. I only felt I was on the right side of history, just because I felt it. I was so stupid, and didn't really know it, but I still had respect for older people, becuase I knew they had experience I never did, and I knew there were things to learn from them. I don't see that attitude much today.
I've never heard anyone who served there talk about Ft. Bragg or Ft. Lee or Ft. Hood in terms of their Confederate General namesakes. Why would they? Imagine telling people you're from Washington State and them responding, "Wow, how does it feel living in state named after George Washington?". Or discussing how it feels to live in City named for the Duke of York. This is just crazy trivial pursuit.
Patrick Henry was right! said...
And yet the fact remains. It was white men who ended slavery.
Period
More specifically, white Christian men, mostly of a Protestant persuasion. The Quakers were the leading denomination in opposing slavery and helping bring about it's end in the English speaking world.
Birkel: he actually went senior under Clinton. Seat passed to Kavanaugh. Now held by Rao (Trump pick).
I wonder how Fort McClellan in Alabama, came to be named after a Yankee General. Maybe because he was a failed Yankee General that Lincoln fired and replaced.
I never picked cotton
Like my mother did and my brother did
And my sister did and my Daddy died young
Workin' in a coal mine
When I was just a baby too little for the cotton sack
I played in the dirt while the others worked
'Til they couldn't straighten up their backs
And I made myself a promise when I was old enough to run
That I'd never stay a single day In that Oklahoma sun
And I never picked cotton, etc.
Folks said that I grew up early and the farm couldn't hold me then
So I stole ten bucks and a pickup truck and I never went back again
Then it was fast cars and whiskey, long legged girls and fun
I had everything that money could bring and I took it all with a gun
And I never picked cotton, etc.
It was Saturday night in Memphis when a redneck grabbed my shirt
And he said go back to your cotton sack, I left him lying in the dirt
And they'll take me in the morning to the gallows just outside
And in the time I've got there ain't a hell of a lot
I can look back on with pride
But I never picked cotton
Like my mother did and my brother did
And my sister did and my Daddy died young
Workin' in a coal mine
I never picked cotton
Like my mother did and my brother did
And my sister did and my Daddy died young
Workin' in a coal mine
I wonder how Fort McClellan in Alabama, came to be named after a Yankee General. Maybe because he was a failed Yankee General that Lincoln fired and replaced.
McClellan also ran against, and was defeated by, Lincoln in the 1864 presidential election.
WE NEED A FORT LONGSTREET!
Blogger MadisonMan said...
"Enough with the retroactive thought Police.
My own great-great-grandfather fought for the Union and was horrible maimed. Does that mean I have some kind of virtue? No."
On my mothers side; Her ancestors founded the state of Arkansas. One of my great great grand fathers was a captain in the confederate army. many of them were lawyers and politicians they signed the bill to succeed from the union . They owned slaves. After the war they lost everything. They were such cruel masters that their former slaves worked for them for wages. My great grandfather, a lawyer, was the first man to defend a black man in a capital murder case and win. What does this mean today? Nothing. An interesting family history.
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