At the UNC campus, students today took down a statute of a confederate soldier erected in 1913. This is what happens when a 62% of the NC Republican legislatures pass a law that prevents removing, relocating, or altering monuments, memorials, plaques and other markers that are on public property without permission from the N.C. Historical Commission, who of course, won't ever give it.
At the dedication in 1913, Julian Carr, a white supremacist who made a fortune in tobacco, stated proudly:
"The present generation, I am persuaded, scarcely takes note of what the Confederate soldier meant to the welfare of the Anglo Saxon race during the four years immediately succeeding the war, when the facts are, that their courage and steadfastness saved the very life of the Anglo Saxon race in the South – When “the bottom rail was on top” all over the Southern states, and to-day, as a consequence the purest strain of the Anglo Saxon is to be found in the 13 Southern States – Praise God."
and
"I trust I may be pardoned for one allusion, howbeit it is rather personal. One hundred yards from where we stand, less than ninety days perhaps after my return from Appomattox, I horse-whipped a negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds, because upon the streets of this quiet village she had publicly insulted and maligned a Southern lady, and then rushed for protection to these University buildings where was stationed a garrison of 100 Federal soldiers."
So, an white man whipped a black woman until her dress was in shreds, and proud enough he made it part of the speech. I'm sure that made all the blacks present very comfortable. Oh, I forgot, they weren't allowed to attend UNC until a half-century later pursuant to a federal court order.
I recently visited the Legacy Museum and the the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, where the center of the slave industry was located. Only the Holocaust Museum could be compared with the stories of horror and tragedy. How any human being with even a shred of decency could leave there and not be moved is simply beyond my comprehension. From 1865 thousands of black Americans were murdered by whites, sometimes for no reason at all besides sport. Over 4000 are documented at the memorial, but the actual number is many times that. Many were wrongly accused of crimes, and horribly tortured, and burned alive in front of thousands of cheering crowds. Number of convictions: 0.
I later visited the battlefield at Vicksburg, MS, and visited a local museum at the Courthouse there. Of course, in that museum, the rewritten history of the South was told, where slaves stayed loyal after the war because they loved their masters so much, and how they volunteered to fight with the south, yes, to keep them enslaved (or more accurately, from swinging at the end of a rope), and the gift shop was full of tea party gifts and confederate flags.
Until the south comes clean and admits that slavery was in fact the cause of the war and stops treating these men who fought as hero's but the traitors they were, clashes like these, with students and others who know the truth of southern history rather than the lies their parents were told when they were growing up will take things in their own hands.
It's time for the nation to accept that there is a history of this country that isn't great and never was. Slavery was one, and neither is the South's distorted version of history.
We, as a nation, can accomplish, and have accomplished more than any other country. But the division and hatred that spews forth from the various forums and websites I see posted here that equates anyone who doesn't think the same is the enemy and not to be respected may destroy us. We must remember to respect everyone no matter race, creed, or political views and not attack each other. We are all Americans, and it is the very diversity that makes us the greatest country in the world. Until that happens, there is a chance, like in 1860, that this country may not survive. I have no doubt Russia fills many of these roles on forums such as this; spewing hate and discord. Who knows if that person who attacks your views so voraciously is real or hasn't stolen someone's identity? So, take what your read on the net with skepticism, and take what someone may post that pushes a hate-filled agenda with a large grain of salt as you may well be being played by forces more sinister than simple ignorance.
