Today, the the Kansas City Star published this column by Lee Edwards, a fellow at the Heritage Institute. I quote the key passage that set me off
We’ve been divided since the birth of the Republic, . . . In the end, guided by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, we came together.
Our divided nation fought a terrible civil war, pitting brother against brother. But in the end, we came together so that government of the people, by the people and for the people would not perish. For the next eight decades, we accepted a limited role for government . . .
I just submitted a letter to the editor of the Kansas City Star on the enormous historical lie that is in the passage I quoted. Here it is.
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Lee Edwards’ column (1/16/21) on how our country unified after times of great division has an enormous historical lie:
“Our divided nation fought a terrible civil war, pitting brother against brother. But in the end, we came together so that government of the people, by the people and for the people would not perish.”
We fought a terrible civil war over slavery. In the end, white people (Edwards’ “we”) came together by ending Reconstruction which allowed Jim Crow and the disenfranchisement of people of color everywhere.
He continues: “we accepted a limited role for government.” We white people accepted a limited role of government for protecting the rights of minorities except when “we” passed specific laws making discrimination legal.
In 2021, to unify our country, we must not forget the reasons for the insurrection of January 6. We, EVERYONE, must recognize that Joe Biden won a free and fair election. Those who have claimed otherwise leading to the insurrection must admit they were wrong and the participants in the insurrection must be punished to the full extent of the law.
Forgetting real history is never unifying.