Trump said in one of his typical rants:
“… Many of those people were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee. This week, it is Robert E. Lee and this week, Stonewall Jackson. Is it George Washington next? You have to ask yourself, where does it stop? You take a look. The night before. They were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee. ...”
We all know you are profoundly ignorant of history:
Examples of "Trump History:
- No one knew Abraham Lincoln was a Republican
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Trump seemed to imply that Douglass, who died in 1895, was still alive.
"Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who's done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice," Trump said at the White House in February at an event recognizing African American history month.
Robert E Lee was guilty of treason against the United States of America.
The US Constitution Article III Section 3
“Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.”
18 U.S. Code § 2381 - Treason
“Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.”
(18 U.S. Code § 2381 was enacted after the Civil War so I am really being unfair.) levied war against the United States.
Clearly Robert E Lee (and Stonewall Jackson) levied war against the United States.
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson did not levy war against the United States.
Pretty clear difference Trump.
Your slavery argument is one of those deflections you use constantly. No equivalence.
There is every reason for communities and States to move Confederate statues to museums so they can provide historical context to ignorant folks like Trump and Bevin.
Regarding the governor of my state — Governor Bevin.
Governor Bevin said regarding the statue of Jefferson Davis in Kentucky’s Capitol
“… he "absolutely" disagrees with the removal of Confederate symbols and monuments from government property on Tuesday, calling the efforts to do so a "sanitization of history." ...”
In a follow up interview, Bevin said
“When you look at what people like a Pol Pot did, or a Stalin did, or a Hitler did, one of the first things you do is you remove any semblance of culture and of history, you try to be revisionist. You look what people are doing with ISIS, with the destruction of any kind of history of a different culture when they move into a new territory. I think it is a very dangerous precedent to pretend that your history is not your history. ”
Just like Trump, Bevin is deflecting. Moving the Davis statue from a place of honor — OUR STATE CAPITOL to a museum so they can provide historical context to ignorant folks like you.
Personal disclosure. I am a Southern from Kentucky. My father’s name reflected a famous Southern. He went by his initials all his life so when his given name was said at his High School graduation they were surprised. He was probably embarrassed by his name.
In my dark past, my great grandfather moved from Indiana back to Kentucky because he didn’t was his children sitting by black children.
In my opinion, the root of Charlottesville is our inability to deal with slavery, the Civil War and racism. Neither Trump or Bevin can deal with it.
Many of my fellow Southerners cling to the Southern heritage – The Myth of Lost Cause :
- exemplars of old-fashioned chivalry and honor
- Confederate soldiers represented the virtues of Southern nobility and fought bravely and fairly. (Northern soldiers had low moral standards)
- The South is profoundly more Christian than the North
- Defense of states' rights, rather than preservation of chattel slavery, was the primary cause that led eleven Southern states to secede from the Union, thus precipitating the war.
- Secession was a justifiable constitutional response to Northern cultural and economic aggressions against the Southern way of life.
- Slavery was a benign institution, and the slaves were loyal and faithful to their benevolent masters
Not only is the Lost Cause a myth. It is false.
It’s difficult to admit some of your ancestors were on the wrong side.
The cause of the Civil War was slavery pure and simple. Not State’s Rights. Slavery was and is ALWAYS morally wrong no matter whether it was in United States’ history or the Bible.
Just read some of the The Declaration of Causes of Seceding States:
Georgia
(2nd sentence)
“…For the last ten years we have had numerous and serious causes of complaint against our non-slave-holding confederate States with reference to the subject of African slavery…”
“…With these principles on their banners and these utterances on their lips the majority of the people of the North demand that we shall receive them as our rulers.
The prohibition of slavery in the Territories is the cardinal principle of this organization…”
Mississippi
(2nd sentence)
“…Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world…”
South Carolina
This session document was written in 1852. Much of the language was their legal interpretation that South Carolina was always a “…separate and equal place among nations …” that agreed to remain in the US up until December 24, 1860. The root to the session was slavery.
“…We affirm that these ends for which this Government was instituted have been defeated, and the Government itself has been made destructive of them by the action of the non-slaveholding States. Those States have assume the right of deciding upon the propriety of our domestic institutions; and have denied the rights of property established in fifteen of the States and recognized by the Constitution; they have denounced as sinful the institution of slavery; they have permitted open establishment among them of societies, whose avowed object is to disturb the peace and to eloign the property of the citizens of other States…”
Texas:
“…She was received as a commonwealth holding, maintaining and protecting the institution known as negro slavery-- the servitude of the African to the white race within her limits-- a relation that had existed from the first settlement of her wilderness by the white race, and which her people intended should exist in all future time. …”
Virginia:
“…the Federal Government, having perverted said powers, not only to the injury of the people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern Slaveholding States…
The root cause of the civil war was slavery coated in a mutual hatred and a Southern fear of losing political power. The overt cause was the North having the power to prevent new states and territories from becoming slave states. The South knew the political power in the Senate would skew toward the North. Eventually, they reasoned the anti-slave states would outlaw slavery everywhere which is a not so unreasonable logic.
Until each American comes to grips with our dark, racist past, we can not address our race problems.