Saturday, January 16, 2016

Confederate flag, statute, names, etc. controversy continues

It appears that the South is beginning to abandon its lost-cause delusions and face the fact that southern history and culture were dominated by white supremacy, and government and private violence against free blacks for nearly a century.  White supremacy ideology existed everywhere in the country, but in the South it was imposed with  special brutality.  Even some people who call themselves "libertarians" are not immune. 

You might argue that this is ancient history, and needs not be discussed in detail.  Yet, white supremacy lives in the hearts and minds of many, and part of that ideology involves denial of white brutality. Conditions may change, but ideology lives on as it is passed from generation to generation and is supported by too many, parents, educators and "historians." Two encouraging developments are below. 

 "It was there in Anderson County [TX] that a white mob hunted down and murdered perhaps dozens, if not hundreds, of African-Americans in July 1910 . . .




For more than a century, the act has gone officially unacknowledged in Slocum, a small, incorporated community 17 miles southeast of Palestine, the seat of Anderson County.
On Saturday, that will change when Texas State Historical Marker No. 18212 is unveiled near Killgo Cemetery. The marker is the first in Texas to recognize 20th-century racial violence against African-Americans"


Although there were similar incidents in the North, there were a lot more massacres of  blacks through out the South.  Most incidents are ignored.  In a few places, such as Colfax Louisiana, euphemism such as "riot" are used.
 In  related action:

" Texas' largest school district has joined the national debate over whether communities should cut their ties to the Confederacy by renaming buildings or removing monuments.
The Houston Independent School District board voted 5-4 on Thursday night to rename four campuses named after Robert E. Lee or others linked to the Confederacy.
The board issued a statement afterward saying the decision was made "in order to represent the values and diversity of the school district," which has about 215,000 students at 283 schools.
Robert E. Lee High School plus three middle schools — Henry Grady, Richard Dowling and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson — will get new names to be proposed by a committee from each campus. Four other schools that had also been on the name change list were pulled to allow trustees time to discuss the issue with communities from those campuses."

2 comments:

  1. It would be interesting and enlightening to see some public discussion of black slave owners:

    http://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/black-slaveowners/

    I'm amused by such as the black "Nation of Islam", which honors the Islamic Arabs who were a major source of slaves. And I find it ironic that the other major source was the native African leader who took slaves in battle, for sale to the West.

    And it's rarely mentioned that there were more slaves brought into the Caribbean islands and Brazil than into the U.S.

    Regards,

    Art

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