Confederates were racist traitors. There should have never been statues to begin with. Their history deserves to be erased, mocked, looked down upon, etc. At a time when the world was progressing in regards to human rights, those people were so backwards that they started a war to try and defend such a shameful situation. The fact that we are still dealing with it shows that they should have been treated more harshly after the war for their treason.
The unfortunate reality is that racism of whites was not restricted to the southern states.Travel around the US today and you'll see this divide in action once you leave a major metropolis. Pennsylvania is a hilarious state in this regard. One step in the south, one step in the north. Same can be said for Oregon. Portland is a progressive paradise, the eastern slopes of the Blue Mountains might as well be Appalachia.
Contrary to posts by fifty or others who will use this as an opportunity to talk about/blame identity politics, Southern Antebellum/Reconstruction is a cautionary tale about conservatism and government regulations and protections for the poor and disenfranchised.
American citizens voted racial segregation back in after sacrificing half a million americans to end the formalized practice. This would be like the nazi's losing the second world war and then 10 years later Germans decided to vote the nazis back into power. Southern States were only able to do this because of the weakness of the Federal government and the court system referring uncomfortable problems back to the states.
You are exactly right. The federal government should have stamped out the KKK and imposed harsher restrictions on slave holding southern states. The Confederate Flag is the only foreign flag to be flown on continental US soil. It should be a source of shame for any patriotic american, but for huge swathes of the country, it is flown with defiant pride.
There has been a single party that has fomented this political attitude in our living memory. It's the same party that wants to restrict voting rights of citizens based on their skin colour, wants to remove regulatory restrictions from financial institutions to return to the good old days of banking restrictions based on skin colour and now finally are tapping back into organized labour's unseemly history of restricting employment along racial lines as well.
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Why is anyone surprised, a state which was built by slaves hates people of colour. Quite frankly I would be surprised if something like this wasn't happening. If this conversation wasn't in the streets it surely would be in bars and at home. Racial tensions are not a thing of the past. Not even in our own back yard.
American citizens voted racial segregation back in after sacrificing half a million americans to end the formalized practice.
How many people who fought for the Union felt they were fighting to end racial segregation in the South? As you point out, racism wasn't confined to the American South.
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Originally Posted by Flash Walken
This would be like the nazi's losing the second world war and then 10 years later Germans decided to vote the nazis back into power. Southern States were only able to do this because of the weakness of the Federal government and the court system referring uncomfortable problems back to the states.
Yes, it would have been better in many respects if the federal government has imposed harsher terms on the South. Just as it would have been better if the victorious Allied armies in the Great War pushed on to Berlin, occupied Germany, and left no doubt as to who lost the war in the field.
However, that's ignoring popular sentiment at the time. There simply wasn't a lot of enthusiasm in the North to treat the South like a conquered enemy and impose harsh and enduring terms from Washington. It wasn't only in the South that Americans were extremely wary of entrusting the federal government with such power.
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Originally Posted by Flash Walken
There has been a single party that has fomented this political attitude in our living memory. It's the same party that wants to restrict voting rights of citizens based on their skin colour, wants to remove regulatory restrictions from financial institutions to return to the good old days of banking restrictions based on skin colour and now finally are tapping back into organized labour's unseemly history of restricting employment along racial lines as well.
Pretty sure the Dixiecrats are within living memory. The South didn't go Republican until the 60s.
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I am actually pretty sick of nonsense posts like this.
Why? It's objectively true. A smaller percentage of Americans have post secondary education, college education on aggregate is of lower quality, and primary and secondary schools are vastly inconsistent. As someone who spends a great deal of time in the states on business, in both red and blue states, the lack of general knowledge amongst college educated Americans is disconcerting.
This has manifested itself in a polarized political climate (brought about by a lack of intelligent media coverage) that doesn't allow for middle ground - the extension of this being the extremist groups we see clashing today.
I wish we had the ability to divorce ourselves culturally from the US.
The first step is to stop watching American TV news. I have no idea why Canadians watch CNN, Fox, Colbert, etc. It's garbage as news, and it's not even about your own country. So what if some congressman for party X says something dumb at congressional hearings, and the House Leader for party Y fires off a retort? What possible relevance does it have to you or your life?
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No one is taking away "white America's" identity. This movement is solely meant as an attempt to keep "others"--people of color, immigrants (legal or otherwise), gay people, trans people--beneath them.
Exactly. Protect The White Race is simply dog whistle for "we refuse to be equal to anyone; we need more of our foot on your neck."
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However, that's ignoring popular sentiment at the time. There simply wasn't a lot of enthusiasm in the North to treat the South like a conquered enemy and impose harsh and enduring terms from Washington.
Actually, that's not accurate. There was a huge, massive, appetite to reduce the southern states into economic colonies for Northern industrial capacity. This attitude was so prominent and easily capitalized on that it's become a component of Southern white identity. Carpetbaggers, scalywag. Historian Eric Foner has some very approachable content on this subject. It was northern conservatism that eventually eroded support for Southern reconstruction, not popular opinion. These are largely the same political actors and sentiments In fact, much of stirring resentment in the North prior to the civil war was as a result of the Fugitive Slave Act which compelled northerners to return fugitive slaves to their southern owners. Following the Civil War, the US congress passed laws despite Veto attempts from Andrew Johnson, specifically to prevent the rise or reaffirmation of slave holders in the south. Congress did this largely as a result of Northern/Union popular opinion as word spread from returning Union soldiers.
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It wasn't only in the South that Americans were extremely wary of entrusting the federal government with such power.
This just isn't true either. The war was fought to preserve Federal authority, to preserve the Union. In fact, you can trace most of our modern conservatism's distrust in the Federal government o this exact moment in history. Cliff, what you're saying is in opposition to established history. The 'Union' Forces were fighting for a federal mandate and the 'Confederate' forces were fighting for a coalition of loosely affiliated confederated states. It's right in their names.
Reconstruction carpetbaggers were seen as the 'froth' of an increasingly 'swelling tide' of Northern economic interest in the South. It is likely that without Lincoln's assassination and the election of a virulent, unapologetic racist in Johnson, that reconstruction would not have been abandoned. Even with an incredibly strong opponent in the White House, congress moved to increase their presence and oversight in the South.
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Pretty sure the Dixiecrats are within living memory. The South didn't go Republican until the 60s.
The Dixiecrats are not a political party, and their racist fueled ideology increasingly found no home with the Democrats until the point they switched party allegiance to find a sympathetic audience for the race-based Weltanschauung. Your example couldn't prove the point any better.
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Location: Wondering when # became hashtag and not a number sign.
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The Governor has declared a state of emergency in Charlottesville.
I suspect he has done this in order to have the ability to call in the National Guard if he feels that local authorities can't handle the escalating violence. This thing looks like it will get extremely ugly as there are already incidents of fist fights breaking out among protestors.
Trump is supposed to speak at the top of the hour.
Ok, so someone tell me again how muslim immigrants pose a bigger risk to Americans than white nationalists (who are all citizens BTW)? Explain it to me like I'm a 5 year old.
Christ...they've even stooped to using the tactics of terrorists by using vehicles as weapons.
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