Tue, Nov. 15, 2005
I read with sad amazement the editorial brief by Bob Caylor in The News-Sentinel. Caylor’s comparison of the Confederate battle flag to a shirt with a four-letter word for excrement on it should offend all readers but certainly any with any ties to the Southern states. His naive perceptions of America’s bloodiest war cause question as to exactly what level of educational attainment he may have risen.
Although we of the Indiana Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, agree with Bloomington South Principal Mark Fletcher that this issue provides a “teaching opportunity,” what will he do with it? Will the school system provide the same politically correct propaganda we were all fed as elementary school students or eliminate the ignorance of historical fact that caused his initial problem?
Should we continue to ignore the fact that the War between the States occurred because for the first time an American president called for 75,000 men to invade a weaker neighbor whose president declared, “We only wish to be left alone”? Will racial tensions be decreased if we continue to hide the fact that the U.S. Constitution protected the tragic condition of slavery for more than 80 years and did not end it for nearly a year after the Confederacy existed? Will high school students make better citizens if they don’t realize that soldiers who fought under the Stars and Stripes fought not to end slavery but rather to force the southern states back into a union for political rather than humanitarian reasons? Will we perpetuate the myth of “Father Abraham,” who declared repeatedly that this war was being waged not to end slavery but to preserve the Union? Why is it so hard for us all to admit that 19th-century America was a racist place to live and many lessons could be learned from it? Here are two reasons: The young scholars who could make a difference are not provided the facts of history, and newspapers print editorials based on sensational rants with no basis in fact.
I am proud to be a Son of a Confederate Veteran!
On The Web: http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/13172723.htm
