I Have Something to Say
There is a popular movement afoot in this country to remove Confederate monuments and statues from public view. I would urge open-minded people to consider the following facts before passing judgment on these actions:
On April 21, 1861, the US Navy captured the slave ship Nightingale off the coast of west Africa. The slaver was based in Boston and flying the American Flag. Nine hundred sixty-one African slaves were found below decks stacked like cordwood. The New England states and many European nations operated the slave trade. No slave ship ever flew the Confederate Flag.
In 1862, Union General U.S. Grant issued General Order No. 11 which called for the mass arrest and deportation of all Jews in Kentucky, Tennessee and northern Mississippi. American Jews on both sides of the war were outraged over this. Lincoln was pressured into rescinding the order.
In 1863, Illinois passed a law making it a crime for blacks to live in that state. California passed many laws discriminating against Asians.
Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation left slavery intact in five states and portions of two others. Lincoln then admitted West Virginia to the Union as a slave state.
When Union forces arrived in the Atlanta area, they arrested 700 mostly female mill workers at the Roswell and New Manchester mills. Their crime was making gray cloth for the Confederate Army. These women with their young children were force marched or transported to Marietta where they were herded onto rail cars like cattle and shipped to Indiana. Most never returned. This atrocity has been referred to as the “Southern Trail of Tears.”
Lincoln imprisoned thousands of northern Democrats for speaking out against his invasion of the South. None were ever formally charged or tried in a court of law. Among them were the son and grandson of Francis Scott Key.
So why are we removing Confederate monuments, when the whole country is guilty of racism and slavery?
On April 21, 1861, the US Navy captured the slave ship Nightingale off the coast of west Africa. The slaver was based in Boston and flying the American Flag. Nine hundred sixty-one African slaves were found below decks stacked like cordwood. The New England states and many European nations operated the slave trade. No slave ship ever flew the Confederate Flag.
In 1862, Union General U.S. Grant issued General Order No. 11 which called for the mass arrest and deportation of all Jews in Kentucky, Tennessee and northern Mississippi. American Jews on both sides of the war were outraged over this. Lincoln was pressured into rescinding the order.
In 1863, Illinois passed a law making it a crime for blacks to live in that state. California passed many laws discriminating against Asians.
Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation left slavery intact in five states and portions of two others. Lincoln then admitted West Virginia to the Union as a slave state.
When Union forces arrived in the Atlanta area, they arrested 700 mostly female mill workers at the Roswell and New Manchester mills. Their crime was making gray cloth for the Confederate Army. These women with their young children were force marched or transported to Marietta where they were herded onto rail cars like cattle and shipped to Indiana. Most never returned. This atrocity has been referred to as the “Southern Trail of Tears.”
Lincoln imprisoned thousands of northern Democrats for speaking out against his invasion of the South. None were ever formally charged or tried in a court of law. Among them were the son and grandson of Francis Scott Key.
So why are we removing Confederate monuments, when the whole country is guilty of racism and slavery?
