Confederate History Month: Another excuse to tout racism

I never quite understood this “holiday,” so I began doing some research. What I found was that this is a way of commemorating the history of our nation. The Civil War was brutal on both sides. Many lives were lost. Many family members fought against each other. I have always felt it is important to remember where we came from so we don’t go there again.

I recently saw a post on Facebook. It was a Confederate Flag and it said, “I Support Confederate History Month.” I was curious, so I asked the poster why they supported it. Here is what she said following a comment I made saying, “I guess to me it is just a reminder... don't forget how far we have come. :)” Her response? “or how far we have not come....now it seems the "slaves" feel entitled.....while ...what their family members went thru could be horrifying by today’s standards.....it was what it was and we cannot rewrite it. AND....not one single person alive today deserves reparations for the actions leading up to....during and after the civil war.”

Confederate History Month should be an event on an annual basis to acknowledge the history of our nation. Not a time to fly Confederate flags and make racist statements. Hate goes deep and it causes so many problems. It creates problems in society at every level. Yet if you try to point it out, you are blatantly told you are the racist for “playing the race card.”

During this same discussion, one woman told me that she does celebrate it. She does so because she has gotten involved with Civil War Re-enactment. She said, “Confederates are almost solely remembered as slave owners, but that is not all the Civil War was about, and frankly the North had just as many 'slaves' as the South...they were not from Africa like the southern slaves, they were from Ireland...the Civil War was about tariffs, States’ rights, a unionized country, unified currency, state laws v. federal laws, more...the slavery issue was not as big of issue then as it is made to be now. And the point of slavery, not just whites own slaves, Indians did as well as other black land owners had slaves as well.” I would have to imagine that being involved with the re-enactment would be very informative and educational.

It is the other attitude. The other attack made. It confuses me. Aren’t we about 200 years past all of that? For some it appears that we are not. I once read something talking about America as a woman and how sick she was. It was, of course, a political joke. But it got me to thinking…. She is sick. She is being eaten alive from the inside.

So the final piece of the puzzle? How do we fix her? Each and every one of us have to speak out when we see wrong. We have to call people out for being racist and angry. We each have an obligation to welcome the past, because it carries important lessons, but we must strive for a brighter future. We cannot simply sit by while we see this anger growing in the belly of our beloved nation.