In the history of mankind, there have been many more white slaves than there have been black slaves. Your history is not unique, it is merely the latest chapter in man’s inhumanity to man.
In America, there are thousands and thousands of white crosses all across the country. Those crosses represent the thousands and thousands of young, white boys who gave their lives so that your great-great grandfather could gain his freedom.
Across Europe and the Pacific, there are more thousands and thousands of white crosses that represent the thousands and thousands of young, white boys who gave their lives so that your grandfathers didn’t end up in one of Hitler’s ovens.
You have been given an incredible opportunity today that your ancestors could only have dreamed of. But you are here today to protest “whiteness” and Confederate symbols. To many white northerners the Confederate symbols and memorials represented traitors to our country, but to the citizens of the South they represent pride, honor and history of the sacrifice of their ancestors. Not unlike how the cross which was the method of death of Jesus Christ became the symbol of Christianity and resurrection. A sign of love and forgiveness rather than a symbol of tortuous death. But time and bloodshed heal many divisions and the USA evolved to become a beacon of hope to the world.
It is another of life’s ironies that you wish to destroy a symbol of slavery while voting as a Democrat. The very party that represented slavery, whose members founded the KKK, whose politicians passed Jim Crow laws and defended segregation for generations. A party that despises Republicans who have been with the black cause from the beginning and has fought for and passed civil rights legislation for over 150 years. The Democrat party is much more symbolic of slavery that any Confederate memorial could ever be.
Martin Luther King, Jr was a Christian preacher who wanted to be the white man’s brother. He did not want to destroy “whiteness”. He wanted to make it color blind and have blacks share in the bounty and potential of the American Dream. Not once during his career did he call for the destruction of Confederate symbols. He merely wanted to destroy the barriers that Democrats had erected.
African-Americans should drop the African and just consider themselves Americans. Your protests should be centered on reshaping the thug culture which permeates the black community. It is black on black crime that is filling the prisons. It is black drug dealers poisoning the black children. It is the thug culture which has turned black women into hoes and bitches and baby mamas instead of wives, daughters and sisters.
Colin Kaepernick is a great example of how not to be a role model. I would think that when he was leading the 49ers to a Super Bowl that the majority of his fans who were watching him play and buying his jersey were young, white boys. What an opportunity he had to be a role model to show that he was a leader of people instead of lashing out at the very people who made him a multi-millionaire and popular sports figure. He had the chance to be one of the giants whose shoulders would be pillars for those yet to come, but instead he chose to spit on those who supported him.
You have the chance to forget the past and work on the future. To make improvements to the content of your character instead of focusing on the color of one’s skin. Those Confederate symbols cause you no harm, but the wail of blighted and dying children needs to be answered.
Excellent.
well said
I had to copy and save that. Would it be possible to use it in the future and simply put “Author Unknown” at the bottom?
Really well said!
The putative African-American protester should also remember that the USA (and mainly whites) was the first country to eliminate and outlaw slavery - it took a while for other countries to follow suit; the only remaining countries which condone slavery today are all muslim - remember that next time you see a fellow black who is a muslim; remember also that ME muslims consider blacks like you fit only for slavery ...
Remember also that the old white founder dudes deliberately made blacks count less than a whole for voting purposes because, had blacks been counted as whole, the South (which had more people at the time) would have ruled Congress, and slavery would possibly never have ended.