Posted on 07/03/2019 7:10:43 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
On Monday, the City Council of Charlottesville, Va., voted to replace the official paid holiday celebrating the birth of Thomas Jefferson with an official paid holiday celebrating slave liberation in the city. The city council revoked Jefferson's holiday during the week of July 4, the American holiday celebrating the Declaration of Independence, which Jefferson drafted. Charlottesville is indebted to Jefferson, and this decision seems a clear message of ingratitude.
Late on Monday, councilors voted to remove April 13, Jefferson's birthday, from the city's holiday schedule, NBC 29 reported. Jefferson's birthday was the only holiday uniquely celebrated by the city.
While Charlottesville predates Jefferson's plantation of Monticello by ten years, the modern city grew up in the shadow of Monticello and the University of Virginia, which Jefferson himself founded. Thomas Jefferson was the main author of the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified on July 4, widely considered America's birthday. He also served as the nation's first secretary of state, its second vice president, and its third president.
So why remove the holiday celebrating Jefferson? It seems political correctness had a great deal to do with the decision.
When the city council struck Jefferson's birthday from the schedule, it added "Liberation and Freedom Day" as an official holiday, set for March 3. That holiday will commemorate the day U.S. troops officially emancipated slaves in Charlottesville shortly before the end of the Civil War. (NBC 29 falsely reported that this event happened "following the end of the Civil War," yet the Union occupation of Charlottesville began on March 3, 1865, before the April 9 surrender at Appomattox, the May 9 Union declaration of victory, and the last Confederate surrender on June 23.)
"Having March 3rd be a designated holiday in the city will be a big step towards more accurately presenting the history of Charlottesville and recognizing the importance and value of the lives of the black residents who made up the majority of the population in the city and county at the time of the Civil War," City Councilor Ben Doherty said.
Another member of the city council, Scott Warner, attacked the decision.
Of Jefferson, he said, "He was the nation’s first secretary of state, he was the second vice president of the United States, he was the third president of the United States. With all of these incredible accomplishments, it's inconceivable for our area not to honor his birthday as a holiday."
Two factors explain the decision, however. In the years leading up to the infamous August 2017 clashes between white nationalists and antifa-linked protesters in Charlottesville, a movement against Confederate monuments arose. This traced back to the horrific shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. The shooter had posted pictures of himself with a Confederate flag.
Protests at Confederate monuments broke out across the country in the wake of Donald Trump's election, and the white nationalists who came to Charlottesville in 2017 claimed to be defending a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Shortly after the riots, Trump warned about a slippery slope.
"This week it's Robert E. Lee, I noticed that Stonewall Jackson is coming down," Trump said. "I wonder, is it George Washington next week, and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You have to ask yourself, where does it stop?"
Some have called for the removal of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., and even for the renaming of the nation's capital. In 2017, a memorial to George Washington was removed from a church Washington frequently visited. Last year, college students in New York State demanded a Thomas Jefferson statue be removed, since the statue supports "white supremacy."
Trump's warning was correct, and it seems even the City of Charlottesville is rushing to excise America's history. Jefferson may have owned slaves, and he infamously had relations with one of his slaves, leaving black descendants. Even so, he had a colossal impact on American history and deserves to be remembered and honored for his work.
This is a true tragedy, as it comes days before Americans celebrate the Declaration of Independence on July 4. Americans should be celebrating Jefferson this week, not removing him from public holidays.
“Liberation and Freedom Day” from DEMOCRAT SLAVE HOLDERS!!!
So we cannot honor Jefferson, because an 18th/19th century man did not have a 21st century politically correct worldview????
The question isn't where does it stop, it's WHEN does it stop. My guess is the next revolution/civil uprising, it's I imagine it ain't gonna be pretty.
Will anti-flag celeb colon krapernick be grand marshall at the parade?
FO South Carolina! Why should anyone in that moron state EVER have to actually think, maybe read a little and maybe also learn a little about their history.
F^^king libtard snowflakes. Who would have thought. A whole state of people who cannot read OR think.
The Lefties come up with the most ridiculous names for things
Um...it’s Virginia
They have to take your PAST before they take your future.
They have to make you feel you have no future:
Before they kill you.
The virus that has infected Virginia and is turning it Democrat Marxist is morphing into necrotizing fasciitis. Next week there is a special session of the legislature ostensibly to consider more Rat proposed gun control measures, but what other evil might they also have planned?
Do they celebrate Lenin’s birthday?
These same Democrat arseholes gave Obama a pass because he was jes’ a teenager when the Weather Underground bombed this nation in the 70s.
How can things a generation prior be excused but things centuries ago are despised?
Thomas Jefferson and our other Founders made the end of slavery inevitable. Sadly, we have dim bulbs in high places these days.
More history re-written. Possibly the reason for the youths coming out of high school clueless about history. IMO
The left is phenomenally good at what they do.
As far as I can tell, black people weren’t tortured by most of the elements of the founding of this country. Slavery, the 3/5ths compromise, yes, but not the founders. Look at the surnames many of the slaves took, Jefferson, Washington, Adams, etc.
The left has convinced blacks, and bed wetting whites that this country was founded on an “original sin” that can’t be forgiven. In fact, it’s crucial to find fault with all elements of the nation’s birth. Of course the goal is to nullify the constitution and pave the way for a socialist paradise. But the consumers of leftist hate don’t understand this. The consumers of this garbage just know that country has flaws, (as all countries do), and their lives could be better. Obviously, to them, it’s the flaws with the founding of America, and the solution is to erase that founding any way they can.
I hear and read more hate all the time. I’m tired of Republican politicians who roll over for this stuff. I’m tired of people in authority bowing to leftist political correctness, and praying to the gods of diversity and inclusion. If this boils to a hot conflict left versus right, I’m ready.
I’ve had enough.
Where’s all the south bashers here
Hope they are happy
We warned em
“Um...it’s Virginia”
Forget it, he’s rolling. (Animal House)
Saul Alinsky: 8. “Keep the pressure on. Never let up.” Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new.
"If you can cut people off from their history, they can be easily persuaded."--Karl Marx
The liberals are busy stirring up hatred for the white man by bringing up all of this slavery mess as if it were still 1850 in 2019.
Every day, in every way, in America, everything is all about race
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