would it have been possible to be a confederate and a devout catholic?

[BouncingBall]

Few practiced slavery in the South. How about the slavery that was practiced in Africa?

Oh, I know about that. The Islamic settlers distilled African slavery into a fine art, which is why I chuckle when I see Black Americans converting to Islam and wearing khufis and stuff. Heck, the original translation of 1000 Arabian Nights is pretty racist.

All things considered, your precious Stars and Bars mean nothing to me but the white hoods of the KKK, lynchings, cross burnings, anti-Semitism, anti-Black, Jim Crow, and the “Yeeeeehaw–White Power!” war cry.

If the South was so awesome for Black and White alike, why did they have to start the NAACP, the SCLC? Or have marches in Selma? Montgomery? Medgar Evers, Emmett Till, anyone?

I hope His Eminence Cardinal Arinze becomes the next Pope. That’ll smoke out the racists from Holy Mother Church real good.

PS – Still waiting on your delivery of human chattel. Tick tock!

 

[BouncingBall]

Why the slight BouncingBall?..if you think the Civil War was truly fought over slavery, then you were done an injustice in your education. I am personally offended by your statements…I am a born and raised southerner myself and no one in my family owned slaves and I don’t agree with slavery, but if you look in the context of why they were here and the purpose they served…not to mention it was legal, then it is understandable that they existed at the infancy of our fine country…that doesn’t make it right (morality) wise, nor does it excuse any horrible acts committed by owners (which as a matter of fact was the exception as opposed to the rule)…but it was just a way of life. It is also true, that in the south we valued honor and integrity…and I honestly feel that if the south would’ve won or held out long enough to win northern people sympathy and understanding, then this country would be a better place.

Oh, and FYI, if you don’t want other people using the “N” word as you have in your posts, then you should set the example and not use it yourself.

I give you permission to use the N word, Michaeldaniels.

Really, I am trying to bring the point home of how ugly the word can be. Equally as ugly as the legacy left by the Stars And Bars.

Quick Quiz: What part of the US did many slaves escape to be free?
Quick Quiz 2: What part of the US did many Blacks move away from between Reconstruction and the height of Jim Crow?

 

[michaeldaniels]

You are letting your emotions dictate your words and you obviously know NOTHING about history and your sense of entitlement is disgusting “I hope His Eminence Cardinal Arinze becomes the next Pope. That’ll smoke out the racists from Holy Mother Church real good.”–I guess we have some payback coming to us??? And for the record, the KKK, a despicable group was very, very anti-Catholic and we were treated just as bad by the KKK as blacks were…Catholics were mistreated because WE marched in Selma standing up for you all…and to paint it as something else quite frankly PO’s me!!!

Also, try to learn what you are talking about before opening your mouth…The Stars and Bars and the Battle Flag are two different things…you probably wouldn’t even recognize the Stars and Bars if you saw it, but you have mistakenly confused it with the Battle Flag.

And please tell me how the treatment of ex-slaves by your beloved northern states during Reconstruction was better than how they were treated down here during the Confederacy??? Do you realize there were several documented accounts of lynchings, beatings, etc by the northerners against the blacks??? Do you realize they were refused quarter and blocked by many states from even being able to move there??? Did you also know that a lot of them desired the ways of old over their new lives, once they realized how poorly they were being treated by the northerners…at least while in the south during the confederacy, they had a roof over their heads and something to eat…and how sad are you if you read Uncle Tom’s Cabin and think that every plantation down here operated like that…How sad. There were exceptions…but they were far from being the norm.

Granted the NAACP and affirmative action was necessary at a point in our nations history, but that point has long gone…now their actions, what they do, what they stand for, who they employ, etc…everything about them is corrupt and disgustful. But I suppose you are cool with that…and The New Black Panthers

Stop learning your History from a Cracker Jack box…because I know the truth and I go all day long about this.

Oh, I know about that. The Islamic settlers distilled African slavery into a fine art, which is why I chuckle when I see Black Americans converting to Islam and wearing khufis and stuff. Heck, the original translation of 1000 Arabian Nights is pretty racist.

All things considered, your precious Stars and Bars mean nothing to me but the white hoods of the KKK, lynchings, cross burnings, anti-Semitism, anti-Black, Jim Crow, and the “Yeeeeehaw–White Power!” war cry.

If the South was so awesome for Black and White alike, why did they have to start the NAACP, the SCLC? Or have marches in Selma? Montgomery? Medgar Evers, Emmett Till, anyone?

I hope His Eminence Cardinal Arinze becomes the next Pope. That’ll smoke out the racists from Holy Mother Church real good.

PS – Still waiting on your delivery of human chattel. Tick tock!

 

[michaeldaniels]

It is an ugly word and I refuse to use it…but there is such a double standard…it is an insult no matter who says it, but I constantly hear blacks say it like it is cool and all the while they are insulting themselves and their people…no one should say it. We must see Christ in everyone and treat everyone with love, dignity, and respect…but with that said, I will not allow you to post revisionists history about the South and present it is fact when it is not…it is sad enough that most schools don’t teach the truth to their students, but I have no control over that…but I will correct you on here when I see something that is flat out wrong.

Rest of your post, refuted in my previous post. You are welcome for the free history lesson.

I give you permission to use the N word, Michaeldaniels.

Really, I am trying to bring the point home of how ugly the word can be. Equally as ugly as the legacy left by the Stars And Bars.

Quick Quiz: What part of the US did many slaves escape to be free?
Quick Quiz 2: What part of the US did many Blacks move away from between Reconstruction and the height of Jim Crow?

 

[JBCatholicRN]

Oh, I know about that. The Islamic settlers distilled African slavery into a fine art, which is why I chuckle when I see Black Americans converting to Islam and wearing khufis and stuff. Heck, the original translation of 1000 Arabian Nights is pretty racist.

All things considered, your precious Stars and Bars mean nothing to me but the white hoods of the KKK, lynchings, cross burnings, anti-Semitism, anti-Black, Jim Crow, and the “Yeeeeehaw–White Power!” war cry.

If the South was so awesome for Black and White alike, why did they have to start the NAACP, the SCLC? Or have marches in Selma? Montgomery? Medgar Evers, Emmett Till, anyone?

I hope His Eminence Cardinal Arinze becomes the next Pope. That’ll smoke out the racists from Holy Mother Church real good.

PS – Still waiting on your delivery of human chattel. Tick tock!

To me, the NAACP is a group of colored folk who want to be oppresed and continue to blame whites for their shortcomings.
You want me to send my niggers to your house? Sorry, but all they did was **** and moan about work while demanding I pay them money.

 

[JBCatholicRN]

I give you permission to use the N word, Michaeldaniels.

Really, I am trying to bring the point home of how ugly the word can be. Equally as ugly as the legacy left by the Stars And Bars.

Quick Quiz: What part of the US did many slaves escape to be free?
Quick Quiz 2: What part of the US did many Blacks move away from between Reconstruction and the height of Jim Crow?

The flag displayed in my profile isn’t the Stars and Bars, it is the Southern Cross.

 

[JBCatholicRN]

http://forums.catholic-questions.org/picture.php?albumid=782&pictureid=5453

The “Stars and Bars”, the first national flag of the Confederate States of America.

 

[Ridgerunner]

All things considered, your precious Stars and Bars mean nothing to me but the white hoods of the KKK, lynchings, cross burnings, anti-Semitism, anti-Black, Jim Crow, and the “Yeeeeehaw–White Power!” war cry.

I believe this is true for you, just as the “N” word is abhorrent to most whites, but not to you. This is not what the Confederate (yes, battle) flag means to most southerners.

Some years ago when I was in a major northern city, I got into a discussion with some blacks about the “N” word. They bandied it back and forth; seemed like every fifth word. We were all drinking, and I finally had enough and asked why in the world they would beat me senseless if I said it, (Which they surely would have. Kind of a rough crowd, and I was the only white person there.) but felt free to say it in my presence.

“Because it doesn’t mean the same thing to us as it does to you” was the reply. Well, then, I posed what if when I said it it meant the same to me as to you? I also invited them, if they wished, to use whatever derogatory term they preferred for whites on me, and I would take it the same way.

They couldn’t come up with a name they all preferred, after weighing a few. I even suggested some. But the discussion kind of broke the ice, and I was given permission to use the “N” word, as long as I meant it the same way they did. I didn’t use it, of course. Just didn’t feel right to do it. But at least there was an understanding reached.

It’s possible that no black could possibly feel okay with the Rebel flag, no matter what, just as it’s likely few whites could ever feel comfortable saying the “N” word to a black, no matter what. But that does not mean whites should somehow lord it over blacks because blacks say it, or that blacks should lord it over white southerners because they revere the Rebel flag.

 

[JBCatholicRN]

I believe this is true for you, just as the “N” word is abhorrent to most whites, but not to you. This is not what the Confederate (yes, battle) flag means to most southerners.

Some years ago when I was in a major northern city, I got into a discussion with some blacks about the “N” word. They bandied it back and forth; seemed like every fifth word. We were all drinking, and I finally had enough and asked why in the world they would beat me senseless if I said it, (Which they surely would have. Kind of a rough crowd, and I was the only white person there.) but felt free to say it in my presence.

“Because it doesn’t mean the same thing to us as it does to you” was the reply. Well, then, I posed what if when I said it it meant the same to me as to you? I also invited them, if they wished, to use whatever derogatory term they preferred for whites on me, and I would take it the same way.

They couldn’t come up with a name they all preferred, after weighing a few. I even suggested some. But the discussion kind of broke the ice, and I was given permission to use the “N” word, as long as I meant it the same way they did. I didn’t use it, of course. Just didn’t feel right to do it. But at least there was an understanding reached.

It’s possible that no black could possibly feel okay with the Rebel flag, no matter what, just as it’s likely few whites could ever feel comfortable saying the “N” word to a black, no matter what. But that does not mean whites should somehow lord it over blacks because blacks say it, or that blacks should lord it over white southerners because they revere the Rebel flag.

If someone doesn’t feel “ok” with the Confederate Battle Flag, they need to re read history. The Southern Cross represents everything that is/was good with America. If only the South had won, we wouldn’t be in the current mess we find ourselves.

 

[BouncingBall]

You are letting your emotions dictate your words and you obviously know NOTHING about history and your sense of entitlement is disgusting “I hope His Eminence Cardinal Arinze becomes the next Pope. That’ll smoke out the racists from Holy Mother Church real good.”–I guess we have some payback coming to us??? And for the record, the KKK, a despicable group was very, very anti-Catholic and we were treated just as bad by the KKK as blacks were…Catholics were mistreated because WE marched in Selma standing up for you all…and to paint it as something else quite frankly PO’s me!!!

Also, try to learn what you are talking about before opening your mouth…The Stars and Bars and the Battle Flag are two different things…you probably wouldn’t even recognize the Stars and Bars if you saw it, but you have mistakenly confused it with the Battle Flag.

And please tell me how the treatment of ex-slaves by your beloved northern states during Reconstruction was better than how they were treated down here during the Confederacy??? Do you realize there were several documented accounts of lynchings, beatings, etc by the northerners against the blacks??? Do you realize they were refused quarter and blocked by many states from even being able to move there??? Did you also know that a lot of them desired the ways of old over their new lives, once they realized how poorly they were being treated by the northerners…at least while in the south during the confederacy, they had a roof over their heads and something to eat…and how sad are you if you read Uncle Tom’s Cabin and think that every plantation down here operated like that…How sad. There were exceptions…but they were far from being the norm.

Granted the NAACP and affirmative action was necessary at a point in our nations history, but that point has long gone…now their actions, what they do, what they stand for, who they employ, etc…everything about them is corrupt and disgustful. But I suppose you are cool with that…and The New Black Panthers

Stop learning your History from a Cracker Jack box…because I know the truth and I go all day long about this.

Anger leads to the Dark Side of the Force, young Jedi. Chill out.

I wasn’t really even talking to you. I was addressing someone else but you wanted to jump in. Which is your American right.

You assume that I agree with the new Black Panthers. Wrongo. The Sixties are over. You assume that I like the NAACP and everything it stands for today February 12, 2010. Wrong again. I’m not even a member and don’t plan on being one anytime soon. You assume that I have read Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Wrong again, I have never read it. Closest I’ve come to the book is by watching The King And I .

Just to attempt to learn some history from you, I Googled “stars and bars” and then I Googled “confederate flag” under images. They look both the same. I know the Stars And Bars when I see them, after all.

Of course Black folk were treated bad up North. But pound for pound it wasn’t as bad as in the South. Nowadays in the Southern states, there seems to be more of a comfort between Black and White than in say, upstate NY, lol. I’ve even heard that outer Pennsylvania is no picnic for my kind, either, haha.

My point is, there is a cognitive dissonance for me when a Roman says that they’re a proud Confederate. To me, that’s like the sun rising in the West. Why? Because to me the RCC is the epitome and fountain of morals and is the only True Church.

I stand by what I said about Arinze. I think his ascension would be cognitive dissonance for some people, including Catholics. And, I left this thread alone for some time (if you scroll up, anyone can see that I bowed out on a charitable note) but when I saw that recent post, well, I had to say somethin.’

When you’ve been on the business end of racism, it’s quite hard to rationalize and moralize the Stars And Bars.

Peace to you, Michaeldaniels. And to that other person who lives “Below The Mason Dixon Line”.

 

[BouncingBall]

To me, the NAACP is a group of colored folk who want to be oppresed and continue to blame whites for their shortcomings.
You want me to send my niggers to your house? Sorry, but all they did was **** and moan about work while demanding I pay them money.

LMAO. You have proved my point!

I like you, JBCatholic. You don’t hide your racism. You embrace it and you own it. Work it, JB! Wow, I got “******” back in my face (laws of the universe, I’ll take that one on the chin). Colored folks LOL.

I like you. You don’t like me. But I like you. Don’t want to be in your neighborhood after dark but I like out-in-the-open racism. I was going to sign off and get some work done but now I think I’ll stick around.

 

[JBCatholicRN]

LMAO. You have proved my point!

I like you, JBCatholic. You don’t hide your racism. You embrace it and you own it. Work it, JB! Wow, I got “******” back in my face (laws of the universe, I’ll take that one on the chin). Colored folks LOL.

I like you. You don’t like me. But I like you. Don’t want to be in your neighborhood after dark but I like out-in-the-open racism. I was going to sign off and get some work done but now I think I’ll stick around.

I’m not racist, but I refuse to be politically correct. Colored folk whine a lot about white oppresion. Look at Barry O. You couldn’t say a negative thing about the man without being labeled a racist.
I love my heritage and it is one to be proud of. It isn’t one of hate as you suggest. I don’t own slaves, my dad doesn’t own slaves, my grandpa doesn’t own slaves and my great-great grandpa didn’t own slaves.

 

[michaeldaniels]

I completely agree with your point of view, but since I made the object of my post to be historical accuracy, I feel it is incumbent upon me to point out that the Confederacy never realistically believed they would win the war…they hoped that possible miracle would bring them victory…but they knew they still needed the North to subsist…union between both the north and south was always their goal…but not to be treated as a red-headed step child but equal partner as in a marriage…You see, the North had all the industry, but they also had vibrant agriculture as well, they could have made it without any support from the South, however in the South, we were reliant out of necessity on the North for certain things we didn’t have the capacity to produce down here…the North took advantage of that and crapped all on the South…so when they seceded, they never intended to topple the North and have two different countries…they simply wanted to wake the North up and hopefully bring them to the bargaining table and receive fairer treatment…Instead, Lincoln destroyed the constitution by forming an Army to invade his own country, suspended the writ of habeus corpus, etc…and yes, it was truly the war of “Northern Agression”…with all that said, once the war started, they pretty much knew they didn’t have the men or resources for a quick, decisive, victory…nor did they have any of those same resources for a long, protracted conflict…their goal was to stay the game long enough, pro-long the war and have northerners oppose the war and call for a quick end since it was not going favorably for the North and no end was in sight, then they would have a bigger bargaining chip when negotiating with Lincoln’s government…and the South was very effective…The Northerners started despising the war and were calling for the immediate ending of hostilities…Lincoln was seriously low in public opinion and it didn’t appear that he stood a chance at re-election…then he made the Gettysburg Address—which was well written but didn’t do ANYTHING in terms of the war…it was however successful at creating a rallying cry for the North…and it was at that point that the Civil War became “the war against slavery”…the telling of the true turn of events and the true history of The War of Northern Aggression is hardly taught anywhere anymore…it is a revisionist version that is just a flat out fabrication. I was fortunate to have a very good education at my beloved Alma Mater, The Citadel…it was two of our cadets that fired the first hostile shots of the civil war when they fired on the “Star of The West”, which was a northern resupply ship sailing to Ft. Sumter…one of my professors went to VMI and is a huge Stonewall buff…I majored in this period of history…along with also concentrating on WWII, Hitler & National Socialism

If someone doesn’t feel “ok” with the Confederate Battle Flag, they need to re read history. The Southern Cross represents everything that is/was good with America. If only the South had won, we wouldn’t be in the current mess we find ourselves.

 

[michaeldaniels]

And to you my friend…I just want to make sure people know the truth about my heritage…and also that not everyone living in the south during the civil war…all the way through to modern times are bad people…it was a select few…and the good ones have suffered the chastisement as well making sure that all people regardless of color, sex, or creed is treated with dignity and respect.

Peace to you, Michaeldaniels. .

 

[BouncingBall]

I’m not racist, but I refuse to be politically correct. Colored folk whine a lot about white oppresion. Look at Barry O. You couldn’t say a negative thing about the man without being labeled a racist.
I love my heritage and it is one to be proud of. It isn’t one of hate as you suggest. I don’t own slaves, my dad doesn’t own slaves, my grandpa doesn’t own slaves and my great-great grandpa didn’t own slaves.

OK, but the guy you quote in your signature did own slaves! Guess who he owned? My great-great grandfolks! LOL. Talk about six degrees of separation.

I agree that many Black (colored, LOLOLOL) folk use the past as a crutch. Not helpful. Please, I’ve been made fun of for “speaking proper” by Black people on occasion. Get 'er dun!

Anyway, I hear you on “political correctness” in opposition to “being racist.” It’s just that on paper, without knowing the individual, these days it can be tough to tell the difference. My (White) best friend from since we were 12 years old expressed the exact same sentiment as you just did, just the other month.

Looks like a virtual “beer summit” is in the making. Make mine a Heineken.

Peace to you.

PS – Thanks for educating me about the Stars And Bars. The non-cross version of the Confederate flag looks very similar to the US flag. And raises less emotional hackles–with me, anyway.

 

[JBCatholicRN]

OK, but the guy you quote in your signature did own slaves! Guess who he owned? My great-great grandfolks! LOL. Talk about six degrees of separation.

I agree that many Black (colored, LOLOLOL) folk use the past as a crutch. Not helpful. Please, I’ve been made fun of for “speaking proper” by Black people on occasion. Get 'er dun!

Anyway, I hear you on “political correctness” in opposition to “being racist.” It’s just that on paper, without knowing the individual, these days it can be tough to tell the difference. My (White) best friend from since we were 12 years old expressed the exact same sentiment as you just did, just the other month.

Looks like a virtual “beer summit” is in the making. Make mine a Heineken.

Peace to you.

PS – Thanks for educating me about the Stars And Bars. The non-cross version of the Confederate flag looks very similar to the US flag. And raises less emotional hackles–with me, anyway.

General Robert E. Lee was a great man, better than most today. Yes, he did own slaves. General Lee, however, was a kind master and stated on several occasions that he thought slavery was wrong. During the war his slaves were free men. Note that Grant did not free his slaves until after the war.

 

[Ridgerunner]

OK, but the guy you quote in your signature did own slaves! Guess who he owned? My great-great grandfolks! LOL. Talk about six degrees of separation.

I agree that many Black (colored, LOLOLOL) folk use the past as a crutch. Not helpful. Please, I’ve been made fun of for “speaking proper” by Black people on occasion. Get 'er dun!

Anyway, I hear you on “political correctness” in opposition to “being racist.” It’s just that on paper, without knowing the individual, these days it can be tough to tell the difference. My (White) best friend from since we were 12 years old expressed the exact same sentiment as you just did, just the other month.

Looks like a virtual “beer summit” is in the making. Make mine a Heineken.

Peace to you.

PS – Thanks for educating me about the Stars And Bars. The non-cross version of the Confederate flag looks very similar to the US flag. And raises less emotional hackles–with me, anyway.

I guess I’ll be the skunk at the party, and nobody will give me a Heineken’s.

I personally think that just about everybody is racist or, more broadly speaking, prejudiced in some manner. We have lots of experiences in life. We are only subliminally aware of some of them. We are unaware of some. We see lots of portrayals of all kinds of people from birth on. We register all that stuff in our minds somewhere or other. We see people of various types act or even talk in particular ways. I recall, for example, that my wife, who is from the North, confessed to me during our courtship that she thought at first that surely I was “ignorant” (or more ignorant than I am, perhaps) because of my upper South accent. Somehow or other, she learned to associate that with ignorance.

I remember once spending a summer in Michigan, being so surprised that people on the extreme low end of the socioeconomic scale there didn’t sound like it. I had long “learned” to associate that status with a very different kind of accent. Well, after all, isn’t that what “Pygmalion” was all about, and the movie based on it?

A few years ago, I picked up a city lawyer at the Northwest Arkansas airport with a very high executive for a Fortune 100 company whose home office is in NW Ark. The exec was dressed in jeans and an ordinary cotton shirt, and he and I picked the lawyer up in the exec’s pride and joy; his restored 1960s-something pickup. The lawyer told me later he thought he was a dead man until we brought him to the very lavish corporate HQ. It never occurred to him that a high corporate executive could possibly be drivng an ancient pickup in jeans and cowboy boots. He began having mental visions of “Deliverance” on the way. For me, though, it was just ordinary because I’m from this region.

We all have things like that, and a lot of them in our heads. We are “prejudiced” in the sense that we have certain imprints of things that are hard to shake. We don’t even know about some of them.

Who in the world doesn’t, for example, feel a bit of estrangement from anyone at all if we learn they have had a criminal record of almost any kind? Our reaction is automatic.

And let’s tell the truth here. If we’re on a street, particulary in a not-too-good neighborhood and see a handful of black teenagers coming our way (if we’re white), we get nervous. We don’t think it through, we just get nervous. That’s a racial prejudice. Now, if the teenagers have suits and ties on and are carrying books or briefcases, we don’t. If instead of teenagers, they’re middle aged black men carrying lunch pails, we don’t. If they’re white teenagers, we might get a little nervous, but not as much, unless they have gang jackets on. Then, our instincts tell us to be even more worried than if they were black without gang jackets on. A handful or oriental teenagers we would probably worry less about (witihout particularly good reason) than a handful of whites. If they’re girls of any color, we don’t.

But that doesn’t mean we have a good excuse to actually act on our prejudices. We truly do have a moral obligation to try to get past them and treat each person as we would want to be treated. I sometimes think that before we can guard against such things, we have to recognize in ourselves that we do have those prejudices.

 

[JBCatholicRN]

I guess I’ll be the skunk at the party, and nobody will give me a Heineken’s.

I personally think that just about everybody is racist or, more broadly speaking, prejudiced in some manner. We have lots of experiences in life. We are only subliminally aware of some of them. We are unaware of some. We see lots of portrayals of all kinds of people from birth on. We register all that stuff in our minds somewhere or other. We see people of various types act or even talk in particular ways. I recall, for example, that my wife, who is from the North, confessed to me during our courtship that she thought at first that surely I was “ignorant” (or more ignorant than I am, perhaps) because of my upper South accent. Somehow or other, she learned to associate that with ignorance.

I remember once spending a summer in Michigan, being so surprised that people on the extreme low end of the socioeconomic scale there didn’t sound like it. I had long “learned” to associate that status with a very different kind of accent. Well, after all, isn’t that what “Pygmalion” was all about, and the movie based on it?

A few years ago, I picked up a city lawyer at the Northwest Arkansas airport with a very high executive for a Fortune 100 company whose home office is in NW Ark. The exec was dressed in jeans and an ordinary cotton shirt, and he and I picked the lawyer up in the exec’s pride and joy; his restored 1960s-something pickup. The lawyer told me later he thought he was a dead man until we brought him to the very lavish corporate HQ. It never occurred to him that a high corporate executive could possibly be drivng an ancient pickup in jeans and cowboy boots. He began having mental visions of “Deliverance” on the way. For me, though, it was just ordinary because I’m from this region.

We all have things like that, and a lot of them in our heads. We are “prejudiced” in the sense that we have certain imprints of things that are hard to shake. We don’t even know about some of them.

Who in the world doesn’t, for example, feel a bit of estrangement from anyone at all if we learn they have had a criminal record of almost any kind? Our reaction is automatic.

And let’s tell the truth here. If we’re on a street, particulary in a not-too-good neighborhood and see a handful of black teenagers coming our way (if we’re white), we get nervous. We don’t think it through, we just get nervous. That’s a racial prejudice. Now, if the teenagers have suits and ties on and are carrying books or briefcases, we don’t. If instead of teenagers, they’re middle aged black men carrying lunch pails, we don’t. If they’re white teenagers, we might get a little nervous, but not as much, unless they have gang jackets on. Then, our instincts tell us to be even more worried than if they were black without gang jackets on. A handful or oriental teenagers we would probably worry less about (witihout particularly good reason) than a handful of whites. If they’re girls of any color, we don’t.

But that doesn’t mean we have a good excuse to actually act on our prejudices. We truly do have a moral obligation to try to get past them and treat each person as we would want to be treated. I sometimes think that before we can guard against such things, we have to recognize in ourselves that we do have those prejudices.

Great post.

 

[jrgiancola]

I live in a Confederate State and consider myself a Confederate. I wish the South had won the war. I’m against slavery, but many southerners like me were also against it. Slavery was only part of the reason for the war. The South seceded because it did not want the federal government telling states what they could and could not do. “States’ rights” is still alive in the South, and I’m for it. I’m also a strong Catholic; what has the Civil War got to do with Catholicism?

 

[Beau_Ouiville]

I live in a Confederate State and consider myself a Confederate. I wish the South had won the war.

Think of a country with slavery in its constitution! Most historians, southern and northern, think the south is much better off because it was not able to secede.

I’m against slavery, but many southerners like me were also against it.

Not the oligarchs who controlled southern politics and agribusiness.

Slavery was only part of the reason for the war. The South seceded because it did not want the federal government telling states what they could and could not do. “States’ rights” is still alive in the South, and I’m for it. I’m also a strong Catholic; what has the Civil War got to do with Catholicism?

Among other things “states rights” was used as an excuse for racial segregation. It makes it impossible to have a nation of states, and would enable an amorphous amalgam. States already have rights.

And the ‘states rights’ people should not be fooled either – state political action can be just as oppressive as that which they decry from the federal government.