Nathan Bedford
Forrest was born on this day in 1821
And like
many he fought for the South when the Civil War had begun
On this day
in 1863 in the Big Apple riots broke out for days
For the
first time in our history conscription was put on display
120 people were
killed, 2000 wounded, buildings burned and white mobs attacked blacks
If the Civil
War was solely being waged to free the slaves that idea in New York was off the
tracks
One hundred
and fifty two years later despite the warnings of the Kerner Report
The racial
divide is still there with great progress but the full healing comes up short
Growing up
in Alaska, I was taught never to insult a person’s creed, color or political
view
As long as
on a fishing boat he would do his part to hold up his end of the demands of
captain and crew
But I also
learned that we are humans not crabs or lobsters that to grow must molt
A hyper thin
and porous skin is not a virtue but the sign of a PC dolt
I was a KA,
a fraternity whose spiritual leader in 1923 was designated Robert E. Lee
It took my
chapter over hundred years to admit blacks and orientals defying a national
decree
We seceded
from the Greek System one day of each year and celebrated a Southern Ball
Knew the
words to Dixie but no Reb Battle
Flags on my wall
Today after
Charleston the removal of the Confederate Battle Flag from the Capitol grounds
Given the
terror of the KKK and lynchings in earlier years seems sound
It may be
Southern Heritage and Southern Pride
But its
removal may go to reduce our potential racial divide
Hopefully
the flag at a NASCAR race
Will not be
viewed as a PC demand to the 1st Amendment to replace
But the news
that the body of Nathan Bedford Forrest was to be exhumed from a Memphis park
Is the kind
of PC hysteria from which we should quickly depart
Over 400 Johnny
Rebs are buried underneath Arlington’s cemetery grass
Like Terracotta
soldiers do we remove them to join Forrest to erase our Civil War past?
Our past is
what has occurred and unless living in Pravda land we cannot replace the tapes
But we can
learn from our progress and strive to not commit further racial mistakes
© July 13, 2015 Michael
P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
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