African American Slavery

“Originalism” And “Textualism”: The Battle For The Future Of Constitutional Government Against The Late 18th Century!

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The battle over how to interpret the Constitution in the 21st century is in full swing, with the extremist right wing Supreme Court majority emphasizing “Originalism” and “Textualism” as their basic ideological doctrine!

They want America to be judged by late 18th century interpretations, which means they challenge Alexander Hamilton and his “broad” interpretation of the Constitution.

Hamilton emphasized a broad interpretation, not a strict interpretation, of the Constitution, saying it needed to be a living document.

Even Thomas Jefferson, the original ideological opponent of Hamilton, came to recognize that Hamilton was correct, and so backed away from his original strict intepretation to support the Louisiana Purchase deal with France in 1803, doubling US territory and insuring that no other foreign power would gain further control in North America.

If one is to judge the Constitution by “originalism” and “textualism”, then America should not have had the multitude of changes that has made America a democracy, including among others:

Creation of Cabinet Agencies
End of African American Slavery by Amendment 13
Civil Rights Laws And Amendments (14, 15)
Women’s Suffrage (19)
Federal Government Agencies and Regulations
Federal Income Tax Amendment (16)
Democratizing of the US Senate by Amendment 17
Limitation of Presidential Terms by Amendment 22

This battle is over the future as compared to the limitations of the past, and America has come too far to allow the right wing interpretation to dictate the future of the nation!

Florida Government Declares War On Liberal Arts Curriculum At State Universities!

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Censorship and right wing orthodoxy is the new war on knowledge now being waged by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida State Board of Education, in its blatant attack on the educational curriculum at state colleges and universities.

Sociology has been banned as part of the “core” curriculum, as earlier, Advanced Placement African American history has been rejected as “woke” ideology.

This political attack on liberal arts education is alarming, and it is spreading to other states, who have declared war on “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion”.

The replacement for the Sociology survey course is “US History to 1877”, which it is claimed will cover the realities of early American history, but one has to wonder will the “Trail of Tears” action against native American tribes, and the ugly reality of slavery really be covered in the curriculum?

Ron DeSantis, when teaching high school two decades ago, argued with students against slavery being the major cause of the American Civil War; and Nikki Haley, when asked about that conflict failed to mention that slavery was the primary cause of the Civil War, and has said that America is not a racist nation.

So it is clear that mind control and propaganda are winning out over reality and truth in college curriculums in the public colleges and universities in the state of Florida!

The “Lost Cause” After Civil War Again Rears Its Ugly Head In 2024!

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Hard to believe, but the American Civil War (1861-1865) continues to divide America more than a century and a half after its impact on America!

Nikki Haley has trouble realizing that slavery was the major cause of the Civil War.

Ron DeSantis, when a high school teacher two decades ago, told his students that slavery was NOT the major cause of the Civil War.

Donald Trump tells us that Abraham Lincoln should have negotiated with slave owners, as it might have prevented the Civil War, and that Lincoln would not be remembered if it was not for the bloodshed of that war.

The “Lost Cause”, that of “states rights”, was used in the South to propagandize for generations the fact that the South had lost the war, and only was finally overcome in most circles since the 1960s, but now the new MAGA Republican propaganda is reviving the old myth, which justified Jim Crow segregration, lynching, and denial of basic civil rights to African Americans for a century after the Civil War.

Leave it to those who attack DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion), and the nation will be going backwards in understanding of our history, and promoting racial reconciliation, so the battle against the “Lost Cause” must be waged!

161st Anniversary Of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation!

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Today, New Year’s Day 2024, marks the 161st Anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, a bold move that his own Presidential Cabinet thought was inadvisable.

While it only ended slavery at the time in areas under Union Army occupation during the Civil War, it was a pledge that the eventual victory of the United States over the Confederate States of America, when and if it occurred, another 27.5 months into the future, would see the concept of the ownership of human beings by other human beings would come to an end.

It must be pointed out, however, that the Emancipation Proclamation alone could not end slavery, as it was written into the US Constitution by the Founding Fathers at the Philadelphia convention of the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

Only the battle to add the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865 could end slavery long term, and set America up as a promoter of democracy.

Now, sadly, we see the party of Lincoln moving backward on the principle of promoting racial equality, and appealing to the ugliness of racism and nativism, as it enters an election year seemingly captive to the most dangerous man ever to hold the Presidency, Donald Trump!

2024 must see the end of the menace of Donald Trump by a total commitment to defeat his attempt at a comeback, and move away from the dangers of MAGA Republicans!

The South Of Slavery And Racial Segregation Now The South Of Denial Of Health Care And War On Women’s Rights!

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The American South, the area of slavery and racial segregation in its past, is once again demonstrating that it is the area of denial of civil and human rights.

In the past, it was the Democratic Party that worked to deny human rights and dignity.

Now it is the Republican Party, the party that had fought for civil and human rights in the mid 19th century.

A total switch which remains startling, but now the emphasis is on denying health care to millions of poor whites and minorities, and taking away the right of women to control their own bodies and reproductive life.

The Medicaid Program enacted into law by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966 now is being denied to help the health and safety of poor Americans, most particularly in Texas and Florida, but throughout the American South, as well as other Republican controlled states.

The section of the nation that demands that all fetuses be born, no matter what condition they are in, or how the woman became pregnant, is only too willing to deny health care, which undermines and shortens the lives of their less fortunate constituents.

This is so mind boggling, and it is as if the American South is still fighting the Civil War a century and a half later, continuing to be lacking in humanity and common decency.

Kamala Harris At 59, And Her Future Role In American Government!

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Vice President Kamala Harris celebrated her 59th birthday yesterday, and she is seen as a strong partner of President Joe Biden.

Constantly under attack by conservatives and Republicans, she has played the proper role of remaining in the background, not trying to take attention away from the President, which is the proper role for a Vice President.

But she has become more visible on the issues of abortion rights, civil rights, voting rights, gun safety reform, and the promotion of truth in education, including denouncing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis promoting a distorted view of African American history and slavery, and also, his attack on the field of psychology and the teaching of gender and sexuality.

Harris speaks for those who are being attacked and abused, as the Supreme Court moves the nation backward on issues that were thought to be settled decades ago, but clearly are not resolved.

Harris is a very intelligent woman, with a career of being a prosecutor in San Francisco; Attorney General of California; and four years as a United States Senator!

She is superbly qualified to be President, if tragically, in the next five years, she was called upon to take the Presidential oath.

Hopefully, President Biden will win reelection and served capably, as he has so far, but the nation can be comfortable with the possibility of a succession, knowing this is a woman of compassion, decency, empathy, and sincerity.

Republican Presidential contender Nikki Haley has disgraced herself since she had courage as South Carolina Governor in 2015 to take down the Confederate flag after nine black churchgoers were slaughtered. She has lost all credibility, when she suggests that Joe Biden will die and Kamala Harris will be President in the next term, as if that would be the most horrendous thing possible, and it disqualifies Haley’s own Presidential ambitions.

One woman of Asian Indian ancestry feels a need to attack a woman of similar Asian Indian and Jamaican ancestry as unqualified, when clearly, Harris has far better credentials than Nikki Haley has ever demonstrated, particularly Haley’s bending to Donald Trump, and agreeing that if he is the nominee of the Republican Party in 2024, that she would support him!

Ron DeSantis Denying Truth Of African American History: A Whitewash Of The American Past!

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It is absolutely infuriating beyond belief that Florida under Ron DeSantis is denying the truth of African American history, and American history at large, in setting a new curriculum that whitewashes the truth of slavery, Jim Crow segregation, lynchings, and horrendous race riots in that state and elsewhere, causing mass destruction and death over the centuries.

To tell students that slavery “benefited” slaves by teaching them “job skills”, and that race riots saw African Americans both being victimized but also being perpetrators of the riots, is a bald faced lie, making Florida look worse than 1960s Alabama and Mississippi!

In the past, the Confederate myth perpetuated lies and racism, and finally in the 1960s and moving forward, the truth was being taught.

As a professor who has taught for a half century, I refuse to teach lies and mistruths, but imagine those who teach at all levels who are in danger of losing their jobs and professions over political interference by a governor, who seems as if he is George Wallace on steroids!

And Florida is setting the stage for other “Red” states to impose the same censorship and manipulation of the truth on students, which will undermine the future of a multiracial society, as nothing can be done to overcome the reality that in 2045, the white population of America will be less than half the nation, and already, non white groups are a majority of young people in many parts of the nation.

This does not bode well for the future of interracial cooperation, and Ron DeSantis must be opposed legally in court to work against this poison he is promoting!

What does this say about the truth of the treatment of Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, and native Americans, which also must be taught, and known by future generations!

The old saying is: “The Truth Shall Set You Free”!, and that must be the motto of all educators, and most specifically, American historians and journalists in this struggle against reality!

The United States Has Become A Nation Promoting Deaths Of Young People!

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The Republican Party and the conservative movement have taken stands that clearly promote deaths of young people!

The right for any American to own weapons of war (semi automatic AR-15s and similar brands) is more important than the fact that such weapons are slaughtering or harming thousands of Americans annually, and a large portion of those victims are children under the age 18 or young adults in their 20s.

But the right wing just offers “thoughts and prayers” and moves on, unperturbed by tragedy to do anything to limit such weapons, despite vast margins of Americans wanting action.

More young people are now victims of firearms, including those who commit suicide, than from automobile accidents.

Automobiles are safer due to government regulations, but the gun industry and the National Rifle Association lack any sense of empathy, compassion, and concern for the loss of life caused by their evil intentions.

And sadly, it is minority young people who are more often victims than whites, and that certainly has no impact on the racism so prevalent in the right wing “alternative universe”!

The Second Amendment when passed was used to “protect” slave owners from their own slaves and potential insurrection, and that mentality still exists 236 years after the Constitutional Convention!

Confederate Heritage Being Promoted By Donald Trump, Despite Racism And White Supremacy History Of Civil War Rebellion

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The Civil War ended 155 years ago, but for many people in the South and some elsewhere, they still revel in the Confederate heritage.

This is so despite the fact that the Confederate heritage is one of treason and promotion of the degradation that African American slavery represented.

It is one thing to teach about the history of the Confederate heritage, and it is fine to have public displays of Confederate heritage in museums

But in 2020, it is not acceptable to have such monuments and statues in public squares and on government property!

Whether one likes it or not, displaying such statues and monuments is promotion and endorsement of white supremacy!

The time has passed for such displays, and Donald Trump, a New Yorker his whole life, is ironically bitterly opposing any renaming of Confederate military bases, when a large percentage of the military in 2020 are non whites!

It is long overdue to take Confederate names off streets and schools, and recognize the multi ethnic and multi racial nature of 2020 America!