Malcolm X, as a member of the Nation of Islam, preached anti-Semitism and called the white man a "devil." After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X dismissed the murder as a case of "the chickens coming home to roost."
In Spike Lee's biographical drama, "Malcolm X," a white teenage girl approaches the angry activist and says, "Excuse me, Mr. X. Hi. I've read some of your speeches, and I honestly believe that a lot of what you have to say is true. And I'm a good person, in spite of what my ancestors did, and I just -- I wanted to ask you, what can a white person like myself, who isn't prejudiced, what can I do to help you ... further your cause?" He stares sternly, and replies, "Nothing." She leaves in tears.
But Malcolm X changed. He visited Mecca, where he saw people of all colors worshipping together. It changed the way he thought. He repudiated his anger toward whites after discovering that people were more similar than they were different. He renounced the racist ideology of the Nation of Islam, and in doing so knowingly signed his own death warrant. He was assassinated by members of the Nation of Islam.
Alabama Gov. George Wallace, in 1963, proclaimed, "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever," at his inauguration, and later stood in a doorway at the University of Alabama to bar blacks from entering. Nine years later, Wallace took a would-be assassin's bullet, leaving him paralyzed. Older, wiser and chastened by the attempt on his life, Wallace changed. Wallace one day, without invitation, went to a black church where 300 black clergymen were holding a conference. He asked to speak. Wallace asked for forgiveness. He said to the church leaders, "I never had hate in my heart for any person. But I regret my support of segregation and the pain it caused the black people of our state and nation. ... I've learned what pain is, and I'm sorry if I've caused anybody else pain. Segregation was wrong -- and I am sorry."
The voters in Alabama returned the former governor to office, but this time, he received black support and made several black appointments. The damage Wallace did through his actions and rhetoric was profound, and despite the assassination attempt, he lived long enough to undo some of it.
Even a Confederate general can change.
Confederate Gen. William Mahone, one of General Robert E. Lee's most able commanders, owned slaves before the Civil War. But after the war, he led an interracial political movement. He organized and became the leader of the Readjuster Party, the most successful interracial political alliance in the post-emancipation South. In 1881, Mahone was elected to the U.S. Senate, split 37-37 at the time between Republicans and Democrats. But Mahone aligned with the Republicans, the party founded two decades earlier by Northerners trying to stop the expansion of slavery.
From 1879 through 1883, Mahone's Readjuster Party dominated Virginia, with a governor in the statehouse, two Readjusters in the U.S. Senate and Readjusters representing six of the state's 10 congressional districts. Under Mahone's leadership, his coalition also controlled the state legislature, the courts and many of the state's coveted federal offices.
The Readjusters established what became Virginia State University, the first state-supported college to train black teachers. Democrats described the hated Readjusters and Republicans as advocates of "black domination."
What about Lt. Gen. James Longstreet? One of Lee's favorite generals, Longstreet not only became a Republican after the war and served in Republican administrations but also fought against the racist White League in New Orleans.
After the Civil War, Longstreet moved to New Orleans, where he urged Southerners to support the Republican Party and endorsed their candidate, Ulysses S. Grant, for president in 1868. He commanded blacks in the New Orleans Metropolitan Police Force against the anti-Reconstruction White League (a paramilitary arm of the Democratic Party) at the Battle of Liberty Place in 1874. He was shot and held captive for several days. He accepted political appointments from Republicans and even dared criticize Gen. Lee. For this "betrayal," white Southerners pronounced Longstreet a "scalawag" and "leper of the community."
Where does this viewing of history through the prism of modern-day feelings end? Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once gave advice to a gay young man that today would be heresy. King suggested he battle his feelings, strongly implying that the young man needed therapy and sexual reorientation. Today, that kind of advice gets one branded a Neanderthal. President John F. Kennedy, frustrated with a high-profile Democrat who hadn't supported his election, threatened to banish him by giving him an obscure ambassadorship to one of the, as Kennedy put it, "boogie republics" in Africa. Tell that to Black Lives Matter.
History is complicated. And history requires perspective and understanding, something sadly lacking in those who seek to erase history by imposing today's standards of right and wrong.
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Nice link on the events that led to Secession.......https://www.historians.org/teaching...istorians/sixteen-months-to-sumter/chronology
Have often wondered what would the course of slavery been had the south not seceded. Lincoln in his March 1861 Inauguration said "he has no intention of interfering with slavery, but that secession is illegal and the Union perpetual." How would the issue have been resolved.
I love history and it is distressing to see so many people trying to project their mores of a modern society onto the world of 150+ years ago.
I don't believe in abortion but it is the law...say 150 years from now a movement arises that, being backed by irrefutable science, says abortion is murder and anyone who had an abortion previously is a criminal and should be marked as such. So adherents to this movement start removing headstones or even saying that each person who had an abortion will have their headstone painted red as a permanent mark of disgrace and criminality. I would be against such actions for manifold reasons.
Robert E Lee served in the US Military for over 30 years before the War between the States and as far as I know is still the only cadet to go through West Point who didn't receive a demerit. Is his service to the US not worthy of recognition? He could have prolonged the lost struggle by ordering soldiers to melt into the woods and fight a guerrilla war, but he didn't. When he was named president of Washington & Lee (Lee coming afterwards) the institution was in trouble, he turned that around yet his reward now is to have his name removed. Up next will be Washington. Many of the confederate soldiers, including 4 generals, went on to serve in the US military out west or overseas and served with distinction...what of their service?
So many teachable moments will be lost now and with the current trajectory in schools it appears that kids will never really learn about sacrifice, redemption and courage when studying US History, warts and all.
In Spike Lee's biographical drama, "Malcolm X," a white teenage girl approaches the angry activist and says, "Excuse me, Mr. X. Hi. I've read some of your speeches, and I honestly believe that a lot of what you have to say is true. And I'm a good person, in spite of what my ancestors did, and I just -- I wanted to ask you, what can a white person like myself, who isn't prejudiced, what can I do to help you ... further your cause?" He stares sternly, and replies, "Nothing." She leaves in tears.
But Malcolm X changed. He visited Mecca, where he saw people of all colors worshipping together. It changed the way he thought. He repudiated his anger toward whites after discovering that people were more similar than they were different. He renounced the racist ideology of the Nation of Islam, and in doing so knowingly signed his own death warrant. He was assassinated by members of the Nation of Islam.
Alabama Gov. George Wallace, in 1963, proclaimed, "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever," at his inauguration, and later stood in a doorway at the University of Alabama to bar blacks from entering. Nine years later, Wallace took a would-be assassin's bullet, leaving him paralyzed. Older, wiser and chastened by the attempt on his life, Wallace changed. Wallace one day, without invitation, went to a black church where 300 black clergymen were holding a conference. He asked to speak. Wallace asked for forgiveness. He said to the church leaders, "I never had hate in my heart for any person. But I regret my support of segregation and the pain it caused the black people of our state and nation. ... I've learned what pain is, and I'm sorry if I've caused anybody else pain. Segregation was wrong -- and I am sorry."
The voters in Alabama returned the former governor to office, but this time, he received black support and made several black appointments. The damage Wallace did through his actions and rhetoric was profound, and despite the assassination attempt, he lived long enough to undo some of it.
Even a Confederate general can change.
Confederate Gen. William Mahone, one of General Robert E. Lee's most able commanders, owned slaves before the Civil War. But after the war, he led an interracial political movement. He organized and became the leader of the Readjuster Party, the most successful interracial political alliance in the post-emancipation South. In 1881, Mahone was elected to the U.S. Senate, split 37-37 at the time between Republicans and Democrats. But Mahone aligned with the Republicans, the party founded two decades earlier by Northerners trying to stop the expansion of slavery.
From 1879 through 1883, Mahone's Readjuster Party dominated Virginia, with a governor in the statehouse, two Readjusters in the U.S. Senate and Readjusters representing six of the state's 10 congressional districts. Under Mahone's leadership, his coalition also controlled the state legislature, the courts and many of the state's coveted federal offices.
The Readjusters established what became Virginia State University, the first state-supported college to train black teachers. Democrats described the hated Readjusters and Republicans as advocates of "black domination."
What about Lt. Gen. James Longstreet? One of Lee's favorite generals, Longstreet not only became a Republican after the war and served in Republican administrations but also fought against the racist White League in New Orleans.
After the Civil War, Longstreet moved to New Orleans, where he urged Southerners to support the Republican Party and endorsed their candidate, Ulysses S. Grant, for president in 1868. He commanded blacks in the New Orleans Metropolitan Police Force against the anti-Reconstruction White League (a paramilitary arm of the Democratic Party) at the Battle of Liberty Place in 1874. He was shot and held captive for several days. He accepted political appointments from Republicans and even dared criticize Gen. Lee. For this "betrayal," white Southerners pronounced Longstreet a "scalawag" and "leper of the community."
Where does this viewing of history through the prism of modern-day feelings end? Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once gave advice to a gay young man that today would be heresy. King suggested he battle his feelings, strongly implying that the young man needed therapy and sexual reorientation. Today, that kind of advice gets one branded a Neanderthal. President John F. Kennedy, frustrated with a high-profile Democrat who hadn't supported his election, threatened to banish him by giving him an obscure ambassadorship to one of the, as Kennedy put it, "boogie republics" in Africa. Tell that to Black Lives Matter.
History is complicated. And history requires perspective and understanding, something sadly lacking in those who seek to erase history by imposing today's standards of right and wrong.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Nice link on the events that led to Secession.......https://www.historians.org/teaching...istorians/sixteen-months-to-sumter/chronology
Have often wondered what would the course of slavery been had the south not seceded. Lincoln in his March 1861 Inauguration said "he has no intention of interfering with slavery, but that secession is illegal and the Union perpetual." How would the issue have been resolved.
I love history and it is distressing to see so many people trying to project their mores of a modern society onto the world of 150+ years ago.
I don't believe in abortion but it is the law...say 150 years from now a movement arises that, being backed by irrefutable science, says abortion is murder and anyone who had an abortion previously is a criminal and should be marked as such. So adherents to this movement start removing headstones or even saying that each person who had an abortion will have their headstone painted red as a permanent mark of disgrace and criminality. I would be against such actions for manifold reasons.
Robert E Lee served in the US Military for over 30 years before the War between the States and as far as I know is still the only cadet to go through West Point who didn't receive a demerit. Is his service to the US not worthy of recognition? He could have prolonged the lost struggle by ordering soldiers to melt into the woods and fight a guerrilla war, but he didn't. When he was named president of Washington & Lee (Lee coming afterwards) the institution was in trouble, he turned that around yet his reward now is to have his name removed. Up next will be Washington. Many of the confederate soldiers, including 4 generals, went on to serve in the US military out west or overseas and served with distinction...what of their service?
So many teachable moments will be lost now and with the current trajectory in schools it appears that kids will never really learn about sacrifice, redemption and courage when studying US History, warts and all.
