After
World War II was over, The United States and its allies embarked on a
de-nazification process in Germany removing any public officials with ties not
only to the Nazi governmental structure but those with a fascist ideology. Also removed were the physical vestiges of
Nazism, the symbols such as the Swastika on flags, buildings
etc. In doing so, the United States
prevented a reoccurrence of conflict.
At
the end of the United States civil war, the same thing didn’t happen. While slavery ended, the majority white
opinion of black people had not changed.
Reconstruction was the result of an opinion held by Abraham Lincoln and
his cabinet that the South needed to be brought back to a point where they
could re-enter the union as soon as possible.
This
resulted in a defeated people who didn’t really understand they were defeated
and were allowed to hold onto their
hateful philosophy and the symbols of that hate such as the Confederate flag.
Now,
almost 150 years after the end of the Civil War, there is still racism in the
South. Of course, not like it was
pre-Civil Rights era but it’s still there and we see movements to restrict
voter rights as well as different treatment by police of African –American
suspects.
It’s
ridiculous to see groups like the Daughter of the Confederacy existing to
celebrate what essentially are traitors who lost a war fighting against the US
government. What is needed is a new
de-nazification process. The South needs
to reminded they lost the Civil War.
Reparations should be paid to the ancestors of those who suffered racial
violence and murder. The confederate flag
should be banned in all public buildings.
The
lingering racism in the USA is the result of never really taking the racists to
task, never really making them to suffer.
It is more than about time for this to occur.
When I say “South” I would also add states like Idaho, Oklahoma, Kansas
et. Any place where racism, sexism, and
homophobia seem out of control. It’s
mentality not geography.
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