AMERICANS 4 COMMON SENSE

Preserving and protecting our local, state and national history and its institutions by presenting history in its entirety vs one single event and countering the claims that all has to be destroyed to usher in racial reconciliation.

Today, as well as in our past, most people are focused on meeting their daily needs: food, clothing, shelter and transportation. In the current environment, many people are finding that more and more difficult to accomplish. Is it any wonder that our community, as well as the American people at large, are unaware of their history? They would not be able to recognize when only one side of history is presented: the side that promotes a set of assertions that furthers the racial divide agenda.

The people and organizations that speak of educating the public about their history of racism and slave ownership use the assertion that The Civil War was based upon the South fighting to keep their slaves. That is why their focus is on removing anything Confederate or Southern. If people are unaware of their history, how can the assertion that the past “legacy of slavery in our community continues to negatively affect the culture” of our community if the people are not even aware of this history to begin with?

If as a country we truly want to come together for ongoing racial reconciliation, why do some want to continue to keep us divided based upon race: if you are white, you are the oppressor; if you are non-white, you are the oppressed. If this is not racial division, then what is it?

Since the atrocious events that led up to the Civil Rights Movement, The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. The Act outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national employment, as well as provides for many other protections. This Act was a big step toward ensuring that “All people are created equal” and have access to equal opportunity.

We must always work toward improvement; however, if one event could negate all the good we have accomplished so far, what efforts will ever be enough? The answer is there is nothing we can do to atone for the sins of the past. We can only learn from the past and vow to do better going forward. And we can only learn from the past if it is preserved in its entirety.