Post by Captain Snark on Apr 10, 2015 16:05:27 GMT -5
Yesterday was the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War ending in Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox. At the time, a Confederate soldier said to Union hero Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, "You want to forgive us, but we won't be forgiven. There is a rancour in our hearts you can scarcely imagine. We hate you, sir."I really can't celebrate an event whose legacy included such pitiful hatred, but the Confederacy's defeat definitely served the cause of justice. Anyone who denies that the preservation of slavery and white supremacy were central to the Confederacy is ignoring the statements the southern states made to accompany their decision to secede. I remember the movie Gods and Generals making the claim that the war wasn't about slavery because it was going to be abolished anyway. Not convincing.
From what I've learned about that terrible conflict, the people I feel the greatest contempt for are the men in the southern state governments. First they made the foolhardy, avoidable decision to secede without even giving Lincoln a chance to conciliate them, because they were too proud to be governed by a rail-splitter. Then, jealous of their sacred state rights, they undermined the Confederate government at every opportunity, guaranteeing defeat and humble pie within a few years. Their legacy was the loss of a generation of young men. (And don't forget that the north lost even more people than the south.)
Anyhow, I don't like looking at the Civil War as "good vs. evil"; I prefer evil vs. lesser evil. (Ditto World War II.) I wouldn't deny that seccession was treasonous, as everyone knew it would inevitably mean war with the Union government. Yet the offence of treason really isn't one that gets me exercised. But consider one fact I learned from Ken Burns' superb PBS documentary: when the Confederate government passed a law commandeering from large-scale slaveowners a fifth of their slaves to serve the war effort, some responded by sending their slaves west to Texas beyond its reach. (The slaves wouldn't be of use to them there, but they'd be of no use to the government either.) For the slaves in question, that meant a death march, and hundreds didn't make it. That detail tells you most everything you need to know about the Confederacy: why it lost the war, and why it deserved to lose.
And today you have "southern pride," which is basically the pride of the defeated. I wouldn't say it makes southerners stupid, but it does seem to make them do things that aren't in their true interest. Like when the Citadel military academy resisted admitting Shannon Faulkner. They couldn't keep the place all-male, and all they ultimately did was make themselves look bad in front of the whole nation. And yet they'd do it again. The saying "It's a southern thing--you wouldn't understand" makes me sad.
The Confederate battle flag doesn't just symbolize slavery; it also became a symbol of segregation. The Civil War centennial, in the early 1960s, came at the same time the south was coming under pressure to grant civil rights to their black communities, and many politicians promoted that flag to invoke defiance of those Yankee liberals. Yet I wouldn't dishonour it: some people want it honoured and they should be respected. Just like you don't have to believe in a religion to respect its believers.