Slavery is Bad: DUH!

It's almost impossible for me to fathom how - nearly a quarter of the way into the twenty-first century - we're having this idiotic argument. And it is no surprise that the main stage of the argument is taking place in the Sunshine State - where, as you might have surmised by now - some of the dumbest people in America reside. I once had a good friend who moved to that state in the mid-eighties. Because of my writings, he has not spoken to me in over eight years. That's okay, I'll be fine. He'll be fine, too, I think.

Ron DeSantis is the worst racist to come along in politics since Mississippi's own John Stennis nearly seventy years ago (as vile a creature to come out of dear old Dixie since the Civil War). While a lot of politicians are truly racist, most of them have the good sense to keep that racism to themselves. Not Ron! His latest cause is watering down African American history in the Florida school system. They now want to teach the kids down there that slavery was an institution that "benefitted" many of the human beings being held in bondage., you see, it allowed many of them to learn a trade. African American history is the hinge on which the doors of American history open. If you do not understand the story of the struggle of African American men, woman and children in this country, you don't understand American history - period. It's as simple as that, campers.

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED READING:

Parting the Waters by Taylor Branch

The best book ever written about the civil rights era