Every time Donald Trump goes off on an angry and hate filled rant about people different than himself I find myself repeating the words of our Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights among which are life, liberty and pursuit of happiness”. Trump’s denial of responsibility regarding the bounties placed on the lives of U.S. troops as well as his continued delusional fantasies about the Coronavirus threat are a form of insanity. Later today, our president whined about the removal of the Confederate flag from NASCAR races. NASCAR first removed the Confederate flag after white supremacist Dylann Roof murdered nine people at the Charleston Methodist Church. Our president is absolutely brain dead to the pain these Confederate symbols can cause. His vision of America is an arguably racist fantasy about a time before he was born.
The monuments at Mt. Rushmore, those in Washington D.C and most Civil War battlefields are managed and preserved by the National Park Service. In South Dakota there is also a very large Native American monument “Crazy Horse” chief of the Lakota. Obviously it is impossible to tell the stories of the Civil War battlefields without including the Confederates. What can be done is to include the cultural and historical background of the men who fought and the beliefs and attitudes which caused them to fight. The Confederate flag as well as statues and monuments of confederate leaders, located throughout the south can still be symbols of oppression and white supremacy. Some were erected with that intent. The future of these symbols should be determined by the communities where they are located. Many belong in museums where their stories, the good and the bad, can be fully told and they are no longer symbols which burden the futures of ourcitizens.
Six young children and multiple other persons were killed by random gun violence in the United States over the 4th of July weekend. This is another form of insanity.
And today, Wednesday, live long and prosper Lt. Col Alex Vindman, a man of honor and integrity. Trump White House messing with the Army promotion system looks like vendetta. Tammy Duckworth looking into it. Where are the Republicans?
