You know how a dog whistle works, right? The sound emitted from the whistle is too high pitched for human ears but every dog in the neighborhood is going nuts. Well Trump blew a dog whistle today with this comment, "Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart."
Taking down statues of Confederate generals from public spaces used by all or taking down Confederate flags from public spaces used by all is in no way ripping apart the history of the country. Trump needs some history and civics lessons but the dog whistle part is saying that the statues represent "the...culture of our great country." White supremacists everywhere always claim that anyone who isn't white is destroying the culture of the country. Besides the ridiculous notion that this nation even has a white culture of any kind, our famous melting pot is many cultures thrown together. It's more of a tossed salad or crazy quilt than a melting pot with a falafel place next to a sushi place next to your favorite Italian deli. But if we make an effort, we make it work.
The culture that the Confederacy embraced was built on the backs of enslaved men, women, and children who had no choices in their lives--no choices about anything. The culture that the Confederacy embraced depended on poor whites in the backwoods, too, especially when it came to rebelling against the United States itself. This is not a culture that deserves respect. And yes, I do have ancestors who fought for the "glorious cause". Of course they are still racists today which is just another reason not to preserve that culture.
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