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 The Dating Game: Dates That Define America

 

 

 

By John Freivalds

Published 5/9/2021

Roanoke Times

A dating game is now raging across America as to which dates better define America.  Conservatives say it is 1776, the declaration of independence from England.  African Americans say it is held by 1619 when the first slave ships put ashore from Africa.

Furthermore, conservatives referring to the “1619 curriculum” should not be taught that America never did any evil things “for to do so otherwise would be divisive.”  Yeah sure, slavery was not divisive nor the civil war that it caused.

But I have listed some other dates which defend today’s America. 

 

1620:  The famous ship Mayflower brought Pilgrims to Massachusetts.  The initial Pilgrims were starving, and Native Americans helped keep them alive.  Our Thanksgiving Day grew out of this.  So how did Americans repay this kindness?  According to Encyclopedia Britannica from 1778 to 1871 the US government concluded 368 treaties with Native American tribes – all were broken.  Americans often forget that Native Americans were driven from ancestral and sacred lands and totally dispersed, defeated, and confined to reservations. The US pursued a policy of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

1848: US defeats Mexico and acquires California and Texas and a population of Spanish speakers.

1789: Bill of Rights were passed as part of the US Constitution.  The Second Amendment states Americans have the right to bear arms.  In 1776, according to Sharpshooters.com, even an experienced soldier could only fire three rounds per minute from a musket.  The weapon of choice for mass murderers today is the AR-15, using the Second Amendment argument, can fire 600 rounds per minute. By one estimate there are 800 million guns in private hands today.

1893-1898:  The Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown and annexed so Hawaii could become a supply station for the US Navy and today serves as a vacation paradise where few are aware of this history.  Native cultures, language and people were destroyed sparking a return to a sovereignty movement in Hawaii today.  Years later, in 1993, the US acknowledged and apologized for the overthrow and occupation.

1898:   Spanish American War.  The US defeated Spain and acquired the Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico.  The US kept Puerto Rico which allows Puerto Ricans partial statehood.  Many came to the US where they are derided as “spics” or people who speak Spanish.

1942-1945:  Americans of Japanese descent were sent to “internment” (concentration camps) for fear that they might be spies and saboteurs.

2002:  The Patriot Act was passed as a response to the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11.  This marked the beginning of vilification of Muslims and the subsequent invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.  Its passage created the same sort of cultural hysteria towards Muslims and the internment of Japanese.

2017: Construction of the Mexican border wall.  Congress did not approve monies for the wall, but funds were diverted from other needs. Mexicans and other immigrants were vilified as rapists, drug dealers and murderers and the wall was designed to keep them out and the “base” of uneducated white males happy. To boot families were separated and migrants were always referred to as illegals and criminals never as human beings.

2018:  Outbreak of COVID-19. Some people alleged that the pandemic was “released” by China, a pattern of hate crimes was brought against people who looked Chinese and Asian. Cries of “go back to where you came from” were heard throughout the country.

2020:  Mob attacks on US Capitol. The US capital was stormed by a mob of mostly uneducated white males who protested the result of the last presidential election.  They felt it had been stolen from their candidate although every court in the land ruled that it was a fair election. So much for the argument that the US in not a banana republic.

Although the US historically has been a melting pot, a test of strength has been the ability to assemble a wide variety of groups.  Now some people claim the only “real” Americans are under-educated, white Protestants.  But we must remember the Latin words “E Pluribus Unum” – from many one – are inscribed on the Great Seal of the United States.

 Here is what the people are saying!

 

  • oldman46 May 9, 2021 5:40am
    • I disagree with "uneducated white males" ; many I know are educated but the unifying bond is the Klan mentality.
      • Dan Casey May 9, 2021 9:35am 
        • Educated or uneducated, most of them learned their lessons at Limbaugh U -- which God recently dis-accredited.
      • Richarddg May 9, 2021 11:38am
        • Hey Dan, I enjoy some of your columns. Limbaugh may not have been literally 100% correct, but his worldview was way more logical than that of the progressives'. Also, even though he called it the Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies, most of his listeners already agreed with the general mindset before listening. Limbaugh filled in some details and current events, but the conservative logic was already there in most cases. However, I heard many callers (over my ~29 years listening) express that once they started listening, expecting to find all the bad stories about Limbaugh confirmed, they found that they had been lied to, that Limbaugh was not at all like the mainstream media portrayed him. It may have taken them a few weeks or even months to realize this. But hey, if personalities like Limbaugh are not your cup of tea, may I suggest you read Thomas Sowell. He just turned 90, and has left us many books full of logic and wisdom and research--but written in a more academic and not as confrontational style.
      • Ed R May 9, 2021 6:25pm
        • THANK GOD!...edr

 

  • Alphatruth May 9, 2021 9:41am
    • Klan mentality is Democrat mentality....History, or that that you can`t change, proves that the democrats are solely responsible for the KKK. Period. So goes the Democrats of today...keeping the blacks poor and under-educated in order to keep them on the GOV`t dole, and a permanent voting bloc(sorry...that ``permanent`` montra is slipping...some blacks have decided that they have had enough of the left wing modern-day slave owner status....who could blame them?).
      • Ed R May 9, 2021 6:23pm
        • THE HILL...."Kinzinger compares Republican Party to the Titanic...."...BY MYCHAEL SCHNELL -05/09/21 11:42 AM EDT...GOP Rep.Adam Kinzinger(Ill.) on Sunday compared the Republican Party to the Titanic amid an internal battle over Rep.Liz Cheney(R-Wyo.) and the push to oust her from her leadership position.....When asked about the intraparty conflict by host John Dickerson on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Kinzinger said the GOP is “in the middle of this slow sink.”.....“Right now, it's basically the Titanic. We're like, you know, in the middle of this slow sink. We have a band playing on the deck telling everybody it's fine. And meanwhile, as I've said, you know, Donald Trump's running around trying to find women's clothing and get on the first lifeboat,” Kinzger said.....“And I think there's a few of us that are just saying, ‘Guys, this is not good,’ not just for the future of the party, but this is not good for the future of this country,” he added."......
      • Sandi Saunders May 9, 2021 7:01pm
        • No, what history actually and completely proves, is that the "klan mentality" was, is and will remain the underlying raison d'être of conservatives. The Party of Lincoln was not the least bit conservative or as backward as they are now. That is because the "klan mentality" is not in a party, but in an ideology - conservative ideology. Black people are smarter than you, and figured this out long ago.

 

  • Richarddg May 9, 2021 11:48am
    • A change of emphasis is in order. Rather than focus the Bill of Rights discussion on how fast 18th century guns could shoot, you should exult at the guarantee of rights that was the first of its kind in the world. This was revolutionary indeed, and as opposed to most of the world's revolutions that only bring death and destruction, the American Revolution set the standard for the world to follow. Why didn't you also discuss the dates during WWII when the US saved Europe from being taken over by Hitler? How about the dates of the Civil War when thousands died to end slavery in the US (although it still continues to this day around the world)? How about the date in 1969 when the first humans, who were also Americans, walked on the moon? How about the 1964 and '65 civil rights and voting rights act? Why don't these make your list? We have had some bad moments, as has every other nation and still have work to do, but America's plusses far outweigh its minuses, and your article should have made this clear.
      • Ed R May 9, 2021 7:11pm
      • Sandi Saunders May 9, 2021 7:04pm
        • I agree that there are many dates in America that define us, and some of them clearly point to our hubris, fallibility, arrogance and self-centered approach. Some make us shine, others tarnish us forever. We have to keep the integrity that demands we not white-wash and revise history with a patina it does not deserve. Truth, for good or ill, is the American ideal we must preserve.