Ever wonder why you’ve never seen WW1 or WW2 re-enactors shooting at each other at the county fair? Because nobody’s trying to rewrite the history of world wars, perhaps?
Here in Mississippi West Nevada, we are plagued by a plethora of freedom-loving racists long intent on rejiggering the Civil War.
Don’t worry about the result. The slaves got freedom on paper and little else so the status quo ante persisted as does the hangover today.
What the Confederacy was unable to do with guns, it did with post-war governmental abuse. Calling the sheriff was calling the Klan.
The disease often manifests right here in River City and nearby Tesla County.
Somebody named Jeff Cruess of Sun Valley had a letter published in the Reno Kazoo-Journal on Sept. 18. Asserting that they were exactly like Washington and Jefferson, Cruess asserted that Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and Stonewall Jackson were not traitors because they had “no intent to destroy the government, military or constitution. In fact, it was the North’s refusal to uphold the Constitution that helped lead to secession…the Confederacy seceded from the Union. That’s leaving, not destroying a government.”
Re-defining treason means never having to say you’re sorry.
Cruess concludes his attempt to legitimize the bastards by noting “in 1868, President Andrew Johnson pardoned all Confederate soldiers preemptively.”
I guess that makes what Richard Nixon and Joe Arpaio did alright.
The cruel Mr. Cruess should put away his white sheets long enough to please go to Barbwire.The US and read “Virginia City celebrates Slave Labor Day,” my exposé detailing how freedom-loving racists have morphed the traditional Comstock Labor Day parade into “Civil War Days.” The south has risen again in Tesla County, Mississippi West Nevada, USA.
On local TV last Sept. 4, Confederate-clad dudes were shown black-powder shooting at Union soldiers under a “Civil War Days” banner during the parade. America has yet to realize that playing cowboys and Indians or civil war soldier constitutes latter day approval of racism and genocide.
The Confederate Brigade of the Comstock Civil War Reenactors states on its website that “the primary issues which resulted in the outbreak of war were political and economic as well as a fight over self-determination (States Rights). The issue of slavery was entwined in all of these other issues and although a large part of the pie, was not the primary focus as many seem to believe 150 years later.”
So slavery did not even make the podium, a fourth-place also-ran in the Jim Crow pie-judging contest. Amazing. That’s OK, guys, black people are used to being relegated to the back of the bus by the likes of you.
I grew up in a multi-ethnic community as you will ever find. One thing I’ve learned over seven decades is that black people rightly see the world differently than the majority. Witness the latest Missouri tragedy and travesty.
Don’t rewrite. Research. Reboot. Restart. Refresh.
Start by reading my piece. Then plan on attending the Reno-Sparks NAACP’s second Community Policing Forum at 7:00 p.m. on Oct. 12 at Northern Nevada HOPES, Third Floor Community Room, 580 W. 5th Street, Reno NV 89503. Admission is free. Get there early. Last year was SRO.
Two days later on Oct. 14, Circus Circus again will be the site of the Branch’s 72nd Annual Freedom Fund Awards Banquet. Make reservations early. Last year was a sellout. Buy tickets, tables, and sponsorships at RenoSparksNAACP.org/
Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno.
Andrew Barbano is a 48-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com. He serves as first vice-president of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his opinions are strictly his own. E-mail <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us> Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988.