We’ve been vocal over the past couple of weeks regarding the monumental changes that have been sparked by the murder of George Floyd. We’ve heard from many who agree. We’ve also heard from many who strongly disagree.
Whether in the comments section (I’d love to get rid of the comment section altogether, but that’s a different issue for a different), on Twitter, or in my personal emails and text messages, the level of vitriol, belligerence, and flat-out hatred has been stunning, but not surprising. The minority on matters of racial equality is getting louder, possibly because that minority senses defeat, in many different ways.
Here’s an email I received today, under the subject line “Thank you PFT” (which the author apparently thought would make me more likely to open it): “Thank you for once again reminding me why your website is garbage. You pass judgment and slander my Southern ancestors, Mr. Florio (‘Florio’ lol, who invited you here? Shall I recite the atrocities under Mussolini?), because you are a cultural imperialist. You take no time to ask, ‘why would people be interested In flying the Confederate flag?’ because you adopt the comic book view of the war being about slavery.”
So . . . what was the civil war about? Those who would like to fight it all over again would say it was about “states’ rights.” And they’re right; it was about states’ rights to let their citizens continue to own slaves.
More importantly, none of this will quiet us. History will judge everyone with a platform during these turbulent times, and plenty will be remembered in a negative light, in the same way people like John C. Calhoun currently is being remembered. Those who are flat-out wrong and/or deliberately pandering to those who are flat-out wrong (a/k/a the charlatan-bros) won’t be forgotten, and I want my grandkids (if I have any) and their grandkids (if they have any) to be able to say that the old, dead guy who wrote and talked about football makes them proud, not ashamed, of their own personal heritage.