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Thursday, June 15, 2006

 

Civil War Actor Kicked out of Park Over Slave Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

In another example of PC stupidity gone wild, a Civil War re-enactor portraying a Confederate officer was kicked out of Historic Crossroads Village Park, near Flint, Michigan this past weekend, for saying that a young black child would probably have been a slave in 1860's Georgia.

Civil War re-enactor Tim VanRaemdonck said he was just staying in character when he wrote "slave" as the occupation of black children on fictitious enlistment papers during Civil War Days at Crossroads Village.

Word reached Crossroads Village manager Garry Pringle, who had two conversations with VanRaemdonck and asked him to leave.

Gosh! Imagine that! A black person being assumed a slave in 1860's Georgia?

What's next, assuming a Japanese man might have been in the Imperial Army circa 1930? Maybe an English soldier being thought a Cursader in the 14th century? Maybe it would be wrong to generalize that a North Vietnamese man would be a Communist in 1965?

Darn that history stuff anyway!

Not to be outdone by the stupidity of Village manager, Garry Pringle, Parks Director Amy M. McMillan said the following to the Media:

McMillan believes there were better choices than labeling the young boy a "slave" - even if the label was designed to share history.

"There were also free people of color in the southern states during this time period," she wrote in an e-mail to The Flint Journal. "More appropriate answers could have included occupations such as farmer, blacksmith, or other occupations typical of that time period.

"It would have been equally inappropriate to respond 'slave owner' to a Caucasian child who had asked such a question. Had any re-enactor provided such a response, he/she would have also been asked to leave the village."

Um, no Mz. McMillan. You are wrong on all counts proving you know next to nothing about American history. But, also proving you are a swell practitioner of the dark arts of PCism.

For some REAL history, Mz. McMillan, the total number of free blacks in Georgia as noted in the 1860 census was only 3,500. By contrast, the total number of slaves in Georgia in 1860 amounted to 462,198! So, NO, Mz. McMillan, it would NOT have made much sense to assume that, on average, a black person in Georgia would have been a free man. There was nothing "more appropriate" to have said to the child but that he would probably have been a slave, Mz. McMillan.

Now, to clear up your other garbled historical claim, Mz. McMillan; The number of white slave owners in 1860 Georgia was 41,084 out of a total white population of 591,550. So, while it would not have been an automatic assumption that a white person in Georgia in 1860 was a slave owner it was far, far more likely to assume that a white person might own slaves in 1860 Georgia than to assume a black person was a free man in the same place and time period. The statistics do not lie, Mz. McMillan.

The reenactor was right and the staff of the Crossroads Village is wrong to have removed him from the Park for telling history like it is.

Another member of the group to which the unduly accosted reenactor belongs told the Flint paper:

"If we don't discuss it, children don't learn."

"Learning" is NOT what the putrid purveyors of PCsim want. They want whitewashed, cleansed history free of anything that might "upset" or cause certain people to have any "low self-esteem". They don't want people to actually understand the history of this country at all. They just want to label all white people as evil and let that "lesson" go unexamined, kept as a vague notion never investigated and never spoken of directly.

I hope that Civil War reenactors in Michigan stop participating at the "Historic" Crossroads Village Park and stop helping them make all that money off a public whom the Village refuses to help learn about our history. Sadly, the "Historic" part of their charge is to be ignored.
Comments:
That is just unbelievable...and I mean that literally! I agree with you 100% they shouldn't participate and stop making money for the event. There are plenty of other places where folks actually appreciate the way it really was and not expect "reenactors" to adapt to the PC liberals of today! Good grief, man!!
 
I saw this today and was thinking of blogging about it as well. You have done a much better job than I ever could have done. Of course there are a few flaws in your post:

1) You should be using African American child/children in place of black child/children.

2) I believe the preferred termonology now is "War Between the States" and not "Civil War"

3) Confederate has bad connotations nowadays (KKK, slavery, etc) so I think non-Union Officer would be more appropriate
 
I HATE it when I leave my PC dictionary at home when I am blogging at work! I shoulda knewed better.

I KNEW my post sounded to "harsh" and would damage someone's "self-esteem"!

I HATE it when that happens!

Anyway, I have decided to cal slaves :

"non-self relocated, compulsory, domestic engineers"

Does that "sound" better?
 
Excellent post! The problem with the PC society is that what is allowable is dictated by the vocal minority. If those of us who find this PCism appalling speak up and say "I should be allowed to decide what I find offensive...and if so then I can change the channel, look away, chose not to listen, not be told by someone else that I shouldn't hear it".

I was at Crossroads Village this year. The general reaction of all the reenactors present was one of disbelief. To not be allowed to properly teach the history we so love is heartbreaking. When I have to fear for every word I say that I may offend someone society in general has lost it, completely. PCism is negatively impacting our right to free speech and most don't even recognize it.

Your Obedient Servant,
Capt. Shannon McClintock, 4th MI Co.A
 
Geez, Mike, if we start changing things such as the 3 items you've listed, we're losing part of the real history.
 
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