SummerMadness

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Confederate Memorial Day: When multiple states celebrate treason in defense of slavery
Monday is Confederate Memorial Day in Alabama, one of three states that still set aside a state holiday — meaning government offices are closed — to honor those who fought for the Confederacy during the American Civil War. The others are Mississippi, which will celebrate Confederate Memorial Day on April 30; and South Carolina, which celebrates on May 10.

In addition, other states, such as Florida (which will celebrate Confederate Memorial Day on Thursday) and Texas (which celebrated Confederate Heroes Day on January 19), honor the legacy of the Confederacy without closing government offices.
 

Albion

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A memorial day, by definition and by history is about respecting the sacrifices made by those who paid the ultimate penalty in defense of their families and their country. This one is no different.

We even have soldiers who fought for Nazi Germany buried in some of our national cemeteries, and we give those graves the same care as those of everyone else who lies buried there.
 
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thecolorsblend

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Conceptually, I think affording some level of respect to the side that lost a civil war is a good idea.
But... slavery.

You know?

Slavery, Tanj.
 
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Doug Melven

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April 26, 1965 was the day the Civil war ended.
The originators of the day may have wanted to celebrate Confederate resistance, but they chose to remember the day they lost.
We should always remember the Civil war and why it was fought.
Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
 
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SummerMadness

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It seems some people believe that not glorifying and honoring the people on the wrong side of history amounts to forgetting history. The reality is history is not forgotten, there simply is a movement to obfuscate the facts to make it seem like the treason to preserve slavery wasn't treason (as so many have attempted to minimize the centrality of slavery to the Civil War with historic revisionism).
 
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Saucy

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There are many 'holidays' the mark several genocides that took place as a memorial. This doesn't mean those celebrating this is glorifying or celebrating slavery. They're marking the end of the war, which is a good thing to celebrate.

Either way, we shouldn't just wipe out every part of history because it might offend a few people.
 
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Kaon

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There were slaves and slaveowners in states that remained in the Union, too, you know.

Did they rape their slaves, breed them with their parents and relatives so that they could produce stronger slaves, and publicly humiliate the males (buck breaking)?

Does it make it right, then, to celebrate a historic moment when those practices were considered the economic foundation of the region of celebration?
 
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Kaon

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There are many 'holidays' the mark several genocides that took place as a memorial. This doesn't mean those celebrating this is glorifying or celebrating slavery. They're marking the end of the war, which is a good thing to celebrate.

Either way, we shouldn't just wipe out every part of history because it might offend a few people.

Wiping out the history would be to ignore all of the aspect of the historical point - even and especially the horrible parts.

Celebrating a historical period is one thing; remembering a day is another. You can remember a historical period without celebrating it, or celebrating part of its history. The March of the Living is such an example.
 
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SummerMadness

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There are many 'holidays' the mark several genocides that took place as a memorial. This doesn't mean those celebrating this is glorifying or celebrating slavery. They're marking the end of the war, which is a good thing to celebrate.

Either way, we shouldn't just wipe out every part of history because it might offend a few people.
Again, this is the false argument that not celebrating and glorifying people is the same as "wiping out history." Remembering the past genocides with memorials is not glorification, true. However, Confederate Memorial Day is not about remembering the the last day of the war, it's about white supremacy and resisting the civil rights movement.
 
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Occams Barber

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There are many 'holidays' the mark several genocides that took place as a memorial. This doesn't mean those celebrating this is glorifying or celebrating slavery. They're marking the end of the war, which is a good thing to celebrate.

Either way, we shouldn't just wipe out every part of history because it might offend a few people.

It's one thing to publically acknowledge and remember a genocide, It's another to memorialise the cause and lionise those who were most responsible. There is an obvious difference between a Holocaust Memorial and a statue celebrating Hitler and Nazism.

There is also a difference between remembering history and celebrating it.
OB
 
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Doug Melven

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However, Confederate Memorial Day is not about remembering the the last day of the war, it's about white supremacy and resisting the civil rights movement.
That may have been there intent, but they chose to remember the day they lost. That is a good day to remember.
 
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Occams Barber

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That may have been there intent, but they chose to remember the day they lost. That is a good day to remember.

Perhaps it would be better to remember the torture, rape, humiliation and enslavement of millions of black Americans.
OB
 
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jayem

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April 26, 1965 was the day the Civil war ended.
The originators of the day may have wanted to celebrate Confederate resistance, but they chose to remember the day they lost.
We should always remember the Civil war and why it was fought.
Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Must be a typo. I'm sure you mean 1865.

Though the backbone of the Confederacy was broken on April 9, when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox

I was born and raised in GA. I never heard of a Confederate Memorial Day. Though I know we never got off school on the federal Memorial Day holiday in May. (This was the early to late 60s.) I'd always heard that Memorial Day originated to honor the Union soldiers who died in the Civil War. And even 100 years later, many southerners still wanted no part of commemorating the Union army.
 
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Occams Barber

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Must be a typo. I'm sure you mean 1865.

Though the backbone of the Confederacy was broken on April 9, when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox

I was born and raised in GA. I never heard of a Confederate Memorial Day. Though I know we never got off school on the federal Memorial Day holiday in May. (This was the early to late 60s.) I'd always heard that Memorial Day originated to honor the Union soldiers who died in the Civil War. And even 100 years later, many southerners still wanted no part of commemorating the Union army.

From Wikipedia:

Confederate Memorial Day (also called Confederate Heroes Day in Texas) is a holiday observed in several Southern states since the end of the American Civil War to remember the estimated 258,000 Confederate soldiers and sailors who died fighting against the Union.[1]

The holiday was promoted by Southern state legislatures after the Civil War to reinforce and symbolize white supremacy in the South.[2] During the 1950s and 1960s, the holiday also served as symbol of resistance against desegregation and black civil rights.[3][4][5]

The holiday is observed in late April in many states to recall the surrender of the last major Confederate field army at Bennett Place on April 26, 1865.[6] The holiday is observed widely, but unofficially, in most Southern states.
OB
 
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Landon Caeli

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Landon Caeli

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Again, this is the false argument that not celebrating and glorifying people is the same as "wiping out history." Remembering the past genocides with memorials is not glorification, true. However, Confederate Memorial Day is not about remembering the the last day of the war, it's about white supremacy and resisting the civil rights movement.

So are you saying people make big dinners that day, and crack open bottles of champaign? Are there banners on streetlight poles that urge the South to rise again? What is the extent of this confederate "celebration"?
 
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