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Thanks for this. Am sharing with our kids and others. So important to have truth be heard.

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History as inspiration. Thank you for this much needed message, Heather.

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For whatever reason, the Reply is not working @ Ken Hamblin:

The problem with not renaming these bases named after Confederates, nor removing the statues of Confederates, and not removing the Confederate flag form public spaces is several fold. What is considered a traitorous act when traitors are celebrated? I don't remember seeing Nazi leader statues in Germany or Hideki Tojo statues in Japan. What was the REAL reason for Jim Crow and how did these monuments play into that by taking over public spaces that "belong to all"? Who said that they wanted those statues in the public square, in front of the Courthouses, in the Nation's Capital? Who said that we should name our military bases after Confederates that wanted to rebel against America? Was that a good idea? What would you think if your ancestor was a Union solider that died in the South only to have a military base named after the rebel general's army that kill him? What is the real problem with revisionist American history? I have to say that those of the American privilege think if they are fine, then certainly there is no problem because "they" didn't do it. "Will we ever get past this lost cause and Yankee-rebel business?" No, we want to perpetuate it. Here, I can listen to or read the telling of real American history.

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Thank you again for your facts and for being a beacon of hope!

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2hEdited

Well we were divided then, divided enough to go to war. It apparently was not settled that we are a united country above all. We now have a group that have gained power, grabbing it at times (like the Supreme Court), gaming in the Congress and using the media to disinform, divide and threaten us further but in different ways. We are set for a challenging few years ahead. "Oligarchs" were mentioned in this history hinting at what we are facing today: billionaires buying, influencing, the government and owning the media, our means of communication. The importance of immigrants in our history was also mentioned. So we will manage to be thankful at the moment for a lot that we have but there is a darkness on the horizon and we have to prevent that from moving over us. As always, this was apt, excellent. Thank you.

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As a person who has 3 Mayflower ancestors I have read a lot about the journey and their first year. Half of the pilgrims died living on the ship that first year, mostly women and children, due to the disease ridden environment of the ship. Men went ashore to build and till. There were less than 10 adult females to cook that first Thanksgiving feast. Also the land the pilgrims settled on was cleared by a tribe that had died out due to a European introduction of leptospiridium a deadly disease carried by rat fleas on ships and spread by water. It affected a huge proportion of native people and local wild life before the pilgrims arrived. European destruction of native peoples and lands then began before the puritans arrived.

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Happy Thanksgiving Heather!

You’re the Best

https://vmst.io/@drrjv/113561432249299031

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Will we ever get past this lost cause and yankee-rebel business. I was a big Civil War “fan “ when I was a kid, but now it’s just historical interest. I still can’t get behind the statue removal, military base renaming. A lot of people of all races have been trained or served at these bases, and I think most will remember the original name. Not celebrating Thanksgiving on the same day in prior years, now long past, was ridiculous. I thought for years that the Confederate battle flag belonged in museums. Years ago, maybe 15, I rode by a house on the way home that had a tall flagpole with the American flag, the Marine flag, and a Confederate battle flag. There was a protest, so he replaced the Confederate flag with a Carolina blue flag with a single white star in the center. I got a chuckle, and it was a while before someone recognized it as the Bonnie Blue flag and linked it with the Confederate marching song. The Union marched off to Dixie. I will bet that many people still don’t know that.

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