Bill Dawson: Hooded terrorists were trying to make the South 'great again'

To The Daily Sun,

It is becoming harder to separate fact from fiction. Some of our history is being revised to suit those who want it changed. There seems to be limited availability of facts to counter the rumors and distortions flying around like free radicals.

Take the race discussions occurring presently in our country. The facts are pretty evident if you reach back far enough. I shall list a few for those who consider research boring and a waste of time.

European explorers did go forth in conquests that were financed by their kings or queens. Acquisition and profit were the motives.

As the so-called colonies developed, native populations were enslaved, driven out or killed. In the case of the colonies that later became the United States, slavery was introduced to increase profit. It wasn’t pretty but as an economic concept, it worked until it didn't. The social arrangement was set up by European powers and enforced by their regents in the territories. The settlers began to resent exploitation. Their brand of capitalism developed into a festering sore. It involved too much “take” and not enough “give.”

Slavery in the colonies was not the major issue. The more agrarian life-style required lots of labor in the form of African slaves. The “triangular trade” was rigged to support the Europeans. They were sending manufactured goods to the new world, bringing slaves to the colonies, and plundering the raw materials of the new world. Revolution became possible when the northern and southern colonies joined forces to resist the obvious exploitation.

It would take another hundred years to resolve the slavery issue. Emancipation solved one aspect and created another, discrimination. Discrimination became an ideology, especially in the southern half of our “United States.”

As they say, “position in life is everything.” Equality only works if you have the power to get and keep money and position. After the Civil War, a concept called reformation was designed to change from the plantation culture to one designed to help the former slaves own property and enjoy other social benefits. Efforts to enforce such ideals caused the forming of secret vigilante societies such as the KKK and the Knights of the White Camelia. Retribution, not reformation, became institutionalized as local law enforcement turned a blind eye to the activities of those hooded terrorists. Their goal was to restore their power. They were trying to make the South “great again!

Bill Dawson

Northfield