GEORGIA ON THE MIND
Thanks for your article on the continuing impact of racism on the South and the nation (Cover Story, "Still Divided," by John Sugg, Feb. 1-7). There are those who will do anything they can to avoid an open and honest discussion of race. That effort is in keeping with one of the most overlooked aspects of America's racist heritage: the extensive deceit and corruption behind the construction of racism. There was nothing natural about it; elites worked to foster racism as a way of controlling the laboring classes. Many people have forgotten that Georgia began as a free colony. South Carolina slaveowners, terrified of the consequence of free territory just across the Savannah River, worked with the ambitious Thomas Stephens to persuade the Crown that most Georgia settlers wanted slavery. Their deception destroyed James Oglethorpe's dream of a free and prosperous colony, condemning Georgia to what William Lloyd Garrison called "the pact with the devil."
Michael Bellesiles
Via e-mail
DIVIDED WE FALL
Scarcely more than a litany of well-known errors and terrors and adding little of anything of merit to the subject of race in America, "Still Divided" portrays a nation devoid of a real history outside of the plight of the people of color, a superficial portrayal scripted by the real winners.
The people of the South, in losing the War Between the States, lost not only the right of self-government but also the opportunity to come to terms with their own people in their own way.
A Confederate victory would have brought about the manumission of slaves and a white Southern consensus of responsibility to bring about the moral, economic and social advancement toward the real freedom of an unjustly downtrodden people.
Such a vision of the future of a victorious South in 1865 would leave years of work to be done — but was what really happened any better? Did it amount to gain for the freed slaves that they became targets for a century of violence as surrogates for the damyankee invading army?
There is no justice in the concept of "Separate But Unequal" and the denial of the right to vote. But there is evil in the Northern remedy and that evil is the power now held by the Federal Government to rule over every aspect of the rights of the states and the people. We are not free when we are mandated from Washington to use our local tax money for busing and to afford opportunity to our public school students on a quota system, not to mention that some percentage of our public servants must be African Americans, and our states must set certain speed limits on highways or lose "Federal" money. We know that there is no such thing as "Federal money." It is our money! It is our government! Oops! I got carried away there for a moment. It is not our money. It is not our government. We had a Republic for as long as we could keep it.
Terry Kelly
Clearwater
TAKE IT ON FAITH
I found "Throwing Out Darwin" (Cover Story, by Wayne Garcia, Jan. 18-24) interesting, especially since I was raised Catholic and attended Catholic school for 12 years. Strange at it may sound, the nuns taught us Darwin's theory of Natural Selection and even mentioned the "E" word. The nuns said that we should take it on faith that God oversaw the process and at some point stepped in and created man in his image and likeness. End of story, no big thing.
So, why are the Fundamentalist Christians making such a mountain out of a molehill? It hardly seems reasonable to trash the scientific process to prove what needs to be taken on faith. The people who argue that ID should be taught in public schools are just more of the same from my fellow citizens who want to use public facilities to promote religion. Perhaps they should spend a little of their Bible-reading time and read the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Pete Camarata
Sarasota
SPOTLIGHT ON PINELLAS
Thank you for doing such a nice article on what's going on in Pinellas County and for spotlighting our students ("Spring Arts 2006," Cover Story, Jan. 25-31). I am a voice teacher at PCCA, where I've taught for 19 years. It's a wonderful, creative, and at times, dramatic environment and I love it. We do have talent on the south side of the county, and it's exciting that it is being recognized.
Dawne Eubanks
Voice Teacher, PCCA and HCC
This article appears in Feb 8-14, 2006.
