This is my black family — from Loudoun County, Virginia. Seated in the center is my great grandmother, Amelia Weaver Roberts, who was enslaved and emancipated as a result of the Union victory in the Civil War. She sits in front of a portrait of her husband, Presley Roberts who had also been a slave. With her are her children. I have written about them here before, in They were slaves in Virginia
This is my white great grandfather James Bratt (with his wife, Nettie Hale Bratt) —
who fought fought for the Union. He can be found on the roster of the Wisconsin Volunteers: War of the Rebellion. He enlisted as a private on September 15, 1861 in the 6th Light Artillery Regiment. He returned home, victorious — and ill.
You all know what the racist “League of the South” movement is. It isn’t fueled by Democrats.
The strongest civil rights movement we have today is centered in North Carolina — and it is a fusion movement — a third reconstruction. Moral Mondays.
In every “red state” there are Democrats who are fighting voter suppression, gerrymandering and re-districting. Many Democrats are hard at work trying to turn those states purple, then blue.
In the heat of the primary competition here on Daily Kos — the last thing I want to read are aspersions that “Confederate states” don’t count.
We should be celebrating every single person who is voting for Democrats.
In Black Kos, for International Women’s Day, we celebrated black women from the South.
55% of black people in the U.S. live in the South — and most are Democrats — that is a very good thing. We have to work harder to support them, not dismiss or demean them.
As we move forward in our primary, and when we enter the general election, we will need every Democrat — Black, White, Latino, Asian, male, female, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, atheist and agnostic, straight or LBGT — to work to not only defeat the Republican at the top of the ticket in 2016, but to change the American electoral landscape. That means state and local elections.
I woke up this morning and found out that Hillary had won Mississippi, and Bernie had won Michigan. Congrats to both candidates and their supporters.
I also awoke to find more comments referring to “confederate” firewalls — which have been very disturbing to me when I have come upon them here.
Moving forward, I hope not to see any more such comments, and if they do occur, I hope they will be flagged quickly by Kogs, no matter who you support.
My black family survived slavery and spread throughout this nation. My white family fought it, and did the same.
We are not Confederates, Klan members, Trump supporters or bigots.
We are Democrats.