Rewriting Black history

Juneteenth commemorates the abolition of slavery in America 135 years ago. Republicans once played a pivotal role in advancing Civil Rights; now they rewrite Black history and wave Confederate flags.

President Abraham Lincoln declared the end of slavery in America with his Emancipation Proclamation, and 135 years ago today, Texas was the final state to order its enforcement. The celebration of Juneteenth commemorates that day.

With his ceaseless efforts to rollback what he calls the “illegal and immoral waste” of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, Trump has planned no celebrations in the White House, which slaves once built.

It was particularly offensive that Trump used Black History Month to begin erasing the contributions of Black Americans from our nation’s history. Along with all the other minority groups, who have contributed so richly to our diverse country of many cultures.

Trump is “whitewashing” our nation’s history as he orders the removal of displays from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, purges references on national websites to such historic figures as the Tuskegee Airmen, renames naval ships honoring prominent Black leaders like Thurgood Marshall, Harriet Tubman and Medgar Evers.

That’s quite the shift from when Republicans once actively worked to advance the cause of Civil Rights in America. My small Ohio farm town was represented in Congress for 25 years by William McCullough, who honored me with an appointment to the US Air Force Academy in 1966.

Although Rep. McCullough had few African-American constituents, this little known conservative Republican played such a pivotal role in securing the necessary votes for those Civil Rights Acts, he was known as “the Republican who saved civil rights.”

In stark contrast to McCullough’s courageous moral leadership, his gerrymandered “duck district” is now represented by unrepentant Trump attack dog Jim Jordan, who played a central role in supporting MAGA’s January 6, 2021 armed insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Jordan was rewarded with chairmanship of a committee that futilely keeps trying to uncover nonexistent whacky conspiracies.

When I first visited Gettysburg, as a newly minted military officer, I was struck by how small those deadly fields of battle actually were. And how 50,000 casualties could have fallen on such idyllic, rolling pastures in just three days’ time.

Fifty some years later, I was reminded of all that needless American carnage when I saw the Trump-inspired insurrectionists on January 6 carry Confederate flags into the United States Capitol.

How disgusting. How pathetic.