Introduction
At the recent Alabama
Division Reunion in Foley, Alabama Division Commander Carl Jones noted that if
we are going to be attacked politically, we won’t be able to avoid getting
political ourselves and discussing these topics which are used by the media to
attack our heritage. Two words that are
aimed at the SCV continually are racist and racism. I would like to offer the following
information so that we can understand how these words came into the American language,
and why.
Etymology of the words
Let's understand first the origin of the word race [derived probably
from Latin ratio, ‘reckoning, account’].
The Oxford English Dictionary dates the word from the 1500s, making it
about 500 years old. Originally race was
applied to a man and his descendants (as in the "race of Abraham"),
then a tribe or clan, and finally the modern sense we understand today (each of
the major divisions of humankind, having distinct physical
characteristics). Race, then, has been
with us for half a millenium. The next
words, which are derived from it, have been in use for less than a century.
Racism, Racist – These words were first used about 1933 per Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed.
(one source says communist leader Leon Trotsky was first to use it, to label
Russians who wanted to reject international communism and keep their national
traditions and culture). The term does
not appear in U.S. dictionaries until after World War II. It was first brought into use in this country
by communists/socialists who came here from Eastern Europe in the last half of
the nineteenth century and saw the Anglo-Saxon majority as a threat to
continued immigration of their own stock into this country (cf. the Frankfurt
School); hence their use of it against the Anglo-Saxon majority beginning in
the 1950s.
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From an article written by Mike Tuggle of South Carolina:
The term is entirely
modern, and of purebred Marxist stock. The Soviets, who were the first Marxists
in power, invented it as a condemnation of those ethnic groups who stubbornly
refused to surrender their traditions and submit to the enlightened rule of the
commissars. Like many other propaganda terms, it was not so much a
philosophical concept as it was a loaded phrase designed to intimidate and
silence critics. Then as now, the term "racist" is a cluster bomb
that implies both backwardness and xenophobia. The first usage of the term
"racist" in print appeared in Leon Trotsky's History of the Russian
Revolution, in which he characterized Russian patriotism as "the
messianism of backwardism" and dismissed as "Racists" those who
explained conflicts in nationalistic terms:
Therefore, loyalty to one's
cultural traditions, from the way you talk to the faith you profess, is a
manifestation of a fear of progress, and progress, as we all know, is the
inevitable movement toward globalism and universalism that Marxism promised.
Love of one's own people, then, is not love, but hatred of others.
That is, if you accept the
premises of Marxism.
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"Racist" statements by two well-known American figures
Following are two quotations, both from two notable figures in American
history. At the time they were made,
they were accepted as truth by most all Americans. The fact that they now would be seen as
"hateful and racist" is proof of the fact that that label is a
product of the late twentieth century.
Thomas Jefferson quote, only the first part of which was placed on his
monument in Washington.
Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these
people are to be free. Nor is it less certain that the two races, equally free,
cannot live in the same government. Nature, habit, opinion has drawn indelible
lines of distinction between them.
--Thomas Jefferson, July 27, 1821
Abraham Lincoln on the subject of race
In a debate with Stephen Douglas in Charleston, Illinois, on 18
September 1858, Lincoln said:
"I will say, then,
that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the
social and political equality of the white and black races – that I am not, nor
ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying
them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition
to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races
which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of
social and political equality. And
inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be
the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in
favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race." He also added: “I am not in favor of Negro citizenship.”
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Conclusion
So, for true Americans,
"racism" is a made-up word used by the enemies of our culture, and
should always be put within quotes, to show it for what it is: an invention to be used against those who
oppose socialism and globalism, both enemies of the American tradition. More recent terms in this category are
"sexist", "xenophobe" (or any variety of "phobes"), and "neo-Confederate".
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