Musicmystery
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Joined: 3/14/2005
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quote:
Can we ask the Memorial Day Question "How come Memorial Day, a national holiday honoring originally our civil war dead, and later expanded to include our fallen soldiers from all of this nation's ensuing conflicts, is so frequently co-opted for partisan political discussion?
Take a look at this article, which traces the roots back to Decoration Day, a decidedly partisan venture, intended solely for African Americans.
"What we now know as Memorial Day began as "Decoration Day" in the immediate aftermath of the U.S. Civil War. It was a tradition initiated by former slaves to celebrate emancipation and commemorate those who died for that cause.
"These days, Memorial Day is arranged as a day "without politics"—a general patriotic celebration of all soldiers and veterans, regardless of the nature of the wars in which they participated. This is the opposite of how the day emerged, with explicitly partisan motivations, to celebrate those who fought for justice and liberation.
"The concept that the population must "remember the sacrifice" of U.S. service members, without a critical reflection on the wars themselves, did not emerge by accident. It came about in the Jim Crow period as the Northern and Southern ruling classes sought to reunite the country around apolitical mourning, which required erasing the "divisive" issues of slavery and Black citizenship. These issues had been at the heart of the struggles of the Civil War and Reconstruction."
http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/revolutionary-memorial-day-hijacked.html
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RE: Can we ask the Memorial Day Question ... - 
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