First Confederate soldiers were conscripted. They had little choice. Two years into the war Le was having trouble getting conscripts as poor whites were dying in a war they did not support for slave owners who were of course like the rich of today do not usually see their children sacrificed. People in the south black and white need to understand that the whites were dying and not for a cause they readily accepted. White men from Kentiucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina from the mountains fought for the union
as did my ancestors in Kentucky.
According to W.E.B. DuBois, a great Black sociology in his book "Black Reconstruction" the Northern Industrialists joined with the former slave owners to exploit both the resources and the poor people of the south, black and white. DuBois even stated both whirtes and black became slaves to the economic system established after the Civil War. As for the north with all its smug piety of freeing slaves, civil rights etc., the whites there were responsible to a great degree with creating the myths of white superiority, most notably at Columbia University. Today hatred of black people is critical to dividing poor and working people, black and white.
Yes it is institutionalized but rather than scream at just the injustice, we must understand where it comes from and eliminate it. I ask you if it is institutionalized, who makes the institutions? In other words who control our government and our economy. It is a simple answer and we of al races must say the name- the rich oligarchy.
This should not surprise you. They have been keeping the poor and the working in a state of hatred and division since before the revolution. If you read Howard Zinn's "The Peoples History of the United States" , you will learn how the racial hatred, the sexism, and nationalism are all used to manipulate and control the people starting even before the American Revolution. Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Patriots hell. They never wanted democracy and set up a system to prevent it from coming to fruition.
Today as Bernie knows, the oligarchy still rules but you can join us and make our country democratic
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