Bernie: What the campaign is about is a very RADICAL IDEA....

[AOR]

10. Don't care if you play or not...

telling you the facts on the ground and objective reality. Facts matter and the history matters. Sanders campaign needs to be about issues and not promoting "superheroes and saviors" and feel good symbolism...especially bad symbolism. Teddy Roosevelt was a warmongering Imperialist and a racist bigot. Whether you play or not is irrelevant. People need to know the history of what they're promoting. What is real for the left and what isn't.

Theodore Roosevelt and American Racism

By BAR Editor and Senior Columnist Margaret Kimberley

“I don't go so far as to think that the only good Indian is the dead Indian, but I believe nine out of every ten are, and I shouldn't like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth. The most vicious cowboy has more moral principle than the average Indian.”

-- Theodore Roosevelt

(Snip)

" It is true today and was true in the past. The most celebrated political figures in this country, including those called blue blooded, elite or patrician, were mostly criminals. The descendants of the Mayflower ought to be ashamed of their heritage instead of bragging about their ancestors who began the genocide of indigenous people. The earliest American presidents Washington, Jefferson and Madison, earned their wealth through slave holding. Their successors in the office of the presidency either acquiesced to the slave holding interests or actively protected them until a bloody civil war put an end to their dirty work. "

(Snip)

"In the Philippines from 1901 – 1911, the United States killed more than 250,000 people in order to end their struggle for independence. First as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1898 and then as vice president and president, Roosevelt made clear that he lusted for death on a mass scale. “I should welcome almost any war, for I think this country needs one,” Roosevelt opined. He said that war stimulated “spiritual renewal” and “the clear instinct for racial selfishness.” He defended the imperial project in the Philippines by declaring Filipinos “Chinese half-breeds” and surmised that the bloodshed was “the most glorious war in our nation’s history.”

(Snip)

"It isn’t shocking that a man born in the 19th century to wealth and privilege who was raised by a slave holder would turn out to be so loathsome. It should be shocking that in the 21st century there is still such an inclination to sweep this easily accessible information under the rug. "

(Snip)

"It is high time for Americans to grow up and that means eschewing tales of teddy bears in favor of telling the unvarnished and ugly truth. Those who feel the need for hero worship shouldn’t look towards Mount Rushmore or the dead presidents on currency. These people are invariably disreputable and should be remembered only as cautionary tales of how human beings should not behave. Theodore Roosevelt is definitely in that category."

Full article at link...

http://blackagendareport.com/node/14422