Americana

While you may not agree with my views on things, I appreciate each one of my followers.

I started this painting to represent both the past and the present. Not unlike most Americans I have a number of ancestrial links to the Civil War. Unlike some I am very proud of these ancestors. Most of them lost their lives not fighting for slavery as some are misled to believe but to simply maintain control of their own land.

You need to realize that during that time period they had been fighting for years prior to the war. The slaves benefited from the war but they were not the reason it occurred. In fact most slaves were freed prior to the start of the war.

Now we all know that the act of slavery was something this country should have never gotten involved it. And you can thank not Americans but the British for that! The fact is there was not enough manpower for the large plantations and farms to continue to operate. Slavery was seen as a solution to a problem. They never set out to destroy another race. It became evident very quickly that you were either a slave or a slave owner. Here are a few little known facts… 1. While most people assume that all slaves were black, that also is not true. There were white slaves often referred to in Wills as Indentured Servants. 2. There were black slave owners of black slaves. There were not many but they did exists. 3. Were slaves mistreated….in some cases yes but in other cases they were well respected by their owners. Most earned their freedom on their own. In my family tree there were both white slaves and slave owners and I am not ashamed of either.

The disgust over our monuments being destroyed is warranted. When you erect a statue to a common criminal but destroy monuments to fallen heros that just shows how far our society has fallen from reality.

Every race, every society has the right to celebrate their history. There is always some good and bad in every society. While this country has fallen on its knees it doesn’t mean that we cannot get back up.

It is time to unite our past with our present and allow that knowledge to make us stronger. We do still have an opportunity to make this country great again!

It starts with the simplicity of love and respect for all of mankind.