by This kind of thing really pisses me off. Especially since I know it’s gotten a thousand times worse since my school days. Enough with white-washing history. We absolutely must be teach what happened. Knowing the truth helps us strive to be better.
I just read this history of the National Anthem. It is must reading.
Some recent pictures of Finney that do not capture how cute he is. He’s not very photogenic. If you don’t get him just right, he doesn’t look attractive.
The British populated their American army with mercenaries rather British subjects. Most of the mercenaries were German soldiers (“hirelings”), because they were the best fighters, and some were of course American slaves, as the British offered American slaves freedom in return for turning on their owners. In my opinion, the lines you quote refer to the British army generally, and allude specifically to the fact that the British army was populated by those not actually fighting for the British, but rather for their own unrelated reasons (money and manumission, for the Germans and slaves, respectively ), whereas the American army was made up of Americans fighting for their own freedom from the British. Of course, 150 years later we look at it slightly differently: today of course we see the slaves also fighting for their own freedom, even more so perhaps than the Americans. All I can say is, good luck standing up yourself 150 years from now. By the way, while this is all very interesting, none of it has anything to do with Colin Kaepernick.
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. There days, I’m reading more history than I ever have, and I see patterns repeated everywhere and all the time. Every generation thinks they are starting anew and then they make the same mistakes.
As for Canada accepting slaves, while this is to our credit, we don’t necessarily have the best record on handling ethnic difference either. We have treated indigenous people quite poorly, we interned Japanese in WWII, and our police have some problems with how they treat certain ethnic groups. We can all strive to do better.
Haven’t read the article yet but will. Thanks!
In re: Finney, I think he’s adorable in every picture you take. He looks like he has high “pettability”!
Awwww, thank you so saying so.
And Julia, all countries have an embarrassing histories, but Canada does have a long record of rescuing Americans, for which I admire Canada for.