The Princeton students were protesting Woodrow Wilson because he was not a civil rights activists.
Nov 20, 2015
I was taught to read a story or play in
the context of its time. I was taught to do the same for historical people.
Therefore, I am disturbed by the student's push to remove Woodrow Wilson from
his place in the history of Princeton University. Wilson was born in rural
Virginia before the start of the War of the Southern Rebellion. He grew up
during that war and its aftermath. He was on the faculty of the College of NJ,
later known as Princeton University. He played a major role in changing the college from an elitist
Presbyterian college with low standards into the major university it is today.
After serving 2 years as Governor he was elected President and served 2 terms.
His concept of the League of Nations and his 14 points are still taught today.
The Republican Senate defeated the League treaty in part because Wilson did not
invite the Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee to accompany him to Paris.
While Wilson was in Europe the Republicans planned to defeat any proposal
Wilson brought back to America, and they did.
To complain that Wilson was a segregationist is to ignore his origins and anything else he did in his life. If students are going to complain about Mr. Wilson, will they also complain about historical figures who owned slaves or were ardent segregationist? Will they defame Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, William Fulbright, and every other person who in their time did not fight for civil rights or abolition and not allow any praise to be paid to any of them? Or do we accept them for their actions though we disagree with some of them, and understand that in their time and place in society they were not alone? One cannot understand history without knowing about the changes that have occurred in philosophy, ethics, politics, and every other aspect of society.
To complain that Wilson was a segregationist is to ignore his origins and anything else he did in his life. If students are going to complain about Mr. Wilson, will they also complain about historical figures who owned slaves or were ardent segregationist? Will they defame Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, William Fulbright, and every other person who in their time did not fight for civil rights or abolition and not allow any praise to be paid to any of them? Or do we accept them for their actions though we disagree with some of them, and understand that in their time and place in society they were not alone? One cannot understand history without knowing about the changes that have occurred in philosophy, ethics, politics, and every other aspect of society.
Nov 19, 2015
I reposted this to my page:
Earlier today, the
mayor of Roanoke, Virginia, Mr. David A. Bowers, in the attached letter, joined
several state governors in ordering that Syrian refugees not receive any
government assistance, or be relocated to their jurisdiction. Apart from the
lack of legal authority to do so (under the Refugee Act of 1980, only the
President has authority to accept or deny refugees), his resort to fear-based tactics, and his
galling lack of compassion for people fleeing these same terrorists, Mayor
Bowers made the following startling statement:
“I’m reminded that Franklin D. Roosevelt felt compelled to sequester Japanese foreign nationals after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and it appears that the threat of harm to America from Isis now is just as real and serious as that from our enemies then.”
Mayor Bowers, there are a few key points of history you seem to have missed:
1) The internment (not a "sequester") was not of Japanese "foreign nationals," but of Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens. I was one of them, and my family and I spent 4 years in prison camps because we happened to look like the people who bombed Pearl Harbor. It is my life’s mission to never let such a thing happen again in America.
2) There never was any proven incident of espionage or sabotage from the suspected “enemies” then, just as there has been no act of terrorism from any of the 1,854 Syrian refugees the U.S. already has accepted. We were judged based on who we looked like, and that is about as un-American as it gets.
3) If you are attempting to compare the actual threat of harm from the 120,000 of us who were interned then to the Syrian situation now, the simple answer is this: There was no threat. We loved America. We were decent, honest, hard-working folks. Tens of thousands of lives were ruined, over nothing.
Mayor Bowers, one of the reasons I am telling our story on Broadway eight times a week in Allegiance is because of people like you. You who hold a position of authority and power, but you demonstrably have failed to learn the most basic of American civics or history lessons. So Mayor Bowers, I am officially inviting you to come see our show, as my personal guest. Perhaps you, too, will come away with more compassion and understanding.
-- George Takei
“I’m reminded that Franklin D. Roosevelt felt compelled to sequester Japanese foreign nationals after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and it appears that the threat of harm to America from Isis now is just as real and serious as that from our enemies then.”
Mayor Bowers, there are a few key points of history you seem to have missed:
1) The internment (not a "sequester") was not of Japanese "foreign nationals," but of Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens. I was one of them, and my family and I spent 4 years in prison camps because we happened to look like the people who bombed Pearl Harbor. It is my life’s mission to never let such a thing happen again in America.
2) There never was any proven incident of espionage or sabotage from the suspected “enemies” then, just as there has been no act of terrorism from any of the 1,854 Syrian refugees the U.S. already has accepted. We were judged based on who we looked like, and that is about as un-American as it gets.
3) If you are attempting to compare the actual threat of harm from the 120,000 of us who were interned then to the Syrian situation now, the simple answer is this: There was no threat. We loved America. We were decent, honest, hard-working folks. Tens of thousands of lives were ruined, over nothing.
Mayor Bowers, one of the reasons I am telling our story on Broadway eight times a week in Allegiance is because of people like you. You who hold a position of authority and power, but you demonstrably have failed to learn the most basic of American civics or history lessons. So Mayor Bowers, I am officially inviting you to come see our show, as my personal guest. Perhaps you, too, will come away with more compassion and understanding.
-- George Takei
Quote of the day from the Star Ledger via the Trenton Times:
"Sure, there's always a chance that a toddler can settle here and poison our culture with his warped ideology---but enough about Ted Cruz."
Nov 17, 2015
OK, I can't help myself. Who thinks that a governor can
control national immigration policy. How many Christian governors have said
they don't want any refugees in their states. This is all political bovine
manure. This is just pandering to stupid xenophobic people who have forgotten
that they are descendants of immigrants and many are descendants of refugees. To
be so xenophobic and label every single Syrian or Iraqi as a terrorist, is
blatantly un-American. That lady in NY harbor says, "Give me your tired,
your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..... Send these
homeless, tempest tossed to me." The refugees fit that description
totally!
Nov 15, 2015
For supporters of wall
building, a wall around the USA will be of limited value. Flights come in from
all over the world into small airports that are "International". To
control who comes in the number of international airports should be limited to
as few as possible: NYC, DC, Atlanta, Houston, LA, San Francisco and Honolulu.
Does St. Louis need an International Airport? Building a wall around Hawaii
will be difficult but can be done. What about the East, West, and Southern coasts? A lot of people come by boat. Just think of all those Cuban
refugees who came that way. Then we have problems in Europe. Will the French
build a wall or GB or Germany or Italy? Hannibal did cross the Alps and a lot
of refugees cross the Mediterranean from North Africa. Do we encourage them to
do so icnluding in the sea? We could be like the 12 or 13thC in which each lord
lives in his castle with his own troops and maybe raids neighboring smaller
weaker towns or countries. .
October 30, 2015
If you haven't figured
it out, politically I am liberal. Those who propose a flat tax to replace the
progressive tax that we currently have are similar to those who think the world
is flat and climate change is not happening. They don't understand that $5000
to someone making $50,000 is more significant and has a greater impact than
someone making $5 million paying $500,000. The progressive tax system is fairer
and should have higher rates for those making over 1/2 million per year.
Additionally, the social security tax should apply to total income and not stop
at $118000. Why should the Koch brothers contribute the same amount to the
social security trust fund as I did? Unfortunately neither will ever happen!
Oct 12, 2015
Its not politically
correct to celebrate Christoforo Columbo any more. However, the holiday is more
than a celebration of the man who" sailed the ocean blue in 14 hundred
92." Its a celebration of the Italian American heritage just as Black
History Month is a celebration of the contributions of African-Americans to America.
By the way the POTUS is a real African American.
My grandparents and some of their siblings came here at the end of the 19th and early 20th C. They faced discrimination, low paying jobs and a language barrier. They lived in ghettos. But think of what's happened over the past century. My family has a whole host of lawyers, 3 physicians, many school teachers, nurses and a couple of millionaires.
The country has 2 Italian American justices of the Supreme court and many members of Congress .CEOs of major corporations are Italian Americans. That is not just the Italian American story; that was the story of America. That's what we celebrate on Columbus Day!
My grandparents and some of their siblings came here at the end of the 19th and early 20th C. They faced discrimination, low paying jobs and a language barrier. They lived in ghettos. But think of what's happened over the past century. My family has a whole host of lawyers, 3 physicians, many school teachers, nurses and a couple of millionaires.
The country has 2 Italian American justices of the Supreme court and many members of Congress .CEOs of major corporations are Italian Americans. That is not just the Italian American story; that was the story of America. That's what we celebrate on Columbus Day!
Sept 2, 2015
When Commodus was
assasinated in the early part of the 3rd C, the Guards auctioned off the throne
to the highest bidder. We apparently don't have an open auction but the
billionares are trying hard to buy the election. When a individuals can each
invest $1 billion in the Presidential campaign and call it free speech, the
rest of us will lose everything gained over the past century under progressive
Presidents like Teddy R, Wilson, FDR JFK etc. Unions will disappear (remember
they stopped child labor, improved working conditions and salaries), public
education will suffer, and the social safety net will disappear. We will no
longer have clean air and water or safe food and drugs. These are parts of
"Big Government" that will have to go.
Sept 1, 2015
Recently Ann Coulter called President
Obama "retarded". Here is an open letter written by a young man with
Down's Syndrome in answer to her comment. You will have to decide who is more
intelligent and a better person.
"I'm a 30 year old man with Down syndrome who has struggled
with the public’s perception that an intellectual disability means that I am
dumb and shallow. I am not either of those things, but I do process information
more slowly than the rest of you. In fact it has taken me all day to figure out how to respond to
your use of the R-word last night.
I thought first of asking whether you meant to describe the President as someone who was bullied as a child by people like you, but rose above it to find a way to succeed in life as many of my fellow Special Olympians have.
Then I wondered if you meant to describe him as someone who has to struggle to be thoughtful about everything he says, as everyone else races from one snarkey sound bite to the next.
Finally, I wondered if you meant to degrade him as someone who is likely to receive bad health care, live in low grade housing with very little income and still manages to see life as a wonderful gift.
Because, Ms. Coulter, that is who we are – and much, much more.
After I saw your tweet, I realized you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me. You assumed that people would understand and accept that being linked to someone like me is an insult and you assumed you could get away with it and still appear on TV.
I have to wonder if you considered other hateful words but recoiled from the backlash.
Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor.
No one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much.
ome join us someday at Special Olympics. See if you can walk away with your heart unchanged.
I thought first of asking whether you meant to describe the President as someone who was bullied as a child by people like you, but rose above it to find a way to succeed in life as many of my fellow Special Olympians have.
Then I wondered if you meant to describe him as someone who has to struggle to be thoughtful about everything he says, as everyone else races from one snarkey sound bite to the next.
Finally, I wondered if you meant to degrade him as someone who is likely to receive bad health care, live in low grade housing with very little income and still manages to see life as a wonderful gift.
Because, Ms. Coulter, that is who we are – and much, much more.
After I saw your tweet, I realized you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me. You assumed that people would understand and accept that being linked to someone like me is an insult and you assumed you could get away with it and still appear on TV.
I have to wonder if you considered other hateful words but recoiled from the backlash.
Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor.
No one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much.
ome join us someday at Special Olympics. See if you can walk away with your heart unchanged.
A friend you haven’t made yet,
John Franklin Stephens
Global Messenger
Special Olympics Virginia"
John Franklin Stephens
Global Messenger
Special Olympics Virginia"
Aug 26, 2015
I have an image of a
white middle aged “Christian” man speaking with a friend in about the year
1911. He is telling his friend how upset he is by the changes occurring in
America and how people have to ban together to “Take America Back.”
“After all,” he tells his friend, “Millions of foreigners are pouring into America. They are not like us. They are Eyetalian, Polacks, Hungarians, Slavs, all kinds of eastern and southern Europeans. They are not even good Protestants. They are papists. And even worse, Jews are pouring into the country. These people are going to ruin America. It was bad enough when all those Micks came, but at least they spoke English. These people cram themselves into cities and don’t learn English and keep their awful habits! We just have to stop them before they take over the country.”
“After all,” he tells his friend, “Millions of foreigners are pouring into America. They are not like us. They are Eyetalian, Polacks, Hungarians, Slavs, all kinds of eastern and southern Europeans. They are not even good Protestants. They are papists. And even worse, Jews are pouring into the country. These people are going to ruin America. It was bad enough when all those Micks came, but at least they spoke English. These people cram themselves into cities and don’t learn English and keep their awful habits! We just have to stop them before they take over the country.”
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