Thread by @jackfrombkln

A few words on defeating fascism:

The last time the United States was as divided as they are now was over the abolition of slavery. We couldn't agree on some very basic human rights, so we went to war. Over 600,000 Americans were killed, more than in WW1 and WW2 combined. /1

https://twitter.com/kurteichenwald/status/1322594733894569984

When the North won, they knew they couldn't impose punitive damages on the South, because the United States was still an agrarian society, and so economically dependent on the South.

With this in mind, provisions were built into the 13th Amendment, and the concessions of The Reconstruction were established.

These concessions led immediately to peonage, Jim Crow, segregation, and finally the current age of mass incarceration.

Because no punitive action was imposed (for economic reasons) after the Civil War, the South–and America as a whole–has always retained concepts of racial superiority.

This is why there are Civil War reenactments every year, why pride in the symbol of oppression that is the confederate flag has never waned, and (by extension) why masses of people saw no problem electing a racist, fascist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobe to the oval office.

For everyone saying "if you win extend forgiveness" the answer is a resounding GETTHEFUCKOUTTAHERE.

I will not get over it because if it stands, the next generation will be taught that THIS WAS RIGHT.

I'm all for truth and reconciliation. I am entirely unwilling to build our future on a foundation of lies.

We have an opportunity to draw a line in the sand, and say: HERE, NO FURTHER.

Anyone who wants a true meeting of minds has to agree on some very basic concepts of right and wrong to start, truths and untruths or there can be no peace, only a tense and inevitable prelude to war.