Lost Cause meet Crazy Cause: using Juneteenth to tear down of the San Fran. statue of Ulysses S. Grant —who won the Civil War that led to emancipation, long before had freed the 1 slave he had been given & who was later eulogized by Frederick Douglass
Grant was a man of his time, imperfect. But other men were slave owners, defenders of slavery. Had not Grant taken charge of the Union Army & begun defeating Lee in 1864, it could’ve easily led to the defeat of Prez Lincoln by McLellan, who wanted peace w/a slave-owning South
Grant’s presidency had big trouble, but got the 15th Amend passed, he crushed the 1st iteration of the KKK & he tried reforming U.S. Indian policy

Later, when Prussia’s leader told him he had had to save the Union,
Grant said:

“Not only save the Union, but destroy slavery”
In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea

With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me

As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free

God is marching on
I see the Lost Cause and Crazy Cause trolls are doing their thing in replies. So two good pieces about Grant’s legacy.

Here’s 1, which is generally favorable: https://wapo.st/2YjVp13 
Perhaps the big stains on Grant’s presidency (as noted above) was the continuation of U.S. policy against indigenous people. His reforms failed. The Trail of Tears, which began in 1831 long before his presidency, ended in 1877, when his presidency ended https://bit.ly/316IfXb 
I’m pro-Union, pro-equality and pro-history and nuance https://twitter.com/marcacaputo/status/1274411563538137088?s=21 https://twitter.com/MarcACaputo/status/1274411563538137088
This I didn’t know. And, yes, unfortunately this is in keeping with being a man of his times https://twitter.com/fredmenachem/status/1274523951188893696?s=21 https://twitter.com/fredmenachem/status/1274523951188893696
You can follow @MarcACaputo.
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