Was Abraham Lincoln a Racist?

Black people had such a favorable impression of Abraham Lincoln and what he did on their behalf that former slaves were the most significant financial contributors for the statue. I find it ironic that black people today think about taking down the statue because they believe Lincoln was a racist. Getting back to the study of history, if you read any of Lincoln's speeches, one of the most famous statements was that the house divided would fall. In this speech, you would clearly see that Lincoln believed that this country could not survive if half were free and half were slaves.

Greater New York Black Lives Matter President Hawk Newsome said, "If this country doesn't give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it. All right? And I could be speaking...figuratively. I could be speaking literally. It's a matter of interpretation." I would like to ask Mr. Newsome why his people are looting and destroying black-owned businesses? How does the destruction of these businesses, built by this country’s black men and women, who are trying to improve the quality of life for themselves, solve any problems? Would this help these families gain more freedom?

I understand that a statue of a Confederate general like Robert E. Lee could anger some black people. If I tear down the statue in anger, do I out of anger also want to rip the pages out of the history books? If the black lives matter movement wants to remove all traces of those responsible for slavery, none alive today, what is the message about slavery going to be in American history books? 

I have probably spent more time in Washington, DC, than any other city in the United States, or anywhere else in the world. I love American history, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Without the bad and the ugly, we truly don't know who we are and how we got here. No pun intended, but if we try to whitewash history, then what we have is not real history at all. 

For most of my adult life, I have been a student of the Civil War. Not so much because of the battles, but rather for an understanding of the people and the decisions they made, both good and bad. These decisions, I might say, have had a long-standing impact on how our country evolved. I, too, many times, have raised questions about the decisions and actions of people, both before, during, and after the Civil War. I play the what-if game trying to guess in hindsight as to whether I would have made a different decision than that of the historical person. That person’s decision was made in real-time. If I had made a different decision, could I possibly figure out what the impact of that new decision would've been on the outcome of the war? More importantly, though, what would've been the outcome for the country?

When a mob decides that only they can make the most appropriate decisions concerning issues for all of us, without seeking our opinion, then we have real anarchy. Our Constitution is no longer valid, and the rights and privileges extended to us as citizens under the Constitution disappear. 

The destruction of the signs and symbols that have helped define us as a nation will lead to the toppling of the world’s last great and successful freedom experiment. When anarchists rule, then freedom disappears. A nation of people will live in fear and anger for they will realize just how much was allowed to be given away. By then, the dictators will be in charge, and we will have to do what we are told to do. We will no longer have the freedom that was paid for by the lives of over 600,000 people from what we call the Civil War. Will it take another 600,000 Americans or more to prevent the anarchists from achieving their objectives?

The longer we go by not facing the challenges in front of us, the more we lose our country and our freedom.