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To The Editor:

Nov. 19 was the anniversary of Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address on Nov. 19, 1863.

Let me sum up Lincoln’s short speech, which was 272 words. The Union armies have to win the Civil War, or else democracy (“government of, by, and for the people”) might “perish from the earth.”

Lincoln was obviously mistaken, for whites-only democracy was well-established in both the north and south and in no danger whatsoever of “perishing” regardless of which side won. 

So a future interracial democracy must have been what Lincoln had in mind. For that possibility truly was in danger of never coming to fruition if the South won. Why didn’t Lincoln speak of it? Well he did hint at it by quoting this line from the Declaration of Independence, “All men are created equal.” The implication of those words is that whites-only “democracy” should eventually expand — blossom — into interracial democracy.

By including those famous words, Lincoln revealed what was in his heart — the North had to win, otherwise the possibility of interracial  democracy would truly “perish from the earth.”

P.S.: What’s so bad about whites-only democracy? Well democracy and freedom go together. White democracy requires curtailing freedom for non-whites, pushing back against those who are pushing for equality of opportunity. So whites-only democracy becomes  dictatorship — the opposite of itself, a travesty — apartheid. Something used for the opposite of its intended purpose. Isn’t that the definition of perversion?

Yes, Lincoln was farsighted enough to see that whites-only democracy was a deadly threat to real democracy ever coming into existence.

If the South had won, it would have empowered the white supremacy forces around the world. Brazil probably wouldn’t have ended slavery in 1888, like it did. Leading European nations would have held onto their colonies in Africa and Asia indefinitely. Think of a two-tier society with whites on top, everyone else at the bottom. Imagine a world where apartheid is the norm, not just in South Africa, temporarily, but throughout the whole world for the foreseeable future. Thank God, the South had the good sense to lose the American Civil War.

Joe Grace

Farmville