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Steve April
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9/2/2020 5:36:12 PM
Foundling Fathers, Warts and All
song about John Hancock posted a couple days ago, understand there's a debate and controversy about how much the "founding fathers", so called , were "so great" and all...
Whether one could judge persons from distant history by today's standards?
Hancock was the 1st signer of the Declaration of Independence, and put his life on the line for the revolution, and the United States, the world's 1st modern democracy.
Far from perfect tho, taunted by many, beloved by many...
Or. some say, tear down Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial...???
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Stoneman
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9/2/2020 10:01:03 PM
I would say, leave Lincolns memorial alone. But Jefferson and Washington's uh, not sacred to me at all. They were both slave owners and though they were some of the nicer slave owners, they were still slave owners which is a very evil thing to be. I was at Mount Vernon a couple of years ago and I was startled by the slave quarters that are still perfectly preserved. Compared to the main house, the slaves lived in total squalor. There is a slave cemetery there on the hill that has hundreds of graves. Seeing it all for myself gave me a totally different perspective of Washington. A man who fought for freedom while at the same time enslaving people. It is a hideously known fact about our founding fathers that nobody ever wants to talk about. Our American family tree has some very bloody skeletons in the closet. Of course most people don't know any of these facts. There are people that actually believe that the National anthem is about our American freedom. When, in actuality, it is about a thwarted slave revolt (read the 3rd verse). More skeletons in the closet that historians tend to just ignore. They don't teach this stuff in school so how would you know? I don't think we should be honoring any part of the confederacy and slave ownership was the central economic power house of the Rebs. Without a few hundred years of free labor, they would have been screwed. Truth, is not always pleasant. It just is!
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Steve April
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9/3/2020 10:44:10 PM
---- Updated 9/3/2020 10:54:01 PM
Dolores, in one ear and out the other, as they say. I read a bio on John Hancock, and with the details fresh in mind, wrote the song.
Also, have written songs about Lincoln, Tom Paine, Jefferson, Ben Franklin (an American inventor, publisher (editing among the first noteworthy newspapers in the country), statesman, diplomat, who did much to gain France's aid in the revolutionary war, that proved decisive, as French ambassador, not to mention his discoveries in electricity, naming terms like "battery," capacitor", "negative" and "positive", "conductors...)...invented bi-focals, mapped the Gulf Stream...)
Also wrote songs about Washington, Paul Revere...Washington with his wooden teeth, that caused him much pain from an early age...
Writing biographies about others benefits the heart, imhv, teaches empathy, and "becoming others" for a few hours anyway, "walk a mile in their shoes", truly an expansive endeavor...
An antidote to undue self-absorption...
Stoneman, appreciate your voice of experience, and perspective on a broad range of issues, rock on...
p.s.
also wrote a song "The Innocence Project" based on the true story of Henry, a man a victim of a false eye-witness , exonerated by the Innocence Project attorneys on appeal, after 15 years or so behind bars...
in music, humbly,
Steve
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