Some ugly historical truths

I just read about a trend about how federal officials - from Congressmen down - are working to push a larger role for minorities in history textbooks. Thus, students will be more likely to see that America was not shaped by white males, and American history has been one multicultural melting pot where all have positive roles. For example, many blacks fought in the civil war (actually, this was well known), as well as many Latinos. Spanish and Indians lived in St. Augustine, Florida. And Asians had lived since the 1700's in Louisana (I highly doubt this one -where would they get people from Asia at this time to put there?) and California.

Besides the inconvenient fact that 95% of all American policy was set by dead white males (and probably 98% before 1960), there is a lot of stuff in American history that will make the multiculturists squirm, if they saw the truth come out. Here are some ugly facts that you probably will not hear of in the textbooks:

• According to Thomas Sowell, there were several black slaveholders in Louisana.
• In the Civil War, the only Native American General, Stand Watie, fought for the racist Confederacy.
• Most of those Latinos who fought in the Civil War fought for the racist Confederacy.
• The man who is responsible for modern racist theory, John Randolph of Roanoke, was himself part native American (descended from Pochahantas).
• So was Robert E Lee.
• We have one (probable) gay President, James Buchannan. While he was a Democrat, he was also one of the most incompetent of the Presidents ever (for evidence, read some history about this period, and tell me how his actions were not incompetent).
• We have one racial minority as a VP, Charles Curtis. He was a member of two Kansas-area tribes. Unfortunately for the multiculturists, he was a Republican (and a conservative one at that, too).
• As long as we are going to turn Spaniards into Hispanics, it was them who had the most vicious anti-Indian actions throughout the colonial period (so much so that there was a "Black Legend" that other Europeans though native Americans believed, which in a nutshell stated that all Indians though the Spanish were really, really evil).
• And to top it off, it was the Democrats who were the outright racists - until the 1920's (and many Democrats were the most adament at opposing extending rights to African-Americans until the 1970's). It was they on the West Coast who had the most anti-Asian policies, too. It was only until the 1960's that a few racists officeholders entered the Republican party and defended segregation - but they were a small minority, and their opposition lasted only about a decade - until, as Ann Coulter notes, the party told them to drop the racist nonsense (to continue to be members of it).

While we will hear a white-washed version of multicultural history, we will not hear the other side of the story. Because the multiculturalists still see that most minorities, as a class, can do no wrong. Unless a minority group become economically successful, then they no longer are entitled to the designation of "minority".

Unfortunately, history is messy, and rarely (I say rarely) can it be viewed in black-and-white terms. Multiculturists will say "of course nothing is absolute" - but then again, that belief often does not apply to their own world.