The Holocaust occurred in Europe and America bears little responsibility for what happened - yet America still have a museum devoted to the Holocaust and reminding people about it. So why isn't there a similar museum devoted to American slavery, something for which America definitely bears a great deal of responsibility? One reason is, sadly, the death threats.

The Telegraph reports:

The Pettys want their collection - now 25,000 pieces strong - to form a museum of slavery. No American institution has anything like their collection, and they have received several offers. But to date, each time a deal has been near, nervous politicians have blinked. White supremacist groups have made their anger plain, sending hate mail to the Pettys, and accusing them of faking their artefacts.

For the moment, they stage travelling exhibitions and visit schools willing to host them. They find children horrified by the whips and brands, but baffled by such items as their tiny "Negro shoes" - wooden-soled leather boots for a house slave, of perhaps three or four years old. "Were children slaves?" one black pupil asked recently. ... Such ignorance is no accident, Mr Petty says. State schools skirt gingerly around the dark history of the South, fearing the wrath of groups established to defend "southern heritage", such as the Sons of Confederate Veterans or the League of the South.

Currently there is a fetid, incestuous relationship between groups that openly espouse racism, groups that are trying to turn slavery-denial into a copy of Holocaust Denial, and groups that try to promote "pride" in Southern history - in particular, the history of the time when slavery dominated Southern society. People are trying to define the early 19th century South as a paragon of True Christianity, True America, and True Liberty - when, in fact, it was certainly a paragon of True Slavery, True Brutality, and True Cruelty. But they don't want to hear about that and will do anything they can to prevent people from learning the truth of what happened to slaves in America, North and South.

Thanks to Dave Neiwert for this link.

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