Monthly Archives: July 2017

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It's 1994 in Long Beach, California. Idealistic Erin Gruwell is just starting her first teaching job, that as freshman and sophomore English teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School, which, two years earlier, implemented a voluntary integration program. For many of the existing teachers, the integration has ruined the school, whose previously stellar academic standing has been replaced with many students who will be lucky to graduate or even be literate. Despite choosing the school on purpose because of its integration program, Erin is unprepared for the nature of her classroom, whose students live by generations of strict moral codes of protecting their own at all cost. Many are in gangs and almost all know somebody that has been killed by gang violence. The Latinos hate the Cambodians who hate the blacks and so on. The only person the students hate more is Ms. Gruwell. It isn't until Erin holds an unsanctioned discussion about a recent drive-by shooting death that she fully begins to ... Written by Huggo

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Freedom Writers (2007) - IMDb

The story of Miller Grove, a small community of freed African-Americans who settled in Pope County in 1844, is slowly coming into focus through the work of the US Forest Service and students from the SIU Center for Archaeological Investigations.

According to CAI Director Mark Wagner, there are silences in history that can only be filled in through the excavation of their remains, and Miller Grove is one of those communities.

The vestiges of the Miller Grove community now lie deep within the Shawnee Forest about 20 miles from Vienna, off a path leading from a county road that can best be called a trace.

This summer, the SIU Center for Archaeological Investigations hosting its annual field school at the site. Wagner, along with about a dozen students, is in the process of sifting through layers of soil to uncover relics from this once thriving rural settlement.

Wagner said the silence surrounding Miller Grove may have been self-imposed.

Communities get silenced for different reasons, but the people out here appear to have silenced themselves, partially because they were most likely involved in the Underground Railroad, he said.

Wagner said the only direct proof they have of this is in the oral history collected from the descendants of the original community members. Those descendants live all over the U.S., and traveled to the site during 2004 and 2005 to share recollections and stories passed down through their families.

Today, the only physical reminder of the community that remains is the cemetery, which has more than 100 graves, and a series of home sites, now reduced to rubble and barely distinguishable from the natural variables of the landscape.

Shawnee National Forest Heritage Program Manager Mary McCorvie said the community settled in such a remote location intentionally.

The community is surrounded by branches of Hayes Creek, so it is surrounded by water on three sides," McCorvie said. "This means there is only one way in, and you know who is coming and going.

Wagner said this was important because in the 1840s and 1850s in Southern Illinois, leading up to the Civil War, slave catchers were common in the region, and it was not unheard of for freed slaves to be kidnapped under the pretense that they were runaway slaves.

Artifacts uncovered at the site, specifically a Union Army General Service button and a Union Army Revolver, showed McCorvie and Wagner that someone living in the community had been in the Colored Troops during the war, but that they could not tie it to a specific family in the settlement.

McCorvie said the community was founded by Harrison Miller, his wife Lucinda, and their three children, who traveled to the woodlands of Pope County from a Tennessee plantation.

In order to settle in the region, the former enslaved family was required to provide documents proving their freedom, and pay a bond of $1,000 to insure they would not become wards of the state.

During the 1840s and 1850s, the area where the Millers bought property and established a farm became the destination for other emancipated families from south-central Tennessee, who also bought land nearby.

As the community expanded, three additional families joined the Millers the Dabbs, the Singletons and the Sydes. Together they built homesteads, a church and a school.

Wagner said in all likelihood the Miller Grove community did participate in the Underground Railroad. Oral histories suggest that Crow Knob, a sandstone bluff that overlooks the community to the south, was used to light signal fires to guide freedom seekers to Millers Grove.

Additionally, Sand Cave, located a few miles west of Crow Knob and north of Miller Grove, appears in stories and local myths as a place to hide runaway slaves. It all makes sense in the bigger picture of whats going on, Wagner said.

Wagner said free communities were in the region near the Ohio Rivers division between the slave states of the south and the free states of the north, and the Ohio River became an important boundary line after 1850, when the Fugitive Slave Law was enacted.

McCorvie said her fascination with the excavation came in the form of the small things found there a button, pieces of pottery and food remains.

These things represent the first things these people ever got to own," she said. "They represent the first choices someone ever made for themselves as an adult. That button, those dishes, what to eat and wear, these were all chosen for them until the time they were manumitted.

"These small relics are really very big symbols of freedom.

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'Symbols of freedom': Uncovering the history of Miller Grove in Pope County - The Southern

What is the Fourth of July? Its a wonderful time. Were outdoors. Were with family and friends. Were playing golf or fishing. There are barbecues and baseball and fireworks and all that good stuff.

And beneath it all, supporting it all, there is freedom. Freedom. The Fourth of July is about freedom, if nothing else. Americas freedom, of course. But a freedom that extends to all people. One that leads to greatness and prosperity. A freedom that has become the backbone of the world.

I would like to take a moment this holiday to revisit the sources of that freedom. They were outlined so eloquently in perhaps the greatest document ever written, the Declaration of Independence. And theyre as crucial now as they were 241 years ago.

Its a well-known story. Back in 1776, the Continental Congress sought freedom from tyranny. They said, Were revolting against a British monarchy and parliament that doesnt represent us. Were rebelling against laws we dont control and are capricious to say the least.

To formalize this revolt, the congress formed a committee of five. Chosen were Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingstone (New Jersey), John Adams, Ben Franklin, and Roger Sherman (Connecticut). A pretty spiffy group of thinkers and writers.

Their task was to draft a statement of independence although what they came up with was so much more.

Their document, The Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, was adopted on July 4, 1776, after days of debate and revision. The document begins:

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Natures God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

Id like to underscore the civility of that opening. This document is an example of civility. The great American revolt was a defense of the right of discussion. Civil discourse. Respectful disagreement.

Then there are The Laws of Nature and Natures God. We derive our freedoms not from governments, but from God. It was a revolutionary thought at a time when dictatorial monarchs across Europe believed they were gods.

Then we have perhaps the most famous sentence in the English language, if any language:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That truly was revolutionary stuff. And it was beyond just the colonies.

The authors were saying, Were speaking about the people here, but also about oppressed peoples everywhere, those burdened with dictatorial, who-cares-about-the-little-people governments.

And they spoke of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Life. Our very existence.

Liberty. You cant take my freedom away.

The pursuit of happiness. To live the way we want to live, to do the work we want to do, to marry whom we want to marry; to have kids, accumulate property, and be prosperous.

Ive said this often: The most populist desire of the people of the United States and other free nations is long-lasting, deep-seated prosperity. Speaking of which, the long list of complaints against George IIIs Britain included: cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world (protectionism), imposing Taxes on us without our Consent (remedied with supply-side tax cuts), and (hat tip Seth Lipsky, New York Sun) a hint of stable money: the amount and payment of [judges] salaries.

But the Declaration, critically, goes on:

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.

Taking these statements together, we see a pecking order. There is God, a higher power or Natures God, who grants us the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And whatever government is formed around this works for the people. And if the government lacks the consent of the people, there must be great change.

From the Lord, to us, and then to government.

And when government breaks down, does poorly, or becomes corrupt, it needs to be replaced one way or another.

Theres a little bit of that going on today, is there not?

Its the Fourth of July. Its freedom day. The government works for us, not the other way around.

If it doesnt, the government gets kicked out on its keister.

Larry Kudlow is CNBCs senior contributor. His new book is JFK and the Reagan Revolution: A Secret History of American Prosperity, written with Brian Domitrovic.

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Keeping Freedom, and Growth, in the Fourth - National Review

Freedom Is Not what many young people think it is. Younger Generations think that freedom means you can go to the movies when you choose to. They may think freedom is the ability to pick what restaurant you can eat at. They may also think freedom is the ability to get in a car and drive where you want.

It is true that in an extremely oppressive governmental regime, those things can be limited, but they're usually never fully taken away. Communists can go to the movies, so long as the government has approved those movies. Communist can pick what restaurant to eat at, so long as that restaurant is allowed to function.

True freedom comes from UnalienableRights that God has given us. This is what the Forefathers believed in. What does unalienable rights mean? Rights that are Incapable of being alienated, surrendered, or transferred to another. The U.S. Declaration of Independence states: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

To ensure these freedoms; our forefathers gave us a Constitution which limits the government's ability to intrude on our rights. It does not limit your individual rights but only the government's ability to oppress them.

Freedom of speech is key to keeping these rights. You must have the freedom to politically disagree with one another through free speech.

"Hate Speech" is a tool of the left to destroy your freedoms in the future. They hope to convince you that Free Speech should not be free. They will try to use something most people can agree upon as hateful, in order to get you to allow them to limit free speech. Most people dislike racist speech, so it's easy to get people to say "yeah, we need to stop racist hate speech". The people that are for this do not know that they are being tricked into fascism.

If a "Hate Speech" bill was going to be passed in Congress, who gets the determine what is 'hate speech'? Is saying -White rich people are the cause of america's problems- hate speech? That statement offends rich white people. Is saying -abortion is murder- hate speech? It offends a woman who had an abortion. Is disagreeing with Obamacare hateful to people? It may just depend on who is writing the law. Even worse than that, it may just depend on who was interpreting the law.

The left is well aware of this. It is the sole reason why they keep pounding the term 'hate speech'. Don't believe me? The left in America has always battled to take away your freedoms.

What party is for the government to control your health care? What party pushes to regulate how much soda you can drink? What party wants to regulate how much money a CEO can earn? What party wants to regulate how much you can drive through CO2 emission regulations? What party wants to regulate hate speech, which would include any movie that produces a political speech that is considered hateful? What party encourages Facebook to regulate hate speech on the internet as much as possible? What party tries to stop Christians from expressing their beliefs in public areas? What party says you have to accept homosexuality as normal or else you're considered a bigot? What party forces you to pay for abortions through taxpayer funding? What party believes in forcing you to pay for other people's college tuition's?

I could go on and on. It is the left who destroys the freedoms of American citizens. The more government regulation over your life, the less Freedom you have automatically.

It is the conservatives who fight for your freedoms by demanding smaller government and less regulations. Ironically, as we demand smaller government, we are called the Fascists by the left.

God has given us our an inalienable rights. But Liberals have given us the reasons why those rights are too dangerous for us, and we must not be allowed to have them.

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Freedom - What Is It - WSAU (blog)