Someone asked me a while back “What is this Woke stuff?” To be honest with you at the time I really hadn’t paid that much attention to all the talk about being woke. I had been spending most of my time researching the insurrection and gun control. I was too busy trying to figure how the Second Amendment became the mess that we have today. How we went from slave patrols to today’s illegal militias. I didn’t realize that they were talking about people like me. I realized that my search for truth and for answers was what they were complaining about. Not me personally but people like me.  

When I started writing I always wanted to make sure that what I wrote was as close to the truth as I understood it. When I would write about the causes of the Civil War I would try to come up with the proper perspective. For instance, the Civil War was fought for States Rights. Well that is a true statement only it was an oversimplified reason for the war. Yes, State Rights were as the forefront but the right to own another human being was the State Right that they were trying to keep in force. So, no matter how you word it the Civil War was fought over slavery. The battle flag of the south which represented the war to maintain slavery and, should be done away with because people of color would find it offensive. That would be considered being woke. The Hero’s of the South like Robert E. Lee fought so they could retain the practice of slavery. If you look at it from that angle you would understand why there would be people upset when they saw a statue of one of the so called Hero’s of the South. That understanding would consider you woke.  

In this country we have tried to make our Founding Fathers, as we like to call them, saints that are almost worshiped. In reality most of our Founding Fathers are anything but saints. Many of them where slave’s owners that fought hard to make sure the practice of slavery would continue when they formed our new nation. Four of the first five presidents were slave owners. Thomas Jefferson stated in the Declaration of Independence that “All men were created equal”. It has been argued whether he meant all men or just whites like me. I would like to believe he meant all men but only one former President freed his slaves upon his death and that was not Thomas Jefferson, that was George Washington. In my opinion you could draw a direct line from the actions that many of our Founding Fathers did to what led to the Civil War. I am not one of those that want us to take away many of the symbols that honor our Founding Fathers but as history expands our knowledge so should our acknowledgment of those symbol. Thomas Jefferson was a man that wrote the Declaration of Independence and was our third President. He was also a flawed man that slept with slaves that bore him children that he keeps in slavery. To judge him in a very honest way I just may be considered woke. That would be what some say would be spreading Critical Race theory.

Another thing that has been argued is the 2^nd amendment and the so called right to bear arms. Yes we had just finished a war against an oppressive republic. Yes, armed militiamen played a part in that revolution but did we need an amendment in our Constitution to approve that? Could there be other reasons that they also wanted that in the Constitution. Could it be so the slave States could defend themselves from a Federal Army to free the slaves? Could it be because the slave States needed a way to suppress a slave rebellion? 1791 was the year that the Bill of Rights was written. In early 1791 the Haitian Slave Rebellion started which eventually overthrew the government in Haiti and freed all the slaves. Some of the slave owners with some of their slaves fled to the United States. Could it be fear of a slave rebellion why they wanted that in the Bill of Rights so they had the means to put down a slave rebellion? You can point to the Federalist Papers all you want but they were written by just three people Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and slave owner James Madison. Founding Father Richard Henry Lee came right out and said that he did not trust the Federal Government to respond in time to put down a slave rebellion. I can’t see where the slave states had militias that trained to take on the Federal government but I do know that they created militias called Slave Patrols to take on a slave rebellions. Each plantation had to supply men so they could go around inspecting the surrounding plantations looking for signs of a slave rebellion. Those facts are largely ignored when we talk about guns now. People would say that I was woke and spreading Critical Race Theory.

Being Woke is what I think we are supposed to be. We should always be looking for the truth and expanding our knowledge of the past. We should have never taken flawed men and made them into saints but because they were flawed does not diminish that great accomplishment that they had and inspired. Having an honest and truthful narrative to who Thomas Jefferson or any of the founding fathers should not mean that we should try and erase the fact that they were very instrumental in the founding of this nation.  Being Woke should be acknowledging that not only they were flawed like all of us but that they also accomplished many great things. It may be about honesty and balance. That way we can work for a better future.