Word: sofen
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Since I've never been to the museum, I can't argue with Sofen's claim that they treat the Ku Klux Klan flippantly. I only hope it wasn't as flippantly as Sofen laughs off the Union army's wartime atrocities. The most infamous case involved Union Gen. John B. Turchin who looted, plundered, raped and ravaged Athens, Ala., during the war. When he was court-martialled, he received a presidential pardon and was then promoted by Lincoln, sending a clear message that atrocities were not only acceptable, but encouraged...
...will never challenge Sofen's right to interpret the Civil War as he wishes. But I think everyone who cares about history should contest Sofen's argument that we must alter history because it makes him feel uncomfortable...
...find it hilarious that Harvard, the supposed academic mecca of the United States, has failed to teach Sofen what a museum is. A museum puts history on display. Thus, the museums of the South should tell us about the people who once lived in the South, and not about the people who live there presently. Sofen, on the other hand, thinks that museums should give us a picture of what the world is like today...
...Sofen also thinks that this "New South," as he calls it, is so much better off just because there are black mayors in many of the cities and towns. Like most of the country today, Sofen measures progress by percentages of racial minorities in prominent positions. He looks at black men and women as numbers and not people...
Instead of inferring that race relations are better because there are black mayors, Sofen should infer that the men occupying the mayor's office must have had ideas which the citizens of the city favored. By immediately drawing racial conclusions from his observation, Sofen puts the spotlight back on the unfruitful discussion of race...