(Letter to the Editor - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

After the assassination of President Lincoln, President Andrew Johnson made a huge mistake by granting thousands of pardons and passing several amnesty proclamations for the leaders/traitors of the Confederacy.

Then in 1868 President Andrew Johnson issued sweeping pardons to former Confederates including former Confederate President Jefferson Davis!

President Johnson’s lenient treatment of the Confederate traitors unfortunately sent the wrong message. The former Confederate States almost immediately started passing laws restricting the recent freedoms and rights of the formerly enslaved people.

After the withdrawal of Union troops from the South in 1877, these efforts to restrict the freedom of black people accelerated. Successive federal administrations allowed the Confederate sympathizers to continue to deprive African Americans of their rights through unconstitutional laws! Even though the federal government has attempted to pass laws, (e.g. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 to enshrine the rights and freedoms of African Americans and other minorities) many Southern States have tried circumventing and challenging these laws in the courts and by open defiance!

Unbelievably this deprivation of rights continues to this day through racist actions of realigning voting districts resulting in unfair representation. Today’s so called “Christian Coalition/Evangelicals” who support the Donald Trump anti-democratic and racist agenda should search their hearts and souls to see if this is truly representative of the God they believe in. Just think about it.

John D. Gainer

Parkersburg