Some people have a hard time grasping that their ancestors were racists

[bluestateguy]

Some people have a hard time grasping that their ancestors were racists, who committed treason and were on the wrong side of history.

[BigDemVoter]

1. I KNOW mine were. . . .

I'm certainly disgusted by the idea, but I can say that whatever THEY felt or thought has no effect on me other than a feeling of shame for them.

[El Supremo]

2. Give me a break! Most of our ancestors, North and South, were racists.

Even Abraham Lincoln.

"I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races, that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And in as much as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied everything. I do not understand that because I do not want a negro woman for a slave I must necessarily want her for a wife. My understanding is that I can just let her alone."

Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858

[BillZBubb]

3. I disagree.

They have no problem grasping that their ancestors were racists. They simply have no trouble with that fact. Plus, a lot of them have inherited that family tradition.

As to treason, they'll deny any such thing. They simply change the definition to fit their twisted view.

[bluestateguy]

4. Right

But for conservative white Southerners, opposing Bush and Cheney's Iraq War is "treason".