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Slavery was already on the way out. The ruling class sold the war to southerners as a war for the right to operate freely, without government interference. Otherwise, most southerners didn't give a shit about slavery.
In the immediate years following slavery, blacks held office, and owned their own farms. When that started, measures put in by local and state governments (with quiet approval from the US government) put a stop to that and placed blacks in second class citizenship for the next hundred years.
Civil rights in this country is a national shame, not a southern shame.
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I think the Apocalypse is happening all around us. We go on eating desserts and watching TV. I know I do. I wish we were more capable of sustained passion and sustained resistance. We should be screaming and what we do is gossip. -Lydia Millet
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