Honors Civil War Article.

Jasmine Jackson
Did The Civil War affect Modern America?
During mid January 1995 David Westerman, a 19 year old white graduate of a high school in Guthrie, Kentucky was killed by a gunshot to the heart by four young black males. Freddy Morrow, Damien Darden and Tony Andrews, all age 17, and Marcus Merriweather age 15. Westerman had a confederate flag flying on the bed of his truck the day that he was killed, many think this provoked the shooting.
When 15 year old Marcus Merriweather was interviewed he told reporters that “he saw the flag as a symbol of slavery.” Some say the flag on Westerman truck was simply a symbol of the Guthrie High School mascot The Rebels and had no real connection to the Civil war. If this was the case why was Marcs Merriweather an African American male offended by the flag? Why would this symbol be connected to the violent act?
The Confederate flag along with groups formed around the Civil war such as The KKK, are seen as one of the many things connecting to the civil war, which is leading to violent acts carried out in modern America. This brings me to the question did The Civil War truly end in 1865 or was it the beginning of modern America racist violence?
During the American Civil war one of the things the south fought for was being able to have a federalist country, continue slavery, and have complete control over African Americans. The Civil War had a result of 620,000 soldiers dead and an undetermined number of civilian injuries.
Before the Civil war, when African Americans were enslaved they were automatically a victim of violence rather it be from their owners or any other white man or women. Many slaves rebelled against the “superior race” but many were too scared to fight back. Nat Turner a abolitionist killed many whites because they abused slaves. Turner led a group called revolt that helped him kill slave owners for owning and abusing slaves. Turner was one of the few African American slaves that fought against the whites before the civil war.
Since the civil war ended there have been multiple acts of violence over some of the same things that were being fault for in 1865. It seems as if the civil war helped African Americans be able to stand up and “fight” for what they feel is right. Marcus Meriwether felt offended by the symbol that was used against his people during the war, so he did as he was showed in the past and used violence to solve his conflict, Shooting and killing Mr. Westerman. If the civil war had not happen I would see it rather hard for this conflict to even be a problem. Let’s take this situation and place it in the 1830’s before the civil war had begun. Mr. Westerman would have never been shot because he would have had complete control over Marcus Merriweather, Mr. Merriweather wouldn’t have attacked Mr. Westerman because it was something he expected a white male to do, disrespect him. The Civil War taught Marcus that he should stand up for what he feels is right by using violence.


In June of 2007, 72-year-old James Ford Seale was convicted of federal charges of kidnapping and conspiracy for the deaths of Charles Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee, two 19-year-olds who disappeared from Franklin County in May 1964. Seale was arrested after Charles Marcus Edwards, a confessed Klansman, who received prosecution for his role in the abductions, testified. He said the two boys were beaten, then bound with weights and thrown alive in the Mississippi River. The Klansman suspected the two boys of being involved in civil rights activity in 1964 which was not accepted by whites during this time. James Seale and Charles Edwards were part of a Para military group named the Ku Klux Klan formed after the civil war in 1865.

he Civil War is said to be over but is still being fought invisibly today, whites who feel that the war should have ended differently are still using violent acts to get the enemies(referring to anyone against their ideas) attention, such as Charles Edwards and James Seale abductions and killings. Same goes for African Americans like Marcus Merriweather fighting a war that his ancestors thought was over.