SSR- Denmark Vessey NYT article "Abolitionist or Terrorist?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/26/opinion/abolitionist-or-terrorist.html

 We've no shortage of Americans readily throw around the word "terrorist" any time a person or group takes actions to escape any of our society's forms of bondage.

Imagine it was the time of the American Revolution when the British occupied Charleston. Imagine Denmark Vesey and his family being white and being enslaved by the British and the remainder of the story playing out as it did, including the hanging.

Would Denmark Vesey be criticized as a "terrorist?" Of course not. He'd be proclaimed a great American freedom fighter.

But he was black, slaves outnumbered the whites in South Carolina, and whites lived in fear of a slave up-rising. But that doesn't attract many tourists. Racist critics call him a terrorist because they still want to portray black Americans as a threat, as outsiders, and to dismiss the truth that black-Americans are also equal Americans.

Feb 8, 1968, nine South Carolina highway patrolmen fired into a crowd of black protesters seeking admission to a bowling alley near the campus of South Carolina State University. Three teens, 17, 18, and 19 years old, were killed. 28 others were injured. Most were shot in the back. We'll know this place is changing when we have a re-enactment of that for terrorist.

 Even today, to study the Columbian Orator, the book Frederick Douglas took with him on his escape to freedom, and master the techniques of forcefully speeaking up to preserve your own freedom from lies and exploitation.

Professor Egerton writes that there is "no doubt" that Denmark Vesey was a violent man who planned to kill Charleston whites. While Professor Egerton may be correct in his view that Vesey was a violent conspirator, it should be noted that there is indeed doubt on this point.

Professor Michael Johnson of Johns Hopkins has put forth the theory that the story of the plot was fabricated or  exaggerated, and that testimony against Vesey was coerced to bolster the political fortunes of a Charleston politician who opposed the moderate positions on slavery held by the then-governor of South Carolina.

It is also worthy of mention that Vesey, when charged and executed, was a man of substance who had owned his carpentry business for over 20 years. He is said to have acquired property worth $8,000 at the time of his death, a substantial sum at the time. Vesey is also reported to have spoken three languages. Vesey's life story and his success are notable in the slave economy of the antebellum South.

While Professor Egerton's view of Vesey's trial and conviction may well be correct, there is an alternative theory that is worthy of mention. As well, Vesey's achievements are themselves worthy of praise in my hometown Charleston, SC.