Sadly, America’s educational system has fallen victim to a woke ideology that has put the spotlight, not on what has made us great, but on our past sins and present imperfections. It is an ideology that ignores the fact that the journey to reach any utopian society does not occur overnight but is an evolutionary process during which we stumble and fall, get back up and continue moving forward in an effort to get closer to that ultimate objective.
Feb. 23 should give us pause to wonder whether the ideological blindness wokeism instills in many educators today caused them to allow that day to pass without reminding students a tribute is owed to those involved in two of our country’s most iconic historic events occurring on that day, although 109 years apart. Both events reflected the courage of some of our early pioneers who participated in that journey toward a social utopia–many by making the ultimate sacrifice in doing so.
On that day in 1836, Mexican Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna led an army in an attack against the Alamo, near present-day San Antonio, Texas. The Alamo was defended by about 200 Texas defenders – who were outnumbered more than 7-to-1 by Santa Anna – after declaring independence from Mexico. Among the defenders were Col. William Travis, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett.
Attacked relentlessly by the Mexicans, Travis offered those who wanted to escape the inevitable defeat the chance to do so. Legend has it, he drew a line in the sand with his sword, inviting all committed to Alamo’s defense to cross over. Everyone but a man named Moses Rose did so. He was allowed to leave and was able to circumvent Mexican forces at night to make good on his escape. Everyone remaining knew a Mexican victory meant the remaining Texans would be shown no quarter; yet they opted to remain and fight. The Alamo fell on March 6 after a courageous 13-day defense – with all the defenders’ bodies stacked in a funeral pyre and burned.
Santa Anna’s victory was to be short lived as his army was defeated the next month at the Battle of San Jacinto by Gen. Sam Houston, seizing victory for Texas independence.
It would be 109 years later that the date of Feb. 23 would come to memorialize another day in American history, noted for generating one of the most unforgettable photographs of World War II.
The Battle of Iwo Jima in which U.S. Marines landed on the island to defeat its Japanese defenders, began on Feb. 19, 1945, and ended on March 26. It was Feb. 23 before the Marines reached the summit of Mount Suribachi. Although the fighting was far from over, U.S. operational leaders felt it was important, in an effort both to undermine Japanese morale and boost that of the Marines, to raise the American flag from where both sides could see it. The flag-raising by six Marines was captured in a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal. It later became the genesis for the historic Marine Corps Memorial erected just outside of Washington, D.C.
The selflessness and courage of both the Alamo defenders and the Iwo Jima Marines in sacrificing their lives for what they believed in is a story that should be reinforced in every student’s study of American history. Sadly, it is unlikely many woke teachers did so this year due to their own ignorance about our history and the sacrifices earlier generations made on their behalf.
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