i think we need to start calling him kyle cleveland esquire.

-----Original Message-----
From: Betty B [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2000 11:59 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Education/Educators


You didn't give offense at all Kyle.  I answered this in another e-mail I
hope.  I gave consideration to what you said and thought about what might be
behind it.  I also appreciate that you have taken the time to post a little
about your family's history.

Betty

In a message dated 12/05/2000 3:32:24 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> Gee Whiz, Betty, I'm so sorry if I gave offense.  I had to leave work
>  yesterday from pain, messed my pants on the way home, and still had to
work
>  from the laptop when I got there.  My ancestors on my father's side, the
>  Clevelands, owned virtually all of northeast Georgia 150-300 years back,
>  centered around the town of Hartwell.  One predecessor, Col. Benjamin
>  Cleveland, was a hero in the first war against Britain at the Battle of
>  King's Mountain S. C. I have copies of the courthouse records where one
>  grandfather-plus co-owned 1200 slaves and over 12,000 acres in peanuts,
>  cotton and 'backer.  One of the slaves, a housegirl, was named
>  Anna--ironically what we named our middle daughter, but without
>  fore-knowledge.
>
>  We still would have been landed gentry had it not been for Sherman, so
you
>  can see that the bitterness in my family runs deep.  In a few short years
>  the entire extended family fell from opulence to abject poverty--some of
>  which still remains.
>
>  My point is that I cannot hold that bitterness against Sherman and the
>  following century of reconstruction.  I also cannot be made guilty of the
>  sins committed against the slaves and their progeny through the ages.  My
>  folks, like your mom, have deep seated prejudices--not borne of
experience,
>  but of nurture.  I'm glad that you have decided to bury those ghosts once
>  and for all, but your mom only knew what sermon she'd been preached.  Try
>  not to hold it against her.
>
>  If I've still misunderstood your intent, then I'm going to take another
pill
>  and lie down.
>
>  Laura and I would love to hear from you--we miss our phone chats.
>
>  -Kyle
>


Betty
aut viam inveniam aut faciam
"I will either find a way or make one."