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(5/9/2007)
Minority Activists Oppose Jamestown 400th Anniversary "Celebration" Would rather call colony founding "invasion" and "holocaust"
JAMESTOWN, Virginia, May 8 /Christian Newswire/ -- This week, as our nation prepares to remember its founding at Jamestown four hundred years ago as part of America's Anniversary Weekend, officials heading up the event have banned the word "celebration," caving to minority interests who have characterized the English settlement in the New World as an "invasion" that led to a "holocaust." Doug Phillips, who is hosting an alternative event -- dubbed the Jamestown Quadricentennial: A Celebration of America's Providential History -- is calling upon Americans to reject this modern revisionism and instead celebrate America's 400th birthday. "From 1807 to 1957 -- at each of our past Jamestown Centennials -- Americans have celebrated the goodness of God in the founding of our nation in 1607, and our heads of State -- including Presidents John Tyler and Theodore Roosevelt -- have set the tone for this," observed Phillips, President of Vision Forum Ministries. "This year, by contrast, officials with the Jamestown 2007 Committee have kowtowed to Native Indian and Black activists by banning the word 'celebration' in conjunction with America's Anniversary events. "This politically correct agenda based on 'oral tradition' and shoddy scholarship is one that all God-fearing Americans should reject," continued Phillips. "And President Bush, following the path of John Tyler and TR, has an opportunity to help set the record straight when he addresses our nation from Jamestown on May 13 by acknowledging Jamestown's Christian heritage and calling upon Americans to celebrate it." Over the last week, leading Indian activists such as Ken Adams, chief of the Upper Mattaponi tribe, have characterized Jamestown as an "atrocity" and a "painful symbol." And other politically correct advocates such as author Dr. Linwood "Little Bear" Custalow and Virginia state representative Donald McEachin have called upon the heads of state from Great Britain and the U.S. to "express regret" and "apologize" for the legacy of Jamestown. "America stands at a crossroads as a nation. We can choose either to dishonor and repudiate our nation's Christian past or we can embrace and celebrate it," remarked Phillips. "We recognize that history involves bumps and bruises, and the Jamestown Settlement was certainly a story of imperfect men. Yet the notions being propounded that Captain John Smith was a thug and Princess Pocahontas was forcibly converted to Christianity and eventually poisoned to death are sheer myths concocted to further a leftist agenda. "Despite real blemishes, God used the settlement at Jamestown to lay the foundations of a Christian people, and this is something that our president and fellow Americans should actively celebrate," Phillips emphasized. For those who desire to celebrate America's founding in the grand tradition of past Jamestown Centennials, Vision Forum Ministries is hosting an alternative Jamestown event in Virginia's historic triangle on June 11-16. Dubbed the Jamestown Quadricentennial: A Celebration of America's Providential History, this week-long celebration will include orations by some of America's leading Christian historians and teachers, Faith and Freedom history tours, dramatic reenactments, fife and drum music, boat and balloon rides, a memorial dedication, and a grand celebration finale to be held on the grounds of Fort Pocahontas. To read Doug Phillips' recent WorldNetDaily article, "Who Speaks for the American Indian," click here.
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