The mission of The St. Croix Review is to end the destruction of America by reestablishing the family as the center of American life, restoring economic prosperity to an independent middle class, and reviving a culture of tradition.
Thank You, Allan Brownfeld!
Barry MacDonald — Editorial
One of the unique qualities about The St. Croix Review that I have noticed as the editor over the years is the loyalty of its writers and readers. I have written, in my scrawled handwriting that you recognize, a multitude of thank you notes in response to your generous donations. I know your names, though I tend to forget your addresses. I am grateful for all of you. Some of you have little money to spare, but you contribute, nonetheless. Typically, we hang on to our subscribers for decades! Our writers are also of the same quality.
It is my duty to communicate the passing of a highly valued author for The St. Croix Review: Allan C. Brownfeld passed away on August 4, 2025. He was 85. From the fourth issue of the first year of publication, Allan was a regular contributor to The St. Croix Review. For 58 years, his essays have appeared in our pages, with an average of eight pages per issue. I don’t believe anyone, including the editors, will ever surpass Allan’s prolific accomplishment.
The themes of Allan’s writing were the importance of education and a reverence for the founding statesmen, the constitutional order, the ideals, the civil rights, and the history of the United States of America. Allan loved that America was open to people from anywhere on Earth. He acknowledged that certain ethnicities encountered prejudice and hardship in America. Allan was an outspoken advocate for the advancement of civil rights for black Americans, when to do so was not easy. Allan was a tireless asserter of liberty and opportunity for all Americans. He also promoted a clear-eyed assessment of historical truth. While he was a champion of black civil rights, he also wrote that the institution of slavery was ubiquitous through all the nations of Earth, and that American statesmen were at the forefront in the effort to end it. He stated that all races were both perpetrators and victims of slavery — a perspective that is not acknowledged by leftist intellectuals.
The following are selections of his themes:
“The Founding Fathers understood very well that freedom was not man’s natural state. Their political philosophy was based on a fear of government power and the need to limit and control that power very strictly. It was their fear of total government which initially caused them to rebel against the arbitrary rule of King George III. In the Constitution they tried their best to construct a form of government which, through a series of checks and balances and a clear division of powers, would protect the individual.”\
“In recent days, the history of the United States has become the subject of widespread discussion and debate. Some have argued that this history is deeply flawed, pointing to the existence of slavery. In 1787, when our Constitution was adopted, slavery was legal everywhere in the world and was an intrinsic part of the biblical Judeo-Christian tradition. Slavery dominated Ancient Greece and Rome. Many at the Constitutional Convention wanted to eliminate it at the beginning, but that, unfortunately, was not accomplished until the Civil War. Some contemporary critics, such as the author of The 1619 Project, suggest that slavery was somehow unique to America and even argue that the American Revolution was fought, in part, to maintain slavery. Neither of these ideas, as many historians have pointed out, bears any relationship to real history.”
“It was always my hope that our society would see freedom expand rather than contract. This seemed to be happening. I lived in the South during the years of segregation. Slowly, we saw it come to an end. When I was in law school, I wrote a law review article about Virginia’s law against racial intermarriage. It seemed strange to me that Democrats in Virginia and elsewhere in the South said they believed in freedom but welcomed laws limiting freedom — with regard to marriage, schools, restaurants, and virtually every aspect of society. Finally, in the case of Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court declared laws against interracial marriage unconstitutional.”
“Sadly, the teaching of American history has dramatically declined in our schools. A 2016 report from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni even found that two-thirds of top U.S. colleges do not even require history majors to take a single course in U.S. history. How many young people know that ours is the longest existing form of government in the world? No other country in 2021 lives under the same form of government that existed in their countries in 1787. In the Constitution, the Framers established religious freedom, separation of church and state, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech. These did not really exist anyplace else in the world at that time.”
“How sad that we are not transmitting our unique history to the younger generation of Americans. It is time that we change course, as the latest indication that pride in America is declining makes clear. And our politicians who continue to insult one another and question the loyalty of their adversaries should think before they speak and weigh their words more carefully. In the past, our politicians found it possible to disagree without being disagreeable. In the current age of social media and Twitter, people speak before they think, and often regret their words. Civility in our political discourse would represent an important ingredient in restoring the pride in America which is now in decline — along with a serious and fair teaching of our history, its great achievements as well as its shortcomings. No human enterprise is without fault, but few have the achievements which Americans used to view with pride.”
You may find decades of Allan’s essays at our website — www.stcroixreview.com.
Allan C. Brownfeld was a Virginian and a fair-minded American Patriot. He was always a gentleman. His example is sorely missed now. *
