THANKS TO SLRC, SCV CAMP CAN APPLY FOR PARADE PERMIT … IF THERE’S A PARADE, THAT IS

PRINCETON, NC – After intervention by the SLRC, the town of Princeton in Johnston County, North Carolina, has provided a local Sons of Confederate Veterans camp with a permit form for participation in its annual Veterans’ Day parade, but rumor now has it that the town is considering canceling the parade altogether rather than allow the camp to participate.

The Smithfield Light Infantry (SCV Camp 1466) contacted the SLRC after town officials initially refused to issue it an application to march in the parade and man a booth during the day’s festivities. Last Friday SLRC atty. Kirk Lyons contacted the town’s attorney and pointed out to him that the town had no basis in law for declining even to let the SCV complete an application. Today the camp’s commander notified the SLRC that the application had been received, but added he had heard unofficially that parade organizers were considering calling off the event entirely. A decision is expected later this week.

The town originally had declined to issue the application on grounds that the parade was to honor “just 20th and 21st century veterans”. Camp 1466 has three Vietnam War veterans in its membership and had pointed out that under federal law, Veterans’ Day is supposed to recognize all U.S. veterans, including Confederates.

In 2000, under similar circumstances, the SLRC compelled the town of Crisfield, Maryland, to allow an SCV unit to participate in a local parade.


PANEL OF JUDGES TO RULE ON HARDWICK RESTRAINING ORDER

RICHMOND, VA – A three-judge panel is in the process of reviewing the temporary restraining order (TRO) sought by the SLRC in the case of Candice Hardwick versus Latta High School and expected to announce shortly whether the matter will be admitted to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for oral arguments.

Meanwhile the case itself, which has been developing for the past three years, is scheduled to be heard by the Fourth Circuit during its current term, though attorneys for the defendants have still not responded to the SLRC’s discovery motions. SLRC attorney Kirk Lyons has said that if necessary he will file a motion with the court to compel the defendants to respond.

The TRO, if granted by the Court, would have the effect of immediately suspending Latta High School’s ban on Confederate symbols while the case moves forward.


LIMITED NUMBER OF SLRC T-SHIRTS AVAILABLE

A limited number of SLRC t-shirts is available in exchange for donations of $30.00 or more, while supplies last.

The 100% cotton shirts are emblazoned with a small SLRC “Justice for Dixie” logo on the left breast and a large version of the logo on the back, both in full color. Sizes are mixed from M through XXL. Only about 50 shirts are immediately available, but SLRC Executive Director Roger McCredie says more can be ordered as needed. Shirts may be ordered by phoning the SLRC office at (828) 669-5189 (credit card orders only) or by mailing a check and size information to the SLRC at P.O. Box 1235, Black Mountain, NC 28711.


If you have a stake in Southern heritage and culture, and are looking for a meaningful way to honor and protect them, please give generously to the Southern Legal Resource Center. With your help we can continue our aggressive efforts to secure the rights of all Southerners to express pride in their regional identity without fear of ridicule or reprisal, as should be the case for all Americans.

The Southern Legal Resource Center is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization, and contributions to it are fully tax deductible. Credit card and PayPal donations may be made at our website by clicking on “How You Can Help.” Checks payable to the Southern Legal Resource Center should be mailed to P.O. Box 1235, Black Mountain, NC 28711. “Thumbs Up for Dixie” stickers are available for SLRC and local heritage fundraising projects. Contact the SLRC for details at (828) 669-5189 or mim@slrc-csa.org.

BLACK SOUTHERN HERITAGE ACVITIST TO RETRACE HISTORIC MARCH

ASHEVILLE, NC – H. K. Edgerton, prominent Southern Heritage activist and former NAACP officer who gained international attention in 2002 with his “March Across Dixie,” will leave Asheville Saturday morning on a two-month-long reenactment of his historic pilgrimage.

In October of 2002, Edgerton left Asheville’s Pack Square and walked 1,600 miles to Austin, Texas, carrying a Confederate flag. His final destination was the Texas State Supreme Court Building, from which then-Gov. George W. Bush had caused two commemorative Confederate history plaques to be removed. He plans to step off from the Square again at 8 a.m. Saturday; however, instead of recreating the entire march step by step, he will conduct mini-marches of about five miles each at selected points that retrace his original line of march. In all, he will make approximately 40 stops, ending at the Texas State Capitol on December 17.

“I wish I could do the whole march step-by-step again, but I’m five years older now. The spirit is willing but the flesh is not what it used to be,” Edgerton, who is now 58, said.

Edgerton undertook his 2002 march not only to demand that Bush replace the plaques, but also raise awareness of the role of blacks in Confederate history and to call national and international attention to what he terms “the wholesale and deliberate destruction of the positive aspects of Southern history by self-serving politicians and the media.” The outpouring of support from Blacks as well as whites that he encountered during the original march confirmed his premise that “Southerners overwhelmingly still see themselves as Southerners, regardless of race, and most of them are not fooled by all this propaganda.”

Edgerton says he decided to recreate his march not only because of the anniversary but because “the lies are still being told and Southerners are still being persecuted for trying to honor their heritage.”

In 2002, Edgerton delivered a letter to Bush, who had just been elected President, at a town meeting in Raleigh. In the letter Edgerton reminded Bush of the Texas plaques incident, pointed out that the South had played a decisive role in delivering him the Presidency, and asked his help in rescuing the region’s history and culture from political correctness. Bush promised to read the letter. Edgerton later sought a personal interview with the president to discuss his points but the White House declined.

Edgerton, former President of the NAACP’s Asheville Branch, is a past Chairman of the Board of Advisors of the Southern Legal Resource Center, a Southern Heritage-related civil rights organization. He and his brother, Terry Lee, recently organized the Anna Belle Edgerton Foundation for Southern Heritage Unity, named in honor of their mother, who died in 2005 and was buried in Asheville’s Riverside Cemetery with Confederate honors.

Open Letter to Christians

An Open Letter to Christians regarding Decision 2008
By Robert Hawes

READ it HERE

BEATING UP ON THE CONFEDERACY

Do Only the Feelings of Blacks Count?

by Elizabeth Wright, editor, Issues & Views, quarterly of alternative black opinion

On April 9, 1998, Virginia's Governor James Gilmore proclaimed April as Confederate History Month. This action immediately drew angry protests from the blacks who, each year, organize to prevent just such a proclamation. King Salim Khalfani, of the NAACP's Virginia State Conference, claimed that his organization was "not pleased that April once again will commemorate Confederate History and Heritage Month."

His statement put in a nutshell the goal of the civil rights establishment. That goal is to eradicate all symbols of the Confederate past once celebrated by most Southern white Americans.

In his declaration, Governor Gilmore denounced slavery as a practice that "deprived African-Americans of their God-given inalienable rights."

However, this acknowledgement of a negative aspect of the Southern past was not enough to satisfy the keepers of the civil rights flame.

Khalfani's recalcitrance underscores the battle that has been simmering between Southerners who strive to preserve the Confederate heritage and blacks who now have acquired the political clout to undermine such efforts. Feeling under siege, memorializers of the Confederacy are reeling from a series of persecutions, beginning with demands for the destruction of particular Southern statues and monuments, to a call for the abolition of Confederate holidays, to the brutal murder by black youths of Michael Westerman, a white man whose "racist" crime was to display the Confederate flag on his jeep.

The NAACP and an assortment of black "activists," scratching around for visible signs of white "racism," have now fixed on the historical Confederacy, especially as represented by the Confederate flag, that is still close to the hearts of so many Southerners.

In 1991, the NAACP issued a "Confederate Flag Resolution," in which it referred to the flag as an "abhorrence to all Americans and decent people" and an "odious blight upon the universe." Since then, black activists have refused to turn down the volume of their heated denunciations of symbols of the Old South.

Wayne Byrd, of the Heritage Preservation Association, does not find himself alone when referring to the NAACP as a "racist hate group." Byrd's stinging remark, uttered in reaction to black objections to Governor Gilmore's declaration, seems almost shocking in an age when an accommodating media and a penitent, contrite public tend to treat the demands of civil rights advocates as sacrosanct and off limits to criticism.

As if the rebukes coming from blacks are not enough, today's white Southerners must endure the calumny of being piled on by other whites, who are fearful of appearing incorrect on the issue of Southern culture. Such whites, seeking to distance themselves from a scorned period in history, almost daily place obstacles in the way of the new Confederate Heritage supporters.

For example, in Chapel Hill, Tennessee, the city council ordered Confederate flags removed from Southern memorials. At Virginia Military Institute, orders were given to remove all Confederate symbols from the campus. In several towns, students have been suspended from schools for wearing T-shirts with Confederate logos, and parade permits are denied Confederate groups. There are now ongoing attempts to change the names of schools and public places originally named for Confederate heroes of the Civil War.

These are just a few of the dozens of "heritage violations," as they are called by the modern day Confederate heritage supporters, who bristle at attempts by intolerant opponents to outlaw cornerstones of their history.

The Heritage Preservation Association is just one of several organizations that have been formed in recent years to give voice to those who defend the right to honor the southern past. Also prominent is the League of the South, a group that encourages reverence for the Confederacy and its cultural symbols, that has branches in all the Southern states.

In 1995, a legal defense group was founded. Until recently, Confederates hesitated to get embroiled in legal battles over their right to publicly acknowledge the past. In March, 1996 however, the Southern Legal Resource Center faced off with the Pickens Civitan Club that sponsors the annual Azalea Festival in Pickens, South Carolina.

Threatened with a lawsuit, festival officials decided to reinstate booth space for the Sons of Confederate Veterans, whose application they had previously rejected. The SCV organization has maintained a Confederate booth at the annual festival for years, but this year they encountered hostile forces.

Once shy about entering into political controversy, various Camps of the Sons of Confederate Veterans have now become active in protecting their right to memorialize their ancestors. On the Internet, several dozen websites now exist to share the history of the past and keep Confederate sympathizers informed about current events. There are listserves, or discussion groups, where strategies for confronting opposition are among the main topics.

Time will tell if such organizing is too little, too late, given the years spent by the NAACP and its media supporters to publicly disparage Southern history and to equate all things Confederate with racism.

To justify trampling on the rights of Southrons, their enemies intrude extraneous arguments about slavery, segregation and past attitudes of bigotry. Yet it is clear that the only issue here is one of constitutional rights. Do white Southerners have the same freedom of expression as blacks? The NAACP claims that blacks experience "hurt feelings" and "feel uncomfortable" when viewing symbols such as the Confederate flag.

Even if this is so, does it preclude the right of whites to display such symbols?

These might seem like ironic questions given the years of complaints by blacks, who have made a fetish of wresting away from whites the right to interpret black history and cultural identity. Do only the feelings of blacks count when it comes to interpreting history? Although the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the display of any flag is protected by First Amendment rights, this fact appears to be lost on those who would protect black sensibilities.

Who has the final word on interpreting the meaning of a symbol?

Whenever opponents of Kwanzaa contend that this holiday was invented to undermine the uniqueness of Christmas and the significance of Christ, Kwanzaa advocates swiftly deny the claim. They then explain their version of what the holiday and its symbols mean to them. A great many white Southerners, whose sentiments are far removed from the racist tendencies of a bygone era, feel that association with the old Confederacy, in the words of historian Eugene Genovese, links them with "those who value privacy and a responsible individualism that resists state intervention in community, family, and personal life."

Those who admire the old Confederacy's obstinate refusal to give in to an overbearing government are not relegated only to Southern partisans. Modern day Southrons are not alone in comparing their ancestors' struggle to free themselves from an unconstitutional government to today's dissidents who make similar charges against the excessive authority of federal as well as state governments.

As is evident from a series of recent events, some of them tragic, we live in an era of growing disgruntlement over the heavy-handed role of government. There is protest on the home front from diverse political quarters--libertarians, who are staunch opponents of burdensome government, are joined by conservatives, left-leaning progressives, and varying shades of populists.

Non-Southerners have adopted the Confederate spirit of rebellion, as they crusade against perversions of the Constitution, which include: an ever-growing central government, whose power to intervene in state and local affairs seems unlimited; a federal judiciary that usurps for itself new duties and, in some cases, even levies taxes on the people; district judges who prohibit the implementation of Propositions duly voted into law, thereby overriding the will of the people; and questionable, if not illegal government seizures of private property.

Over the years, symbols of the Confederacy have been known to show up in foreign countries where secessionist movements seek to overthrow tyrannical powers. Like many powerful symbols, the Confederate flag potentially has multiple meanings--certainly more than the narrow emphasis on slavery and segregation relegated to it by the NAACP.

In the 1960s, radicals claimed that Old Glory represented the imperialistic tyranny of the United States. They set about burning it, shredding it, and sometimes performing gross acts upon it. Even today, for many Americans, the American flag is a symbol of despotism. Should their objections be taken seriously?

In the minds of some Puerto Ricans, the flag of Puerto Rico carries a negation of American sovereignty over their island. In New York City, at least a week leading up to the annual Puerto Rico Day parade, my Bronx neighborhood is inundated with hundreds of flags of this commonwealth territory. Flags hang from windows and fire escapes, they fly from cars and trucks, and decorate baby strollers and shopping carts. Some hardy souls even manage to hang them high atop lamp posts.

Is the flag of Puerto Rico to be granted more protection than the indigenous Confederate flag?

A common belief among many blacks is that civil rights pertain only to them. It is considered acceptable for me, a black woman, to celebrate May 19, the birthday of Malcolm X, yet a white who reveres Jefferson Davis is expected to hide his reverence in a closet.

One would think that, of all groups, blacks would be the last to pick other people's heroes for them.

Blacks who publicly speak out on the issue of Confederate observance are almost unanimous in their disregard of the rights of Southerners. The subject of constitutional rights is usually sidetracked in favor of vituperation over past injustices. An exception is Terry Foster, a reporter for the Detroit News. In an article last December, where he called the Confederate flag "a banner of hate," Foster insisted on the right of others to carry or display the flag.

He wrote, "With that said, this is America. There are things called freedom of speech, freedom of choice and freedom of expression."

Concerning the ongoing furor over the administration's attempt to ban the display of the Confederate flag on the campus of the University of Mississippi, Foster claimed that "It is the fans' right to carry the flag to the game. I would not try to stop it, even if I had the power. Neither should anyone else." He called the right to free expression and choice the "bedrock" on which this country is founded.

Preventing the display of the Confederate flag and other Southern memorabilia has nothing to do with lessening "anguish" among blacks, but has everything to do with asserting power. For those blacks who feel that the tables are now turned in the South, the power to flex political muscle is irresistible.

Yet it is a power that must be resisted, since it possibly could lead to tragic consequences. It is not farfetched to surmise that the rhetoric of condemnation regularly flowing from the civil rights camp might have sparked an unfortunate incident last March in Oxford, Mississippi.

One night, over 15 black youths stormed into the Rebel Barn convenience store, vandalized it by tearing to shreds several hanging Confederate flags, while shouting anti-white slogans and threatening violence to the store employees. Will similar incidents be the tinderbox that ultimately sets off widespread retaliation?

Such potential strife could be avoided, if responsible leaders brought more light to bear on the rights of all citizens, and turned down the heated rhetoric that can only set back attempts at racial harmony.


Elizabeth Wright is editor of Issues & Views, a quarterly newsletter of alternative black opinion, published since 1985. The website edition is at: http://www.issues-views.com Elizabeth Wright, P.O. Box 467, Cathedral Station, New York, NY 10025 (718) 655-7847 email: DEliz@aol.com

SLRC SAYS HARDWICK LOWER COURT “ABUSED DISCRETION”

In a hard-hitting reply brief filed with the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the SLRC has accused the court of original jurisdiction in the case of Hardwick vs. Heyward, the case challenging a South Carolina school system’s ban on Confederate symbols. The plaintiffs asked the lower court to grant a temporary restraining order, which would have had the effect of canceling the ban, and the court refused. The case has now been appealed to the Fourth Circuit, where it is expected to be heard later this fall.

The brief, authored by SLRC Chief Trial Counsel Kirk D. Lyons, says the school’s attorneys “hope to convince this court that, in terms of race relations and the Confederate flag, it is always 1950 at Latta High School” and adds, “In this fantastical world [the school board] would have the court believe that students … cannot tell the difference between a young lady’s peaceful and inoffensive display of a venerated ancestral icon and some mouthy, vulgar punk … “ Lyons, in his brief, goes on to say, “The [original] court … has unfortunately aided Appellees [the school board] in their attempts to circumvent the First Amendment … ignoring the substantial record [of non-disruption] prepared by Appellants [the student and her family]. It is unlikely that a better example of abuse of the [lower] Court’s discretion can be found,” the brief says.

The brief points out that there was no disruption caused by the wearing of Confederate-themed clothing at the school, whose student body is more than fifty per cent black, even though school officials used fear of such disruption to justify their ban. “The students at Latta High School have defied all the conventional wisdom on race and the Confederate Battle Flag by showing that they can be supportive and tolerant of a symbol that the pundits claim offends all African-Americans … [they] have shown, after three years of nonviolent, non-disruptive struggle with the administration over this issue that they deserve liberty. Give it to them,” the brief concludes.

The Southern Legal Resource Center

FLORIDA COMPANY SEIZES EMPLOYEE’S COTTON BLOSSOM

CLEARWATER, FL – A supervisor at a Florida ice cream plant has asked the SLRC to investigate the confiscation by company officials of a stalk of cotton he brought to work to show fellow employees.

The employee, who works at a Good Humor/Breyers plant in Clearwater, says he picked the single stalk of cotton on his way back from a family reunion in Georgia and brought it to work to show his colleagues, many of whom had never seen an actual cotton boll. He placed the cotton on his desk, left his work station and returned to find the cotton gone. A company human resources officer told him it had been removed because it “might cause disruption.”

“It was just an object, a boll of cotton,” the employee said. “I brought it to show around because to me it’s pretty. That was the only motive.”

The employee says he feels the company’s action was arbitrary and unwarranted, undermined his supervisory position, and casts an unfavorable light on his record as an employee, without foundation. He is appealing through company channels while the investigation goes forward.

The Southern Legal Resource Center

SLRC TO REPRESENT FIRED TENNESEE EMPLOYEE

MEMPHIS, TN – A counselor at a Memphis psychiatric hospital who was abruptly fired for refusing to remove Confederate license tags from his vehicle has retained the SLRC to act in a damages suit against his employer.

Paul McClaren had been a counselor at Compass Intervention Center, a residential treatment facility for young people, for ten years, all during which time he had displayed a Confederate flag license tag on his vehicle. A member of the Sons of Confederate veterans, he obtained a state-issued SCV license tag when they became available several years ago. His tags had never caused any comment or incident. But on October 1 he received an internal letter from the hospital’s CEO, Nahon McPherson, demanding that he remove his car from hospital property as long as the tags were on it. Before he could respond, McClaren began receiving “corrective action notices”, at the rate of one a day, threatening him with termination. Employees are expected to sign these forms, indicating that they have accepted “counseling”. McClaren refused to sign.

In a personal interview last Friday, McClaren asked McPherson, “Do you want me to clean out my desk?” According to McClaren, McPherson said no and advised him to “think about” his position over the weekend. But when McClaren came to work on Monday, he says he was met by McPherson and the newly hired human resources director and was terminated then and there, without notice or severance compensation of any kind.

According to McClaren, McPherson told him, “You can stop this [the termination process] right now.” McClaren replied, “So can you.”

The SLRC has said that McPherson’s suit will probably be brought as a reverse discrimination action under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. McClaren has reported his case to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Memphis attorney Jack Smith will act as local counsel.

The Southern Legal Resource Center

A talk with H.K., or what the historical revisionists don’t want you to know

By Kenneth Bachand
Hendersonville, North Carolina
Kbachand@juno.com

As I am writing this for readers other than those who know H.K., I must preface my short story with a note about who he is and what he does.

H.K. Edgerton is the former president of the Asheville, North Carolina, chapter of the NAACP. (I say “former,” for it is clearly evident that that organization does not share his sentiments about his Southern heritage.) Today, hardly a week passes that H.K. does not don the uniform of a Confederate soldier, take up a Confederate flag, and stand on a street corner to greet people and tell his story of the black man in the Old South and of those of his race who took up arms for the South during their struggle for independence.

Several years ago, H.K. put on that uniform, took up that flag, and walked over 1,600 miles from Asheville to Austin, Texas, sharing his message of “heritage, not hate” with thousands. He has since made other long marches about the country. And what may seem incongruous to those who know only the “prescribed” history of the South, he experiences far more acceptance and good will than rejection and scorn from black people whom he meets along the way. Early last month H.K. marched in the ranks with the members of the Capt. Walter M. Bryson-George Mills Camp 70 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in the Hendersonville, NC, Apple Festival parade. (George Mills was a black Confederate soldier. His grave, over which flies a Confederate flag, is in Oakdale Cemetery and within walking distance of my house.)

I had the honor of being the senior of six Confederate officers (re-enactors, of course) who served as pallbearers for H.K.’s mother’s funeral and burial service. Hundreds stood on porches and lined the sidewalks, clapping and offering expressions of sympathy and good will as her caisson—drawn by four white horses and escorted by a Confederate honor guard and ladies in period dress—made its way through the black community. And as is typical of the politically correct media, the local television station chose to interview two young black men who offered negative comments about the event.

At last month's Blue-Gray Heritage Weekend, the living-history and Civil War re-enactment event in Mills River which is sponsored each year by the Bryson-Mills SCV camp, I took advantage of a few quiet minutes alone with H.K. and asked him to tell me about his slave ancestors. He said that they had belonged to white masters in North Carolina and to Cherokee masters in South Carolina. I then asked, “Can you tell me how your ancestors were treated by their masters?” His answer was shorter than the question: “Like family.”

But when I asked H.K. whether he knew anything about his ancestors when they lived in Africa, he told a story of horror. His ancestor on his mother’s side (a girl whose name he gave but which I cannot remember) was enslaved by an African chieftan and marched across Africa, along with her brother and sister, to be sold to Yankee slave traders. When the sister became ill and unable to continue the march, she was tied to a tree and left to die. When the brother resisted, the chieftan “cut off his arms, split open his skull, and drank his blood.” (H.K.’s words, not mine.)

There is an organized effort today to erase everything “Confederate” from our history except that which focuses on the “evils of slavery” (in the South, of course); to disallow the playing of “Dixie” at public events; and to remove all Confederate flags, monuments, statues, plaques, and names of Confederate leaders from public view. And when a black man like H.K. Edgerton, or Nelson Winbush of KISSIMMEE, Florida (a former public school assistant principal), or Dr. Emerson Emery of Dallas, Texas, dares to speak well of the Old South and the struggle for Southern independence, he—along with “Dixie,” the flags, the monuments, the statues, the plaques, and the names of Confederate leaders—becomes for the historical revisionists just another object for removal and banishment.

What a refreshing and positive difference it would make if everyone in our country would eschew the negative message of the historical-revisionist hate mongers and espouse the positive one of those like H.K. Edgerton.

In defense of his Confederate pride

Nelson Winbush is intent on defending the flag of his grandfather. It's just surprising which flag that is.
By STEPHANIE GARRY
St. Petersburg Times
READ IT HERE

Culturalist, Sectionalist, or just plain Southern Pride

As a 5 year old child living in a still segregated small town in Southeast Georgia in 1968 I had no idea how different I was from the rest of the world just because of my family heritage and how biased I would be judged later in my life for standing up for my ancestors. I believe that it was on an early Spring afternoon that April when I first recognized that feeling of something deep within when someone out of the crowd placed a 14" by 17" Confederate flag on a 2' dowel rod in my hand at what was then probably the last Confederate Memorial Day Parade to ever be held in that small Thomas County, Georgia, town. As a child I had no idea of the significance of that flag in my family history nor the importance it would play in my future but I knew even then that it was something to be kept and cherished. It was that same small flag that I pulled out and taped to my bicycle handle bars every time I played "war" with the other boys in the neighborhood. Even when we played "Cops and Robbers" that little flagged waved along. My cowboy in "Cowboys and Indians" was always accompanied by that same small flag. Even after the little dowel rod flag pole broke off during some vicious "bombing raid" it was rescued and nailed to a short piece of broom handle. I survived all of those imaginary childhood battles and my little flag along side but it wasn't until one summer at the age of 10 that I discovered a clue to the history of that precious flag I had so long cherished without knowing why. On a vacation trip to visit my mother's sister Cass and her husband Joe, living on Lake Lanier above Atlanta, my Uncle Joe suggested that we all go into Atlanta to visit the Grant Park Zoo and the Cyclorama. The zoo sounded great but I had no idea what the other thing was that he had mentioned but it sounded like a big bicycle store and with the hope of a new bike in my mind off we went. For some reason the adults wanted to see the "bicycle store" first but after seeing the old block building I figured the bikes must not be very cool 'cause there weren't any kids riding around having fun. Once inside and discovering that I had been "had" I was more than ready for the zoo until we went in to the actual room containing the Cyclorama mural of what I was to discover was the Battle for Atlanta. Back then you had to walk out on a long raised walk way into the middle of the room where you could then look 360 degrees and it appeared that you were in the middle of the battle frozen in time.

Thinking back on my short life up until then I can't recall anything ever having such a total effect on me. That moment in time changed my life and I felt a feeling and connection there that I had never felt before and only a few times since. Right then and there, seeing the carnage of the battle and hearing my father telling old family stories of Great Uncles and Grandfathers who had died in the War or survived to walk home and then passed those stories down, I knew then why that little old flag had meant so much to me and why I had always wanted to be a "rebel" instead of a cowboy, army soldier, or cop. I realized then and there in that dark old block building that it was all in my blood! My mother's Great Grandfather and his father had fought there with the 54th Georgia and only her Great Grandfather had lived to fight on until the end of the War when he would walk home to Pierce County from Macon. My father's Great Grandfather fought under Stonewall Jackson through the Battles of Virginia and Maryland and then under Early and Gordon until he was killed at the Mule Shoe at the Bloody Angle at Spottsylvania.

As I grew into my teens years I still held on to that "little old flag" and when the old broom stick pole finally gave up I taped it to the ceiling of my old truck through High School up till graduation. When I went to Marine Corps boot camp later that year I wanted to take it with me but my Daddy, a WWII Marine himself, said it probably wouldn't be a good idea in case my Drill Instructor ended up being from New York or some other Yankee state and it would be well hard enough without "throwing gas on the fire". Once out of boot camp and home on Leave I again decided that where ever the Marine Corps took me I wasn't going without that "little old flag" and packed it and the new 3' by 5' Georgia flag a friend had given me in to my "Sea bag" for the duration of my tour which lasted 4 years. Both of the symbols of my home, family and heritage accompanied me all over the world from the Pacific Islands of Okinawa and the Philippines to the Middle Eastern sands of Lebanon and back to the Caribbean Islands of Puerto Rico, Cuba and Jamaica crossing numerous time zones and the Equator and traveling through the Panama Canal several times. No matter where I traveled the flags weren't far away.

My travels then and since have exposed me to many cultures, religions and political ideologies but it has given me far more opportunities to introduce others to my Southern heritage and to open dialog with many whose only exposure to the Southern lifestyle and Confederate history has been on T.V., the movies or the Liberal media. It has always been a lot of fun to watch their expressions change when I suddenly change my forced exaggerated drawl from Gomer Pyle to a more true Southeast Georgia dialect. There is always that sense of astonishment about others when they realize that our parents aren't all brothers and sisters and that blacks and whites in the South don't really hate each other and most often than not work and live side by side in the same neighborhoods with mutual respect for each other. Once they realize that we do indeed have modern conveniences, utilities, and Dentists down here in the Old South they finally start to understand that they have been duped all their lives about the truth of the South and her people. It is like giving sight to the blind when they discover that Southerners are just like regular people but that we are just more laid back, ethical, moral, religious, patriotic, conservative, smarter, better looking and wiser than they are. Yes we do generally as a rule of thumb like football more than baseball though we do play it from the age of 3 and up. We do also like stock car racing even though NASCAR is no longer considered a Southern sport and has turned it's back on us. We also hunt, fish and, yes, a few of us do still make "Shine", but we also are adapting to other foreign sports like golf, soccer and tennis. The Old Plantation has long ago given way to the Country Club and now to the 300-400 home security gated subdivisions and most of our old neighborhoods in great old cities like Savannah, Charleston, Mobile, New Orleans and Pascagoula are having to post signs in both English and Spanish and suffer the endless renaming of streets and buildings which once honored great Southern Generals and Statesmen. Yes we do have some of the greatest institutions of "higher learning" in the nation but they are quickly being forced by the minorities on campus and in the media to change the names of there sports teams which have for most of the last 150 years reflected there once proud Southern heritage. The South also has more military bases spread across the region than any where else in the nation as a left over of the Yankee Occupation after the War and as a reminder that the armed forces of this country is manned predominately by patriotic Southerners willing still to serve in times of need.

It is quite refreshing at times to have the opportunity to enlighten and educate others on our true Southern history and about us as a people in general. Once they discover that we aren't as "backwoods" and "uneducated" as they have been lead to believe it is much easier for them to understand our pride in our heritage and our love of our Southern and Confederate symbols and to accept the fact that no matter how we are portrayed in history, T.V. and the media we are mostly still just proud to be Southern. I don't know if it is possible for others who are not from the South to fully understand us or to ever really truly accept us after several hundred years of these differences. I truly hope to God that most other Southerners have always had that deep down feeling inside them like the one that I have always had and may be if they haven't experienced there "awakening" like I did at the age of 10 they may can still find the trigger that will bring it to the top. As for me and that "little old flag" we have still never completely parted after all these years and even though it is old, dirty, torn and stained it still holds an important place in my life and in my home as it hangs there in it's frame between portraits of Gen. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and my Great-great Grandfather Lyons in his Confederate uniform as a symbol of time, honor and pride.

Every one may not have a "little old flag" to remind them of who they are and where they came from but we all have a heritage and the blood of our ancestors coursing through our veins and some times it may be just that that carries you through life and hard times so the next time you look at an old photo of one of your forefathers take a look at his face and look into his eyes because in more ways than one that is you looking back.

God bless and thank you from a Proud Southerner and Georgian,

Sam Lyons
ahomtech@yahoo.com

Will The United States Support Secession?

By David S. Reif

Contemplating a nearly unprecedented action the United States State Department is on the verge of supporting a United Nations backed plan to recognize the secessionist state of Kosovo as an independent nation on 28Nov07. Kosovo is a province of the country of Serbia which was itself carved out of the disintegrating nation of Yugoslavia during the Balkan War of the 1990's.

The Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) has been fighting for secession from Serbia. Kosovo is a predominantly Muslim section of Serbia that borders Albania and is predominately ethnic Albanian. However, it has always been considered part of the Serbian national heritage and is included in the popular constitution of Serbia which describes Kosovo as part of Serbia.

The former Soviet-Bloc nation of Yugoslavia all but disappeared in the 1990's breaking up into Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Serbia-Montenegro. Bitter fighting dogged the political activities with charges and counter-charges of "ethnic cleansing" were made by various groups. State Department claims of "hundreds of thousands" of Muslims being systematically murdered in WWII style concentration camps proved to be erroneous but according to www.antiwar.com at least 2000 fighters of all ethnicities including UCK personnel were murdered and placed in mass graves.

Exaggerated claims of genocide, usually attributed to United Kingdom Foreign Minister Geoff Hoon, were thought to be used to justify NATO involvement. Hostilities cease not long after the NATO carpet bombing of Belgrade; the Serbian capital.

The situation inside Serbia regarding Kosovo is complicated by both history and current events. Ethnic Albanians allied with neighboring Albanian nationals are reportedly interested in consolidating all of "greater Albania" which includes ethnic Albanian enclaves in several countries into one large Islamic State.

The State Department, the European Union (EU), and the U.N. over a period of time have decided that the Kosovo problem is intractable and are reported near an agreement with Russia to ratify claims of Kosovo secessionists and give legal recognition to the independent Kosovo state. Serbia opposes the plan but is rapidly loosing ground to the U.N. sponsored scheme.

According to an Associated Press (AP) story issued on the Serbian Diocese of Ras-Prizren website "Serbia's government denounced a U.N. plan for Kosovo Tuesday after Serbs living in the disputed southern province and the influential Serbian Orthodox Church called for its rejection. The government of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica released a "resolution," saying the U.N. proposal on Kosovo's future is 'contrary to international law because it ignores sovereignty and the territorial integrity' of Serbia. The plan, created by (Finnish) U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari, envisages self-rule for Kosovo, including a flag, anthem, army, constitution and the right to join international organizations. The province's ethnic Albanian majority want to secede from Serbia and have largely welcomed the U.N. proposal."

Prime Minister Kostunica declared "Giving Kosovo prerogatives of a sovereign state ... is a dangerous precedent, bearing in mind minority questions and territorial disputes in Europe and worldwide. The (U.N.) plan aims to deprive Serbia of an important piece of its territory, would make survival of Serbs impossible ... and lead to destabilization of the entire region." There are a number of secessionist movements in Europe notably: North Italy, Scotland, and Bavaria.

The U.N. plan is being seriously eyed by the Foreign Ministry of Russia who is said to be considering a fundamental change in its longstanding policy of supporting Serbia. If the Russians decide to back the U.N. plan they will almost certainly support two other secessionist states; Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The two are secessionist provinces of the Republic of Georgia which was part of the old Soviet Union.

The United States has a policy of not supporting secessionist movements or recognizing secessionist states. Even in 1967 when the mostly Christian Ibos of Biafra attempted to secede from Muslim dominated Nigeria due to religious and cultural oppression the State Department refused to recognize Biafra and over 1,000,000 Biafrians were killed. If the US does recognize an independent Kosovo it will surely do so by couching the change in policy in impenetrable diplomatic jargon while the rest of the world says it is recognizing a secessionist movement.

The last time the U.S. granted recognition to a secessionist movement was during the War Between the States. After the military partition of the Virginia the Lincoln administration gave recognition to the new State of West Virginia claiming that it had seceded from Virginia and in 1863 accepting it into the Union.

In the United States today government surrogate groups consistently try to link secession and racism yet more thoughtful people do not. Secession is a legitimate form of political expression guaranteed by the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. It has traditionally been seen as the right of the people through the States to exercise a public veto against the central government and peaceably reorganize into an alternative structure.

The most notable incident involving secession came when a section of this country dominated by the Lincoln Administration refused to accept the legal secession of 13 sovereign states which formed the Confederate States of America (C.S.A.) precipitating the War Between the States (1861-1865). After the War the president of the C.S.A., Jefferson Davis, was to be put on trial for the "crime of secession" but the Federal Courts would not hear the case because secession was not illegal in the Constitution recalling the West Virginia issue and the guarentee of State soveriegnty in the 10th Amendment.

If the Kosovo independence movement goes forward the interest in secession may become increasing important. In an AP article by staff writer Bill Poovey posted on the Drudge Report (03Oct07) notes that secessionist sentiment is being expressed at the current North American Separatist Convention in Chattanooga, TN.

Mr. Poovey writes, "In an unlikely marriage of desire to secede from the United States, two advocacy groups from opposite political traditions - New England and the South - are sitting down to talk. Tired of foreign wars and what they consider right-wing courts, the Middlebury Institute wants liberal states like Vermont to be able to secede peacefully.

That sounds just fine to the League of the South, a conservative group that refuses to give up on Southern independence. 'We believe that an independent South, or Hawaii, Alaska, or Vermont would be better able to serve the interest of everybody, regardless of race or ethnicity,' said Michael Hill of Killen, Ala., president of the League of the South.

Separated by hundreds of miles and divergent political philosophies, the Middlebury Institute and the League of the South are hosting a two-day Secessionist Convention starting Wednesday in Chattanooga.

They expect to attract supporters from California, Alaska and Hawaii, inviting anyone who wants to dissolve the Union so states can save themselves from an overbearing federal government.

If allowed to go their own way, New Englanders 'probably would allow abortion and have gun control,' Hill said, while Southerners 'would probably crack down on illegal immigration harder than it is being now.' The U.S. Constitution does not explicitly prohibit secession, but few people think it is politically viable."

Whether or not secession is politically viable remains to be seen. When the subject came back into the American political debate 10 or 15 years ago it was confined to esoteric cultural and political venues. Today it draws increasing public attention.

If the Kosovo issue comes to fruition and the States of Abkhazia and South Ossetia are recognized by Russia then the world will be on notice that political separation is indeed viable. Even without Kosovo the serious discussion of this issue should be welcomed by all who really believe in democracy, free expression, or open society. When the great power countries cannot figure out any other way to deal with the problems caused by increasing centralization then new answers may undeniably "rise again".


About the Author

David S. Reif and his wife are full-time artist/craftsmen living in the Missouri Ozarks. Currently working in silver and other precious materials, they have been professional artists since 1981. David is the Press Officer for the John T. Coffee Camp #1934, Sons of Confederate Veterans, and has been a guest speaker at many SCV events including the dedication address for the Missouri Brigade Monument, Missouri Secession Day Dinner, and the MOSB luncheon speech at the 1998 SCV Reunion in St. Louis, as well as other occasions. He has written about Missouri history and politics, modernism, and the impact of science on culture for publications in the United States, Europe, and on the Internet. He has served on numerous local and county government commissions and on the board of community-based artist and writers programs, chemical-dependency centers, and art-marketing groups. He was the director of the independent scholar society, The Institute for Perennial Studies, edited the journal, Perennis, and was the state Chairman for the Missouri Southern League, as well as an officer for the Mid-Missouri Peace Alliance, which opposed ballistic missile silos stationed in Southern states.

Email: renegadeheart@sbcglobal.net

Yankee and Rebel Secessionists Meeting in Tennessee

By Karyn Chenoweth
Monsters and Critics.com, UK
READ IT HERE

Goodbye General Robert E. Lee

By Calvin E. Johnson, Jr.
cjohnson1861@bellsouth.net

Americans have always had a admiration for sport celebrities
and the heritage of their ancestors who made this nation great.
Free people are those who remember their past. Are young people
still taught about Davy Crocket, Daniel Boone and George
Washington Carver?

Do you know who Robert E. Lee was?

October 12th, will be the 137th anniversary of the death of
Robert E. Lee. The United States flag, which Lee had defended
as a soldier,flew at half mast in Lexington, Virginia and
throughout the South.

General Lee died at his home at Lexington, Virginia at
9:30 AM on October 12, 1870. His last great deed came after the
War Between the States when he accepted the presidency of
Washington College,now Washington and Lee University. He saved
the financially troubled college and helped many young people
further their education.

Some write that Robert E. Lee suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on
September 28, 1870, but was thought to greatly improve until
October 12th, when he took a turn for the worse. His condition
seemed more hopeless when his doctor told him, "General you must
make haste and get well---Traveller---has been standing too long
in his stable and needs exercise."

The rains and flooding were the worse of Virginia's history on
the day General Lee died. On Wednesday, October 12, 1870, in the
presence of his family, Lee quietly passed away.

The church bells rang as the sad news passed through Washington
College,Virginia Military Institute, the town of Lexington and
the nation. Cadets from VMI College carried the remains of the
old soldier to Lee Chapel where he laid in state. Many buildings
and homes were covered in black crepe for mourning.

Memorial meetings were held throughout the South and as far North
as New York. At Washington College in Lexington eulogies were
delivered by: Reverend Pemberton, Reverend W.S. White--Stonewall
Jackson's Pastor and Reverend J.William Jones. Former Confederate
President Jefferson Davis brought the eulogy in Richmond, Virginia.
Lee was also eulogized in Great Britain.

When all settled down, Mrs. Robert E. Lee said, "If he had
succeeded in gaining by the sword all the South expected and hoped
for, he could not have been more honored and lamented."

Many thousands witnessed Lee's funeral procession marching through
the town of Lexington, Virginia, with muffled drums and the artillery
firing as the hearse was driven to the school's chapel where he was
buried.

US President Dwight D. Eisenhower knew and appreciated our nation's
rich history. While President, Eisenhower was criticized for
displaying a portrait on Robert E. Lee in his office. This was part
of his response;

"Robert E. Lee was, in my estimation, one of the supremely gifted
men produced by this nation."

Robert E. Lee was the hero of the Southern people and admired
both North and South of the Mason-Dixon Line. This Christian-
gentleman's last words were, "Strike the Tent."

Lest We Forget Robert E. Lee, A Genuine American Hero!!!

Dixie tradition kept alive in Brazil enclave

By Anton Foek
Washington Times
READ IT HERE