Duck Dynasty avoids the Confederate flag. League of the South falls for a media marketing package

I was wondering if the cast of Duck Dynasty flew the Confederate flag. It would fit the stereotype.

I came across this article by someone who socialized with Phil Robertson:

http://pagesix.com/2013/12/30/artist-says-phil-robertson-is-not-a-racist/

When the controversy over students flying a Confederate flag at an Arizona school was shown on TV the article reports.

“And I said, ‘Phil, turn around.’ So he turned around and I could tell he was — visually — very upset. And he said, ‘I have never owned a Confederate flag.’ He said, ‘This is what upsets me.’ He said, ‘ “Redneck” is a term of endearment around here. And attaching that to a Confederate flag is offensive to me . . . That Confederate flag is not what we stand for.’ ”

The Robertson clan knows what sells and what doesn't sell and how to market themselves. The League of the South really fell for the whole marketing package of the family.

http://dixienet.org/rights/2013/phil_robertson.php

Have contacted by email where possible all churches that host the Sons of Confederate Veterans

For all the churches that host the SCV where there is a online method of contact I have contacted them.

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/ChurchesHostingEvents.htm

Where possible I contacted the entire staff to minimize the claim that the email was missed and also to make sure the entire staff was aware of this.

Churches that host United Daughters of the Confederacy meetings

I have added into the table at the following link churches that host United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) meetings and events besides the national conventions.

The link is:

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/ChurchesHostingEvents.htm

The UDC table is below the table for the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV).

The UDC meets more often in members homes and also many chapters don't have web pages or their web page is not working. So there may well be more occasions where the UDC does meet in member's homes. I will have to find alternative means to get the meeting information.

However, the table is a start.

Updated Table of Churches that host neo-Confederate events

The updated table of churches that host neo-Confederate events besides national conventions is at:

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/ChurchesHostingEvents.htm

Since I will be updating it often I thought I would give it its own web page.

The web page http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm will have a link to it. 

I added in some additional churches that host the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). I think it is fairly complete. Email me if you locate a URL documenting a church that hosts the SCV. 

The yellow means I have yet to email them. I hope to do so soon. 

I do plan on identifying churches that host the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC)for other events besides national conventions and extend the table to include them. 

I am thinking of writing all these churches in the coming year asking them not to host neo-Confederate groups. My current expectation based on the responses I am getting is that they won't drop the SCV, but the word will get around that if you host a neo-Confederate group it might come before the public and with reflection most churches will realize there is no good excuse for it. So the strategy will be not to get in the situation of having hosted a neo-Confederate group in the first place.

American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars host Sons of Confederate Veterans meetings

I have just finished getting all the information on where Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) camps meet.

Some general observations.

There are not likely any SCV camps meeting at a vegetarian restaurant. I haven't found a restaurant name that indicated that it was vegetarian. However, barbecue restaurants are very popular with the SCV.

I haven't come across Chinese, Indian or Japanese restaurants as a meeting place. I might have overlooked one, but I haven't seen a meeting scheduled for these type restaurants. However, Mexican restaurants are sometimes selected for monthly meetings.

I have found some more churches that I had not found before that host SCV meetings.

What is interesting is that there are American Legion posts and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) posts that host SCV meetings. Is that patriotic. The Confederate soldier shot American soldiers.

Also, being that the Confederacy was a nation created for slavery and white supremacy and given that America is a multiracial democracy how patriotic is it to lend your facilities to the SCV?

Given the SCV agenda which laments that the Confederate army wasn't able to break up America and which condemns Lincoln how patriotic is it to host SCV camps?

I will have to write them and raise this issue.

Churches that host the Sons of Confederate Veteran meetings table updated.

I have updated the table of the churches that host Sons of Confederate Veteran (SCV) meetings and have put it in this web page.

www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm

If there is a church that hosts a SCV meeting and it isn't on the list email me with the URL that documents it.

The other web page with just the table has been taken down.

UPDATE:

I have decided that since this table is likely to be updated frequently I have put the table back at this URL.

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/ChurchesHostingEvents.htm

Churches Hosting Neo-Confederate Events

These are specific churches where neo-Confederate events have occurred. Mostly it is regular Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) monthly meetings.

This web page has been deleted http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/ChurchesHostingEvents.htm and the table has been moved to:

www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm


Many denominations are represented, but what is interesting is the preponderance of United Methodist Churches. However, this is through Googling and I might have some type of sampling bias.

UPDATE:

I moved the table back to the original URL:


http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/ChurchesHostingEvents.htm

Book a "White" wedding now at Martha's Chapel

Martha's Chapel in Apex, North Carolina is listed as a monthly meeting site by the North Carolina Sons of Confederate Veterans for the Cedar Fork Rifles Camp No. 1827. www..ncscv.org.

The church is really into booking weddings. Note on their web page the letters "Now Booking Weddings" is flashing on and off.

http://marthaschapel.com/home.html

With this observation I offer to the amusement of my readers the following video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAZQaYKZMTI

Charlotte Steele Creek Presbyterian Church has racial equality symbol, but hosts the Sons of Confederate Veterans

I guess this example shows how churches just like to say things about racial equality to feel good about themselves, but don't give it any significant reflection.

The Steele Creek Presbyterian Church has on its web page a symbol of racial equality. You can see it at their web page:

http://www.steelecreekpres.org/

However, check their calendar:

https://secure.accessacs.com/access/viewscheduler.aspx?sn=11317&cid=7caabfb8-ec40-4e2a-b258-b6bb46471d30&view=calendar

What do we see, a monthly meeting of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV).

For details you can click on this link:

https://secure.accessacs.com/access/viewscheduler.aspx?sn=11317&tk=5231f005b91d41a2b263c68860e96719&eid=51cb5231-23d1-44ba-bac8-a1a900b9a71b&did=aed70d72-8efd-4805-9149-a24c00e7edeb


What we see is that for many churches anti-racism is a moral ornament for certain Christians to feel good about themselves as opposed to those racist others who they imagine are very unlike themselves.

John Wesley's book "Thoughts on Slavery" is available online free at Google Books

Google books has John Wesley's book, "Thoughts on Slavery."


http://books.google.com/books?id=iTdcAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=thoughts+on+slavery&hl=en&sa=X&ei=x6raUufkKYnOsAS1rYCIDQ&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=thoughts%20on%20slavery&f=false

In reading it you will soon figure out that the symbol "f" is used for the "s" sound. For example speaking is spelled "fpeaking."

I put this link in this blog and will do elsewhere as a benefit for the United Methodist Church who seems to have forgotten the anti-slavery views of John Wesley.

First United Methodist Church of Decatur hosts regularly Sons of Confederate Veteran meetings

What is ironic is that the Sons of Confederate Veterans meet in the Wesley Center at the First United Methodist Church of Decatur, Texas.

John Wesley an early Methodist leader was also against slavery.

http://abolition.e2bn.org/people_32.html

From this website about John Wesley's abolitionism:

The focus that Wesley needed came when Granville Sharp contested the case of a runaway slave (James Somerset) in the courts. Wesley was moved to study a text by the Philadelphia Quaker, Anthony Benezet. Wesley's journal shows that Benezet's work, and Lord Mansfield's deliberations in the case of Somerset, caused him much disquiet.

Two years later, in 1774, he wrote a tract called "Thoughts on Slavery" that went into four editions in two years. In it, he attacked the Slave Trade and the slave-trader with considerable passion and proposed a boycott of slave-produced sugar and rum.

Yet this church hosts monthly the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). Allowing the SCV to meet at their church in a center named after Wesley makes a mockery of Wesley and also makes a person wonder if the First United Methodist Church of Decatur really has any understanding of the life of John Wesley.

This meeting is listed on the church calendar and it is no secret to the parishioners. Are they insensible to reflective thought?

http://www.decaturmethodist.org/templates/System/details.asp?id=58517&PG=Events&CID=1347159&rDate=2014-01-14

Email to Christian Action Council about hosting the Sons of Confederate Veterans

This is the link to the South Carolina Christian Action Council

http://www.sccouncil.net/index.asp

Since I have already sent certified letters to the denominations which have a past history of hosting the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), I am now writing interdenominational groups to reach out and alert more churches to the issue.

I think once the word is out there, a lot of churches won't be interested in hosting because they don't want to be involved in a controversy.

The following email was sent to Rev. Brenda L. Kneece Executive Minister of the Christian Action Council.

Dear Rev. Kneece:

I am an investigative researcher regarding the neo-Confederate movement. I am published by university presses and peer reviewed academic journals. My resume is online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/resume.htm.

In 2013 I had an article published in “Black Commentator” about the extremism and racism of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). The free quest link is:

http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html

In 2013 I started focusing on how mainstream organizations enable neo-Confederates. For example I got corporations to drop the SCV this summer. The article is online at:

http://www.blackcommentator2.com/527_cover_scv_donation_loss_sebesta_guest.html

The next SCV Reunion is in Charleston in July 2014. I am writing denominations with a history of hosting the SCV to ask them not to stop hosting the SCV. The campaign is documented at:

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm

I would like the Christian Action Council to ask member churches to consider whether they should host the SCV for their upcoming national reunion in Charleston.  I think if one Christian group would raise the issue the entire community of faith in Charleston would have to consider their relation to neo-Confederate groups and whether they  should be enabling them.

Regards,

Edward H. Sebesta

Co-editor of “Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction,” Univ. of Texas Press, 2008 (http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/excerpts/exhagneo.html), and “The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: The ‘Great Truth’ About the ‘Lost Cause’” Univ. Press of Mississippi 2010. (http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1338).  Author of chapter about the Civil War and Reconstruction in the notorious Texas teaching standards in Politics and the History Curriculum: The Struggle over Standards in Texas and the Nation, published by Palgrave Macmillan.  http://www.keitherekson.com/books/politics-and-the-history-curriculum/

Letter to Executive Presbyter Charleston Atlantic Presbyterian USA Church

In terms of frequency, the Presbyterian USA Church is third for hosting the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) since 1990 and also for hosting the SCV and the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) combined. See web page http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm for bar graphs and maps and tables.

Just two other denominations have hosted the SCV since 1990. The Lutherans did once in 2000 and the Disciples of Christ did in 2003. The four denominations I have written have hosted the SCV multiple times.

                                                                                                1/14/2014

                                                                                                esebesta@tx.rr.com

Donnie R. Woods

Executive Presbyter

Charleston Atlantic Presbyter

2421 Ashley River Road

Charleston, SC 29414-4601

Dear Mr. Woods:

The Presybterian Church USA is the third most frequent host for neo-Confederate organization national convention memorial services from 1990 to 2013. I enclose a bar graph of denominations which host the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and a map of churches which host either the SCV or the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC).  These documents can also be found online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm.

The SCV is planning on holding their 2014 convention in Charleston, SC and they will be looking for church facilities to hold their convention service. Enclosed is a table of churches which the SCV conventions have used in the 21^st century.

The SCV is a racist and extremist group. Their official literature compares Abraham Lincoln to Hitler, and praises and promotes books that defend slavery and books that laud the Ku Klux Klan. Please find enclosed a dossier on the SCV with detailed footnotes of all quotes and assertions. This dossier is also available online at http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html .

Additionally, I enclose a paper on Confederate Christian nationalism which is also online at

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/ConfederateChristianNationalism.pdf. It was published by the Canadian Review of American Studies at the University of Toronto. Even though the article is about the neo-Confederate League of the South, the religious ideas promoted by the SCV Chaplains Corps (http://www.scv.org/about/chaplainsChronicle.php) are largely the same or similar. I also enclose a copy of my academic resume which is online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/resume.htm.

When a church allows the SCV to use their facilities it gives them credibility that a prominent religious organizations would find the SCV to be an organization to which it would be acceptable to lend their facilities. Additionally they gain some of the prestige of the religious organization and the prestige of an architecturally prominent church building for their religious services and hence organization.

I ask that the Presbyterian Church USA not give support to the Sons of Confederate Veterans organization by allowing them to use your facilities for their activities.

                                                                                                Sincerely Yours,

                                                                                                Edward H. Sebesta 

Letter to United Methodist Church Bishop Holston of South Carolina

Working down the lists of churches that have hosted either the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) or the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) national convention services I am writing Bishop L. Jonathan Holston of the South Carolina Conference United Methodist Church by certified mail. The United Methodist Church (UMC) hasn't every hosted a national convention service for the SCV since 1990. However, UMC churches do host the SCV for meetings.

The following is the letter:

                                                                                                1/14/2014

                                                                                                esebesta@tx.rr.com

Bishop L. Jonathan Holston

South Carolina Conference United Methodist Church

4908 Colonial Dr.

Columbia, SC 29203

Dear Rev. Holston:

The United Methodist Church is the fourth most frequent host for neo-Confederate organizations United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) and the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) national convention memorial services from 1990 to 2013. I enclose a bar graph of denominations which host the SCV and a bar graph of denominations which have hosted the UDC from 1990 to 2013 and a map of churches which host either the SCV or UDC national convention services.  These documents can also be found online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm.

The SCV is planning on holding their 2014 convention in Charleston, SC and they will be looking for church facilities to hold their convention service. Enclosed is a table of churches which the SCV conventions have used in the 21^st century. Though the United Methodist Church (UMC) has not hosted the SCV since 1990, the UMC does host neo-Confederate national conventions and SCV chapter meetings.

Please find enclosed documentation about the SCV. Their official literature compares Abraham Lincoln to Hitler, and praises and promotes books that defend slavery and books that laud the Ku Klux Klan. Please find enclosed a dossier on the SCV with detailed footnotes of all quotes and assertions. This dossier is also available online at http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html .

Additionally, I enclose a paper on Confederate Christian nationalism which is also online at

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/ConfederateChristianNationalism.pdf. It was published by the Canadian Review of American Studies at the University of Toronto. Even though the article is about the neo-Confederate League of the South, the religious ideas promoted by the SCV Chaplains Corps (http://www.scv.org/about/chaplainsChronicle.php) are largely the same or similar. I also enclose a copy of my academic resume which is online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/resume.htm.

When a church allows the SCV to use their facilities it gives them credibility that a prominent religious organizations would find the SCV to be an organization to which it would be acceptable to lend their facilities. Additionally they gain some of the prestige of the religious organization and the prestige of an architecturally prominent church building for their religious services and hence organization.

I ask that the United Methodist Church not give support to the Sons of Confederate Veterans organization by allowing them to use your facilities for their activities.

                                                                                                Sincerely Yours,

                                                                                                Edward H. Sebesta

Letter to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Atlanta concerning the hosting of the Sons of Confederate Veterans

I have not heard back from the Roman Catholic bishop of Charleston so I am sending this letter to the Archbishop of Atlanta whose responsibilities cover the Roman Catholic diocese of Charleston. I am also going to email this letter to the Atlanta archdiocese.

If I don't hear a satisfactory response, I am going to write Pope Francis.

                                                                                                1/14/2014

                                                                                                esebesta@tx.rr.com

The Most Rev. Wilton D. Gregory

Archbishop of Atlanta

2401 Lake Park Dr. S.E.
Smyrna, GA 30080

Dear Most Rev. Gregory:

As you can see from the enclosed bar graph of churches hosting the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) national convention services by denomination the Roman Catholic Church is tied for most frequent from the period of 1990 to 2013. I also enclose a map of churches that hosted national convention services of the SCV and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. You can see that the Roman Catholic Church comes in second in frequency in hosting these services. You can also see this map and bar graphs online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm.

The SCV is an extremist and racist organization. Their official literature compares Abraham Lincoln to Hitler, and praises and promotes books that defend slavery and books that laud the Ku Klux Klan. Please find enclosed a dossier on the SCV with detailed footnotes of all quotes and assertions. This dossier is also available online at http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html.

I wrote Bishop Guglielmone asking him not to allow churches in his diocese to host the SCV national convention service on November 20, 2013 since the Roman Catholic Church is one of the more frequent hosting churches of the SCV. I regret I have not heard back. I enclose a copy of my letter to him. Over the years I have noticed that the Roman Catholic Church is not hesitant to speak out about moral issues, it is disappointing that this issue of race is ignored.

Additionally, I enclose a paper on Confederate Christian nationalism which is also online at

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/ConfederateChristianNationalism.pdf. It was published by the Canadian Review of American Studies at the University of Toronto. Even though the article is largely about the neo-Confederate League of the South, the religious ideas promoted by the SCV Chaplains Corps (http://www.scv.org/about/chaplainsChronicle.php) are largely the same or similar.

When a church allows the SCV to use their facilities it gives them credibility that a prominent religious organizations would find the SCV to be an organization to which it would be acceptable to lend their facilities. Additionally they gain some of the prestige of the religious organization and the prestige of an architecturally prominent church building for their religious services and hence organization.

I ask that your church not give support to the Sons of Confederate Veterans organization by allowing them to use your facilities for their activities.

                                                                                                Sincerely Yours,

                                                                                                Edward H. Sebesta

Letter to the Right Reverend Charles G. vonRosenberg, Episcopal Bishop of Charleston asking that his churches not host the Sons of Confederate Veterans

The following letter will be sent by certified mail with the mentioned documentation to Right Rev. Charles G. vonRosenberg as well as emailed to the director of communication for the Episcopal Church of South Carolina who has previously contacted me to tell me that Bishop Lawrence is the head of a break away diocese. I will also email the Episcopalians in South Carolina with this letter.

It seems that Bishop Lawrence of the breakaway Episcopalians controls most if not all of the historic churches in Charleston. However, if Bishop vonRosenberg would speak up it would apply a great deal of pressure on Bishop Lawrence not to host the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV).

                                                                                                1/13/2014

                                                                                                esebesta@tx.rr.com

Right Reverend Charles G. vonRosenberg

The Episcopal Church in South Carolina
P.O. Box 20485
Charleston, SC 29413

Dear Right Rev. vonRosenberg:

The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is planning on holding their 2014 convention in Charleston, SC and they will be looking for church facilities to hold their convention service. Enclosed is a table of churches which the SCV conventions have since 1990 to 2013 which is also online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm.

The SCV is an extremist and racist organization.Their official literature compares Abraham Lincoln to Hitler, and praises and promotes books that defend slavery and books that laud the Ku Klux Klan. Please find enclosed a dossier on the SCV with detailed footnotes of all quotes and assertions. A dossier about the SCV is also available online at http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html .

Additionally, I enclose a paper on Confederate Christian nationalism which is also online at

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/ConfederateChristianNationalism.pdf. It was published by the Canadian Review of American Studies at the University of Toronto. Even though the article is about the neo-Confederate League of the South, the religious ideas promoted by the SCV Chaplains Corps (http://www.scv.org/about/chaplainsChronicle.php) are largely the same or similar.

When a church allows the SCV to use their facilities it gives them credibility that a prominent religious organizations would find the SCV to be an organization to which it would be acceptable to lend their facilities. Additionally they gain some of the prestige of the religious organization and the prestige of an architecturally prominent church building for their religious services and hence organization.

Unfortunately it seems that from 1990 to the present the Episcopal church is one of the major enablers of the SCV. I enclose a bar graph of denominations hosting SCV national convention church services from 1990 to 2013. Also enclosed is a table of individual churches that hosted the SCV. Additionally enclosed is a map of churches which hosted either the SCV national convention or the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) convention services from 1990 to 2013. I also have it online along with the bargraphs at www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm. You can see that the Episcopal Church has hosted almost as many neo-Confederate national conventions as all the other denominations combined.

I ask that your church not give support to the Sons of Confederate Veterans organization by allowing them to use your facilities for their activities.

Holly Behre, director of communications for the Episcopal Church in South Carolina, has informed me that there is a division occurring in the church in South Carolina and in reading elsewhere I see that the Episcopal church property is being contested in the courts and that you may not have actual control over many of the churches the Episcopal church has in South Carolina. However, I ask that since you claim them as your property you can publically ask that they not be used to host neo-Confederate organization activities, in particular any activity of the 2014 SCV national convention.

                                                                                                Sincerely Yours,

                                                                                                Edward H. Sebesta 

Atlanta Chapter United Daughters of the Confederacy history with a full page ad for the Ku Klux Klan

During the 1920s a United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) chapter in Virginia passed a resolution condemning the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) of the 1920s. The condemnation was that the members of the 1920s KKK weren't worthy of the name of the KKK unlike the ex-Confederates who made up the KKK of Reconstruction. It wasn't a repudiation of the Reconstruction Era KKK or the racism of the KKK, it just felt that the UDC chapter didn't think that the members of the 1920s KKK were not worthy of being KKK.

This resolution has been used by some to say that the UDC in general rejected the KKK. It means no such thing. The resolution wasn't adopted by the Virginia Division of the UDC nor the general UDC organization. It remained the resolution of just on chapter in Virginia in the UDC.

The Atlanta Chapter of the UDC was a very prominent chapter of the UDC being the chapter of a major metropolis in the South. They published a pamphlet, "History Atlanta Chapter United Daughters of the Confederacy: 1897-1922," for their 25th anniversary. This was an important pamphlet for them.

In the pamphlet they had advertisements. One of those advertisements was a full page ad for the Ku Klux Klan. The Atlanta Chapter of the UDC didn't think the 1920s KKK was unworthy of being in a very important publication of theirs. This shows at least one very prominent chapter of the UDC hadn't rejected the 1920s KKK.

Not in the KKK ad that they are an organization for "native-born" white people. This is in keeping with the Anglo-Saxonist prejudice of the UDC and the KKK.

Jos. A. Banks chooses to support the Sons of Confederate Veterans

Earlier this summer I had a campaign to get corporations to drop supporting the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). It was successful.

The campaign is documented in an article at Black Commentator. You can read it at this free guest link:

http://www.blackcommentator2.com/527_cover_scv_donation_loss_sebesta_guest.html

They were one of the companies which I wrote asking them not to support the SCV.

Additionally, the affinity shopping host, We Care did drop the SCV. But it seems one company has decided to continue to support the SCV, Jos. A. Banks.

http://sonsofconfederateveterans.blogspot.com/2013/09/scv-members-offered-discounts.html

Also, in the Jan./Feb. 2014 Vol. 72 No. 1 issue of Confederate Veteran, the official publication of the SCV, on page 55 there is a notice titled, "Corporate card offered to SCV members for Jos. A. Banks."

Essentially the clothing from Jos. A. Banks constitutes a Confederate uniform. I plan to let this be known in other venues. PLEASE SHARE.

I sent the following email to them:

From:                                         Edward H.Sebesta (my email address)

Sent:                                           Saturday, January 11, 2014 10:52 AM

To:                                               'corporatecard@jos-a-bank.com'

Subject:                                     Jos. A. Banks supports a racist organization

Dear Jos. A. Banks:

“Black Commentator” has this article about the racism and extremism of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV).

The free guest pass for the article is online at:

http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html

With the publication of this article corporations generally dropped the SCV. You can read another article about this at:

http://www.blackcommentator2.com/527_cover_scv_donation_loss_sebesta_guest.html

Though Jos. A. Banks was written about the SCV and though We Care dropped the SCV it seems that Jos. A. Banks has decided, despite it being revealed that the SCV is extremist and racist, to continue to offer a corporate card to the SCV.

This makes Jos. A. Banks complicit with the agenda of the SCV and it brings into question any employment non-discrimination policies you might have.

Essentially, Jos. A. Banks clothing comprise a Confederate uniform.

Regards,

Edward H. Sebesta

Co-editor of “Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction,” Univ. of Texas Press, 2008 (http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/excerpts/exhagneo.html), and “The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: The ‘Great Truth’ About the ‘Lost Cause’” Univ. Press of Mississippi 2010. (http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1338).  Author of chapter about the Civil War and Reconstruction in the notorious Texas teaching standards in Politics and the History Curriculum: The Struggle over Standards in Texas and the Nation, published by Palgrave Macmillan.  http://www.keitherekson.com/books/politics-and-the-history-curriculum/

"Washington Post" alarmed by possible Scottish secession. UPDATE:

The Washington Post is alarmed by possible Scottish secession.

They are running this Op Ed piece on possible Scottish secession by George Robertson of Britain.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/scotland-secession-could-lead-to-re-balkanization-of-europe/2014/01/05/df076e94-578e-11e3-8304-caf30787c0a9_story.html


The Washington Post itself ran this editorial against Scottish secession titled, "Scottish independence is part of a worrying trend."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/scottish-independence-vote-is-part-of-worrying-trend/2012/10/30/4c320fb2-1896-11e2-a55c-39408fbe6a4b_story.html

The hypocrisy of this is somewhat hilarious.

In 1995 the Washington Post published this article by League of the South (LOS) Michael Hill and then LOS board member Thomas Fleming. The organization was then called the Southern League and was conceived by Thomas Fleming. UPDATE: I forgot to put this link in for the article.

http://dixienet.org/rights/2013/new_dixie_manifesto.php

This was a column about the Southern League by Washington Post columnist George Will.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1995-12-28/news/1995362074_1_lombard-league-league-meetings-southern-writers

Evidently indulging secessionists in the United States because you think at the time it was quixotic is okay, but finding out that what was for decades a seemingly quixotic secessionist movement in Scotland, that it is now on the verge of success is a horror.

The Scottish National Party for years polled single digits in elections.

That nations are imagined is an axiom of cultural geography. We are a particular nationality because we think we are. The neo-Confederates have figured this out. Thomas Fleming proposed the Southern League after observing in Italy the Lega Nord (Northern League) and the break up of the Soviet Union. The League of the South studied the nationalist movement that created Norway out of Sweden. The idea of Norway started out as a literature that created Norwegian distinctiveness. Once the Norwegians thought of themselves as Norwegians the nation was a foregone conclusion.

The Soviet Union is no more because at one point even its leaders no longer imagined themselves as Soviets.

The Washington Post is has been missing in action in reporting the neo-Confederates in the United States. The Post might consider that the United States is full of monuments honoring secessionists who made a violent attempt to break up the United States. The whole idea of secession isn't necessarily confined to Europe.

If Scotland secedes then secession will become a real possibility for many elsewhere. Great Britain has been a nation for quite some time. The Scotland and England have been one nation since 1707. That is over 300 years ago. There may be successful secessionist movements elsewhere, but if the Catalans do or don't secede it won't have too much impact on the American or the English speaking imagination. However, Scotland, England, and Great Britain occupy a special space in the American imagination.

If Scotland does secede what was unimaginable become imaginable.

"Disturbing wedding trend, getting married at a plantation." Salon article.

The following is a link to an article about plantation fantasies and weddings.

http://www.salon.com/2014/01/05/disturbing_wedding_trend_getting_married_at_a_plantation/

John Shelton Reed's seeming conspiracy against Martin Luther King

In 1995 I was indexing issues of Chronicles magazine, a publication of the Rockford Institute in Rockford, Illinois. The Rockford Institute had a campaign to discredit Martin Luther King. Up until about the mid-1990s John Shelton Reed contributed articles to Chronicles magazine where his homophobia was rather upfront and his racial attitudes were very very thinly veiled.

It turns out that sections of King's dissertations are copied from other works. At the time of the discovery in 1990 King was dead and so was the dissertation advisor.

What is interesting is that John Shelton Reed played a very key role in helping the Rockford Institute attack Martin Luther King. The articles in Chronicles also attacked Boston University and administrators there. So I wrote Peter Woods to find out more.

The following is an extract from the letter to me from Peter Wood, Provost of Boston University, July 19, 1995, which I have permission to use which shows the role of John Shelton Reed who is referred to as Dr. Reed.  Reed is an academic with a Ph.D.

Although you cannot rebut the substance of the allegations, there is probably something worth saying about the tactics and motives of Mr. Fleming, Dr. Reed, and their collaborators. When Dr. Reed wrote to Boston University President John Silber in May 1990 alleging that Dr. King committed plagiarism in his doctoral dissertation, he cited no source, offered no evidence, and made no specific claims. From Dr. Reed's letter, it was impossible to tell in in [if] Dr. King was being accused of plagiarizing two words, two paragraphs, or the whole dissertation, and he offered no clue as to whom Dr. King had allegedly plagiarized. 

 John Shelton Reed's essay in Chronicles some months latter repeated this technique of broadside allegation, so vague as to be uncheckable, but presented in a manner that suggested that it was a well-established fact. In retrospect, it appears that neither Dr. Reed nor Mr. Fleming had any real evidence, but Dr. Reed knew from his service at a National Endowment for the Humanities reviewer (where he apparently saw a confidential report from Dr. Carson about King's plagiarism) that there was something to hunt for. The trick was to avoid violating NEH confidentiality by dropping hints and hoping Boston University would make the discovery on its own. 

Perhaps there was more to it than that, but that is my best guess as to why Chronicles developed the story in such an odd manner before the article in The Wall Street Journal on November 9, 1990, in which clear and specific allegations and evidence were for the first time presented to the public. So much for tactics.

King is not honored because he was a great academic, but for his courage and vision in leading the civil rights movement. However, the neo-Confederates hoped to discredit King with this information. John Shelton Reed was working with them to do this.

It also shows the impact when neo-Confederates are placed in cultural institutions and bodies.

Kirkpatrick Sales is a neo-Confederate reactionary

Back in the 1960s and 70s I would come across elements in the counter culture movement which seemed to me reactionary or obscurantist. One example was the belief in astrology which irrational. There was a general uncritical reaction against all science and technology. This irrationality continues even today against vaccines. Some elements in the counter culture tended to apply stereotypes to people and things, in particular gender roles.

So it isn't surprising to me that Kirkpatrick Sale who came out of the 50s-60s counterculture has become a secessionist and reactionary who denounces the Emancipation Proclamation and has joined up with the neo-Confederates. 

This is his essay about breaking up the United States. 

http://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/01/kirkpatrick-sale/devolution-dissolution-secession-separatism/

For those who think living in a small nation is wonderful, have Ruritanian fantasies, they should consider the history of Central America after the United Provinces of Central America broke up. 

Kirkpatrick Sales attends the Sons of Confederate Veterans' Stephen D. Lee Institute conferences, writes for www.lewrockwell.com, an associate scholar of the Abbeville Institute. Racism doesn't seem to be a problem for Sales. 

I don't see Sales as having gone from left to right in his politics. His politics are likely to have always been a reflexive anti-establishmentarianism from the beginning with romantic fantasies of some type of pre-modern life.