Co-author and co-editor in "Newsweek" article about Confederate monument and southern politics

http://www.newsweek.com/how-fight-over-confederate-monuments-influencing-southern-politics-628093

The above is the link to the article. Euan's interview is as follows: 

Euan Hague, a professor at Depaul University who studies Confederate commemoration, said right-wing GOP politicians are tapping into the reaction caused by the removal of these monuments.

 “There is obviously a core of voters [for whom] this is still a resonant issue,” Hague said. “It’s surprising there is still a vehement devotion to Confederate monuments.”

The issue is boiling Google gets stupid

I am very busy on a project, but I notice that the issue of Confederate monuments is boiling.

In Tampa people are not taking the retention of Confederate monuments lying down.

http://saintpetersblog.com/rally-tampa-call-county-commission-revisit-confederate-monument-vote/


http://saintpetersblog.com/rally-tampa-call-county-commission-revisit-confederate-monument-vote/

http://www.cltampa.com/news-views/local-news/article/20866026/activists-call-on-hillsborough-county-commission-to-remove-controversial-confederate-monument-again

I see Google News has really screwed up their website so I can't find some articles I found on it yesterday.  In fact I am not finding articles on it which I found yesterday. It seems Google News has been dumbed down.

It seems that sorting for the last 24 hours, by date, and other useful tools have been removed. I suppose they had a focus group of whiners and they complained it was too complicated. Alternatively the Google News group made changes because they had to justify their existence.

Recently I found that the Google maps function tries to get you to take an alternative route if there is a traffic slow down. I warn you do not take the alternative route. Google navigator has no idea what it is doing when it selects alternative routes. Also, it wants toy to reject an alternative route while you are driving. It is a case where an organization can't leave well enough alone.

The Bing news engine still has functionality

St. Louis Confederate monument going down by Friday

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/confederate-monument-will-be-gone-from-forest-park-by-friday/article_f5ffd027-64fe-5483-8f71-871c517b4f9f.html

Evidently some city leaders regard Confederate monuments as something that needs to be taken care of immediately.

In the above link the removal of the Confederate monument in St. Louis is announced and it is stated that the monument will be out by Friday.

St. Louis city government gave it to a Civil War Museum in Missouri and they settled the lawsuit over the ownership of the monument.

One of the stipulations is that it won't be shown in St. Louis. On private land outside of St. Louis the monument loses most of its power.

So this makes for St. Louis, New Orleans, and Orlando getting rid of their Confederate monuments.

So Baltimore is going to be at least 4th.

Crazed racist speech made at the Museum of the Confederay

https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/is-the-confederacy-obsolete/

The above is a link to an article published in the Southern Partisan in 1994. It is a crazed racist speech made by Ludwell H. Johnson at the Museum of the Confederacy (MOC) in November 1993 upon being named a Museum Scholar of the MOC.

It was published in Southern Partisan, 3rd Quarter 1994, pages 21-26.

It is now published online by the Abbeville Institute accessible in the above link.

For copyright reasons I could not quote it at length in this article about the MOC, link below.

http://www.blackcommentator.com/441/441_museum_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html

As I explain in the Black Commentator article Ludwell Johnson's neo-Confederate views were no secret.

Unfortunately the MOC as part of the American Civil War Museum will be part of the decision how to contextualize the Confederate monuments on Richmond's Monument Ave. Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney announced that there will be a commission because the monuments have a "false narrative."

http://www.richmond.com/news/local/city-of-richmond/mayor-stoney-richmond-s-confederate-monuments-can-stay-but-whole/article_80e564f7-69f3-5897-a579-5799a9293b68.html

I see Stoney  is employing all the buzz words, like diversity.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/richmond-mayor-keep-confederate-statues-but-add-context/2017/06/22/cc30bb72-577b-11e7-840b-512026319da7_story.html?utm_term=.8ed32cf5dcad

The above post article states:

"He said he's personally insulted by the monuments and wishes they had never been built."

So insulted he doesn't want them removed evidently.

The Virginia Flagger's protests against Stoney are artfully being used to make Stoney look like he is some champion against neo-Confederates which he obviously isn't.

I think we see the tactics that will be used to retain Confederate monuments.

"How soon will the alt-right win an election?" article in "Salon"

http://www.salon.com/2017/06/23/how-soon-will-the-alt-right-win-an-election-neo-confederate-corey-stewart-came-shockingly-close-in-virginia/

The above is a link to an article by Matthew Sheffield in Salon, an online publication.

I commented on Stewart's performance in the Virginia governor's election in this blog.

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2017/06/corey-stewart-loses-by-small-margin-in.html

It is always hard to know if a certain election is the crest of a trend with the trend diminishing in the future or whether it is a sign of things to come.

Stewart did very well for a person for a person who was greatly outspent and was entirely opposed by the Republican Party establishment.

I have been trying to alert the public about the neo-Confederates since the early 1990s and I am glad that someone is finally getting concerned.

I think that Corey Stewart with his defenses of Confederate monuments has made the connection between Confederate monuments and the Alt-right clear. Sheffield with his article alerting the public about Stewart the public will realize that Confederate monuments support the Alt-right.

Popular culture very hostile to the Confederacy, Gizmodo article mocks the Confederacy

It used to be some journalist would criticize the Confederacy or the Confederate flag and neo-Confederates would flood the journalist with emails that were really hostile and sometimes email boxes would over flow. (That is something that could happen in the past.)

Now journalists don't worry about some Confederate email brigade. There are probably too many journals to attack with email floods and the journalists would report on them.

However, this article really goes after the Confederacy.

http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/confederate-group-fights-for-possession-of-time-capsule-1796323505

The title is "Confederate Group Fights For Possession of Time Capsule Found in Monument to Losers."

In the article Robert E. Lee is called a traitor. A member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is called a "loser." The author refers to the UDC's "racist ancestors."

Gizmodo is an extremely popular website for those interested in science fiction (sifi), technology, and comic books and graphic novels.

Popular youth culture, sci fi culture, and technology enthusiasts are very much against the Confederacy.

Perhaps because the STEM world (ScienceTechnologyEngineeringMathematics) has always been multinational, muticultural and of deep antiquity.

The fact that the rejection of neo-Confederacy is so complete, and so emphatic means the Confederacy is being rejected by American culture.

Now, Now Memphians, Kevin Levin wouldn't approve of this

http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/35706804/memphians-plan-meeting-for-confederate-statue-removal

Activists in Memphis state, "If you don't take those statues down then we will."

Oh my goodness, loud voices, what would Kevin Levin think! This blog posting gives a good idea of what he would think.

http://cwmemory.com/2015/12/14/new-orleans-should-look-to-richmond/

In this blog posting Levin lectures New Orleans:

"The city of New Orleans is offering the rest of the country a lesson on how not to deal with Confederate iconography in public spaces."

The blog posting link is to an article where there was "name calling, shouts, and acrimony." Oh heavens, bring me my smelling salts!

Levin thinks New Orleans should follow the example of Richmond in the above post. I might point out that New Orleans is Confederate monument free whereas Richmond is infested with them.

Now in Memphis they are being loud and there might be, dare I say it, name calling and shouts. Oh my!

I am kidding, I think shouting really helps get the leadership focused on doing something, otherwise you end up being another Baltimore.

I have completed a 10,000 word essay on Kevin Levin. He really has quite a track record. I have first started sharing it with all the people to whom he has directed personal attacks. That is keeping me somewhat busy.

I recommend this article. It is in the Grio and is by David A. Love.

http://thegrio.com/2017/05/26/hundreds-of-confederate-statues-still-standing/

Another article on the Memphis effort. I have contacted the group on Facebook.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/local/the-901/2017/06/21/9-01-memphians-gather-launch-movement-against-confederate-monuments/415369001/

Orlando, Florida monument moved.

I thought I should take notice of this removal. They are the 2nd city after New Orleans. It seems St. Louis is delayed.

What is happening in Baltimore? Maybe they are working to be the 37th city to remove their Confederate monuments or maybe the 61st city after Bug Tussle Junction.

These are some links to articles.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-lake-eola-confederate-statue-moved-20170619-story.html

http://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2017/06/20/orlandos-confederate-statue-removed-from-lake-eola

At the new location it will be contextualized.

I think the chamber of commerce groups are thinking that Confederate monuments are bad for business and mayors where there isn't a lot of local support for Confederate monuments are beginning to act. Better to act now with little opposition, then let it fester as an issue.

Each city that removes a monument further legitimizes this as a move. Also, the Sons of Confederate Veterans idea of calling a boycott soon because worthless as more and more cities remove monuments. And as more cities remove monuments, the residents of the cities where Confederate monuments remain are going to ask what is wrong with their leadership.

Richard T. Hines of the "Southern Partisan" promoted in the "Southern Partisan" Plinio Correa de Oliveira's book

The title of this article is "This Secret Catholic Exorcist Cult in Brazil is Making a Deal with the Devil."

http://www.thedailybeast.com/this-secret-catholic-exorcist-cult-in-brazil-is-making-a-deal-with-the-devil

It is about the follows of Plinio Correa de Oliveira, a far right reactionary, who founded the group, Tradition, Family and Property Association, known as TFP.

http://www.tfp.org/

He was the author of a book promoting the idea that societies needed aristocracies who should be the leaders of society. His book was "Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites in the Allocutions of Pius XII." The following is the link for the book.

http://www.tfp.org/nobility/    The page should be visited to observe reactionary pre-modern thinking.

The book was advertised in the Southern Partisan, Vol. 13, 3rd Quarter, inside cover. What is interesting it is endorsed by Richard T. Hines, who is listed as the Chairman of the Confederate Memorial Committee of the District of Columbia.  The book is promoted as "A Theme Illuminating American Social History." There is a section on antebellum slave holders.

Also, Ed Meese, former Attorney General and Counselor to President Reagan did a recommendation for the book and Morton Blackwell the head of the Leadership Institute wrote a foreword for the book.
http://www.nobility.org/2010/11/01/foreword-by-morton-c-blackwell/

On the side is a list of "Links of Interest." One of the links is the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Most of the links are to various hereditary societies of people who think they are special because they are descended from various individuals in the past. There is the Order of the First Families of Maine and The Order of the First Families of Mississippi. I guess this helps some people to feel they are special. Of course hereditary societies are inherently anti-democratic.

Another Confederate monument coming down! Orlando, Florida prepares to take down Confederate monument

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-lake-eola-confederate-statue-move-begins-20170615-story.html

Mayor Buddy Dyer is going to have the statue removed from Lake Eola Park to Greenwood Cemetery.

This will make Baltimore, if they every get their Confederate monuments removed, at least 4th major city to remove their Confederate monuments after New Orleans, St. Louis, and Orlando.

Business community view of Confederate Monuments

This is a link to a Bloomberg article, "Alabama Won't Quit the Confederacy."

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-06-15/alabama-won-t-quit-the-confederacy

The subtitle is, "A state law preservers old monuments, the trace elements of treason and tyranny."

The article explains the law's workings. It is very critical of the state. These are some quotes.

Alabama markets its racial crucible, but still can't bear to get beyond it. In 2004 Lee Warner, then executive director of the Alabama Historical Commission, resigned from the commission, complaining that other members were less than eager to memorialize the civil-rights struggle.

And:

Meantime, black children continue to move through abysmally underachieving high schools named for Davis and Lee. Like Mississippi, Alabama continues to observe a combined state holiday jointly honoring King and Lee, a slave owner who fought to maintain totalitarian tyranny over black people. It's an occasion both to begrudge King's achievements, and to thwart them.

If white supremacy in America refuses to die, it's in part because too many white politicians insist on filling its decaying lungs with breath. The Memorial Preservation Act is only the latest attempt to resuscitate the corpse.

There are many articles critical of Confederate monuments and this article is a good article doing that. What makes it very significant is that it is in a prominent business publication and it sends a message to the business community that Alabama is retrograde on Civil Rights. Not a good place to locate a facility which will require hiring professionals with various specialized skills.

The Nation has an article about the farce of Republican legislators using various pretexts to keep Confederate monuments. https://www.thenation.com/article/republican-legislators-want-you-to-think-confederate-monuments-arent-political/

The Bloomberg article doesn't pull punches. This is the comment of the author.

That the law's proponents were too cowardly to admit what they were doing -- they just love old stuff -- might be considered incremental progress. But as Landrieu acknowledged, there is no decent way to compromise with the Confederacy. The statues and school names, trace elements of tyranny and treason, must go.

Across the political spectrum, excluding right-wing cranky, there is support for Confederate monuments to go.

It is my intention of keeping a registrar of who votes for the retention of Confederate monuments. If the Republican Party is the party of the Confederacy they should know that it will be documented and it is and it will be their public image.

Corey Stewart loses by a small margin in Virginia

Corey Stewart lost the Virginia Republican Republican primary by a very small margin. But he lost.

One of his issues he campaigned on was the retention of Confederate monuments which he loudly supported. He also strongly identified with Donald Trump in his campaign.

Here are some articles.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/confederate-statue-supporter-nearly-upsets-in-virginia-governor-race


https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/06/a-trump-loving-confederate-sympathizer-nearly-pulled-off-a-huge-upset-in-virginia/

This is a mixed outcome in some ways. The fact that Stewart was defeated is good since he was a supporter of honoring the Confederacy and keeping Confederate monuments. Had he been successful in the primary we could expect other Republicans in Virginia and elsewhere to be stronger supporters of honoring the Confederacy.

It is bad since Stewart didn't have the Republican establishment support, not as much money as the establishment candidate, and by emphasizing the Confederacy nearly won the primary. By being a loud supporter of the Confederacy Stewart got national attention and was able to counter the resources and support of the establishment Republican candidate.

Republicans in Virginia and elsewhere will note this. They may not want to go on record as being big supporters of the Confederacy, but they won't want to be known as opponents either.

Had Stewart been defeated by a large margin, the prospects of the Confederacy in the South would have been greatly diminished.

So Corey's defeat is a defeat for the supporters of the Confederacy, but it isn't much of a victory of the Confederacy either. It is a step down the road which may prove to be a long road.

"Why Are Eight Confederate Icons Still Proudly Displayed In The U.S. Capitol?"

The link to the Village Voice article is:

https://www.villagevoice.com/2017/06/13/why-are-eight-confederate-icons-still-proudly-displayed-in-the-u-s-capitol/#CivilWarMemory

I think attention is going to turn to Washington, DC and Confederate statues and monuments on federal grounds.

Arlington National Cemetery Confederate monument isn't mentioned.  I think Donald Trump sent a wreath to the monument this year. I wasn't able to find news reporting one way or the other.

We have a petition asking Trump not to send a wreath to the monument and you can sign here.
https://www.change.org/p/edward-h-sebesta-ask-president-trump-not-to-send-a-wreath-to-the-arlington-confederate-monument

Allison Wicks, "D Magazine" and the opposition to removing Confederate monuments.

American Conservative has published another article defending Confederate monuments by Quentin B. Fairchild.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/confederate-history-is-american-history/

Intellectually it is just so much thrashing but represents the type of arguments we will face.

I think that what is important is to know which players are behind it.

American Conservative is published by the American Ideas Institute.  The masthead for the magazine and the board of directors for the American Ideas Institute are at this web page.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/about-us/

You will see that Allison Wicks is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and the publisher of D Magazine.

This is the 2nd article American Conservative has published defending Confederate statues.

This is an earlier blog in the Robert E. Lee Park blog on a previous article in American Conservative defending Confederate monuments by Rod Dreher.

http://roberteleepark.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-local-dallas-opposition.html#.WT50ymjyuiM

I am not surprised that American Conservative is taking the lead to defend Confederate monuments. In their pages I have found many persons who contributed to Southern Partisan or Chronicles or otherwise are involved in neo-Confederate groups.

Reactionary Dallas appears to be mobilizing to defend Confederate monuments.

Garrett Epps points out in "The Atlantic" that the fight over monuments is not a fight over the past but a fight over the future.

Garrett Epps, Richmond native, has an article in The Atlantic titled, "The True History of the South Is Not Being Erases: Taking down Confederate monuments helps confront the past, no obscure it." 

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/the-true-history-of-the-south-is-not-being-erased/529818/

The article concludes

This is not a fight over history; it is a fight over the future. The neo-Confederate faith is not a heritage; it is a political program. And the proper lesson of Southern history is that this radical message—unapologetic, uncompromising, violent white supremacy—lurks in the American bloodstream like a virus, re-emerging at times when the national immune system is weak.

We may be living through an outbreak.

To survive and prosper, the South, and the nation, must renounce this pernicious creed and disarm its symbols. The bronze and marble men do no honor to the region’s true parents; they do, however, dishonor its children.

One way or another, they must yield their unearned pride of place.

For those who know my views I have always said it was a fight over the future. I have always said that it is a political program of white supremacy, and that it poisons our future.

"20-minute drive from one of the most vile Confederate monuments in the great state of Tennessee"

From an article about a Canadian hockey player of Caribbean origins in a major Canadian paper is this statement:

“I never look at myself as a black player,” Subban told ESPN recently, a sentiment he has expressed in the past. “I think of myself as a hockey player that wants to be the best player in the league. I know I’m black. Everyone knows I’m black. But I don’t want to be defined as a black hockey player.” 

It is an admirable wish. What makes it especially compelling, in the Nashville context, is that here is Subban, a Canadian, a child of Caribbean immigrants from a diverse city (Toronto) bedazzling Predators fans and potentially winning a Stanley Cup in an arena that is about a 20-minute drive from one of the most vile Confederate monuments in the great state of Tennessee.

 The title of the article is, "P.K. Subban faces off against the politics of the Old South still on display in Tennessee." This is the link to the article.

http://news.nationalpost.com/sports/nhl/p-k-subban-faces-off-against-the-politics-of-the-old-south-still-on-display-in-tennessee

Subban plays for the Nashville Predators hockey team.

The story has the picture of Jack Kershaw's sculpture of Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest. It is made of resin and as the article says, "is garishly cartoonish." The article doesn't mention it, but Jack Kershaw was a member of the League of the South. Kershaw was also involved in the opposition to civil rights in the mid-20th century.

In the article Subban actually doesn't say anything about monuments, the Confederacy, or Confederate monuments or Nathan Bedford Forrest.

What is interesting is that a major Canadian paper decided that the story line of their article would be, "Our black Canadian hero Subban is succeeding in America, in Tennessee, in defiance of this place where there are Confederate monuments, and pro-Confederate crazies."

Though Subban isn't quoted saying anything about the Confederacy or monuments to it, it is just assumed that it is a story that he is in such a place where they have Confederate monuments and that is the big story.

Note that the story stresses that Subban is from Toronto, "a diverse city" in contrast to Nashville which, as the article proceeds to explain, is in the center of Confederate crazy-land.

I am sure civic leaders in Nashville will not appreciate that they are seen as Confederate crazy-land. This is not good for business, not good for attacting talented individuals and businesses, not good for real estate values.

This is going to be a factor getting Confederate monuments taken down in America. Cities are not going to want to be seen as Confederate crazy lands.

As the monuments come down in some cities in the South those that still have them will be seen as Confederate crazy-lands.

What is next after Confederate monuments come down

As Confederate monuments come tumbling down, the question arises,  "what next?"

I think the situation has changed dramatically in the last month.

One particularly interesting development is that neo-Confederates groups will have no ability to defend Confederate statues in any significant city. The defense of the Confederacy is no defense of Confederate monuments and being associated with a neo-Confederate group instantly destroys credibility.

Instead there are arguments about preserving history or preserving African American history or some other convoluted argument. No one, is going to argue that the monuments should remain because the Confederacy was a great effort or a Confederate leader was some type of hero. The idea that the Confederacy is "Southern heritage" will be meet with derision.

Even some of the simpler arguments in defending Confederate monuments are subject to ridicule. The title of this article is, "Confederate monument supporters say the darnedest things."

http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2017/05/confederate_monument_removal.html

So you have more involved arguments that monuments to white supremacy need to be kept to fight white supremacy. Such as this article in the New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/opinion/the-meaning-of-our-confederate-monuments.html?_r=0

Even this got ridiculed by Sarah Jones of the New Republic. https://newrepublic.com/minutes/142710/yes-tear-confederate-monuments

So now it is arguments like these:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/05/24/im-a-progressive-mayor-heres-why-i-voted-no-on-removing-my-citys-confederate-statue/?utm_term=.c6b02b2649d0

or this one.

http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2017/05/26/why-wiping-out-monuments-confederacy-may-not-path-more-inclusive-society/ideas/nexus/#.WSieEirn_Ag.facebook

I don't think anyone is agreeing with these arguments unless they are desperately searching for some rationalization to keep Confederate monuments.

I think after a few more cities get rid of their Confederate monuments the number of people who want to have a defense or rationalization for keeping Confederate monuments on their resume' will be very few and confined to cranky right wing magazines.

The removal of the monuments will have a tremendous effect that I don't think people really appreciate.

Every Confederate monument whispers, "Civil rights maybe the slogan of the day, but white supremacy is for the ages."  Monuments speak literally with monumental authority. The persons who put them up had the resources to do so and authority to get them put in prominent municipal spaces and thus securing the endorsement of the municipality whether country or city.

As Confederate monuments and place names disappear, as governmental bodies drop the use of Confederate symbols the Confederacy will be the private passion of individuals which will increasingly be seen as aberrant.

In such an environment the involvement of neo-Confederate groups such as the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy in the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) will be unacceptable.

Confederate awards at U.S. military academies will be questioned.

American history text books which indulge neo-Confederates and the Lost Cause will be unacceptable.

Donald Trump won't want to send a wreath to the Arlington Confederate monument.

Churches will stop hosting neo-Confederate functions unless they are fringe. Other organizations will distance themselves from neo-Confederates.

And as neo-Confederates are rejected by some, their acceptance by others will seem less acceptable.

I think the textbooks ought to be of concern. When reading "The American Pageant" by Lizabeth Cohen of Harvard Univ. and David M. Kennedy of Stanford Univ. you realize why  it has taken so long to get rid of Confederate monuments. I think history textbooks like these are really  pernicious in their effects.

I think it should be the next area to push after the Confederate monuments come down and I think that when the Confederate monuments come down these textbooks will be much more vulnerable.

I think after the monuments come down it won't take too long to get the U.S. military and the JROTC programs to drop the Confederacy. The churches are already dropping the Confederacy after my letter writing campaign. I have some more letters to write, but I think no neo-Confederate group is going to get a major mainstream denomination to allow them the use of their facilities.

So I think the next front will be American history textbooks which indulge the Confederacy and fans of the Confederacy.

"Anti-Confederate monument fever spreads North, East, even West: Opinion" from "New Orleans Times-Picayune"

http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2017/06/monuments_st_louis_arizona.html

The above is the link to the article.

It seems that the dam has broken. With New Orleans demonstrating that it can be done, citizens of other cities ask why their city still has Confederate monuments. It is a question that city leaders don't want to answer and would much rather take down the Confederate monuments.

Now a monument in St. Louis is coming down.

http://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2017/06/08/st-louis-gives-confederate-monument-a-haircut-plans-full-removal

In this article they are talking about changing the name of Confederate Drive and changing it to Scott Joplin Drive in honor of the famous ragtime music composer.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/hours-after-workers-remove-top-of-confederate-memorial-in-forest/article_643d7966-69de-5ee8-9595-09685c5b4fd4.html

As each city gets rid of its Confederate monuments the pressure will intensify on the other cities. Referring to a state law forbidding the removal of a Confederate monument won't do much good either. Cities can send scathing denunciations to state legislatures. There can be marches on the capital. There can be contextualization that is scathing also. I don't think the Republican Party wants to be the party of the Confederacy in the news day after day.

And many Confederate monuments are in cities where the Republican Party hasn't passed laws protecting them.

Once Confederate monuments come down there are other things to be attended to. The U.S. Military needs to stop working with neo-Confederate groups including ROTC. Some of our school textbooks are Lost Causes. Churches need to stop hosting neo-Confederate groups.

As for Baltimore it will be amusing to see if it is the 3rd, 4th, ... 17th city to get rid of its Confederate monuments. As its rank order increase, as the possible cardinal number begins to climb, I think residences of Baltimore will begin to realize the reality of their city.

Some Scott Joplin. Click on images to see the entire video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMAtL7n_-rc

Maybe Richmond won't follow the Richmond example

This was published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch today or yesterday.

http://www.richmond.com/opinion/your-opinion/letters-to-the-editor/cod-june-monuments-whitewash-history/article_c5249b40-45f3-5be8-982d-433395236b29.html

The title is "Monuments whitewash history," by John Winn III.

The letter to the editor is given the award "Correspondent of the Day," with a fountain pen drawing. He is listed as a resident of Richmond by the Times-Dispatch. So Levin can't ask Winn his question, "Have you ever been to Richmond?" which he asked Sarah Jones when she proposed taking down the Confederate statues. https://twitter.com/KevinLevin/status/864241228333940737

A single letter, even given the Correspondent of the Day designation, won't by itself bring down the monuments. It will be a voice to bring the Confederate monuments down and that is important.

However, the letter being given the designation Correspondent of the Day may signify that the Richmond Times-Dispatch is shifting on the monuments. They could have just published the letter, but instead decided to give it a special designation. Perhaps they want to be able to position themselves as neutrals going into what they see as an upcoming intensified struggle over the Confederate monuments.

I am sure that those involved in Richmond politics, civic affairs, cultural institutions will note that this letter was given a special designation by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

I  doubt that the elites of Richmond wanted Richmond singled out as Confederate monument city before the nation. To be set up as the opposite of New Orleans.  To be seen as a new capitol of Confederate monuments as they tumble elsewhere across the nation.Yet, Levin made Richmond the capitol of Confederate monument retention in this article.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-richmond-has-gotten-right-about-interpreting-its-confederate-history-180963354/

I doubt African American Mayor Dwight C. Jones wanted to be set up as the opposite of New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.

The Virginia Defenders are quite aware of Levin's Smithsonian article. They took pains to explain to me that they wanted the monuments down. I am sure that Jones political opponents in the African American community have taken note of this article.

I have always said that pressing on the issue of Confederate symbols, place names, and monuments would be a lens to see who people really are.

The Smithsonian magazine article really pulled away the curtain and exposed Richmond's soul.

This maybe the first visible fracture in the defenses of the capitol of the Confederate monuments.


For those in Richmond who want to get their Confederate monuments taken down I recommend this article.

http://thegrio.com/2017/05/26/hundreds-of-confederate-statues-still-standing/#oQWeYWxF2IXyGtRl.01

African American leadership in Arizona campaigning against Confederate monuments there

These are some of the articles.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2017/06/05/black-leaders-arizonas-confederate-monuments-racial-hatred/371171001/

Evidently Arizona doesn't want to follow Richmond's example and instead follow New Orleans's.

There has been some who think that New Orleans is a bad example and Richmond is a good example because Richmond hasn't taken down their Confederate monuments.

This is a blog posting of a person who has advocated that Confederate monuments be retained.
http://cwmemory.com/2015/12/14/new-orleans-should-look-to-richmond/

If the above posting is deleted, the website is archived on www.archive.org.

This article discusses the new type of opposition to Confederate monument removal.
http://thegrio.com/2017/05/26/hundreds-of-confederate-statues-still-standing/#oQWeYWxF2IXyGtRl.01

This article has the history of the local monuments.
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona-confederate-monuments-state-capitol-greenwood-cemetery-southern-arizona-veterans-cemetery-9392610

As monuments come down in one location the pressure will intensify  in other locations.

Looks like St. Louis is going to follow the example of New Orleans and not Richmond

Looks like St. Louis is going to follow the example of New Orleans and not Richmond.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/more-barricades-go-up-around-confederate-memorial-as-city-moves/article_7274de73-f2e3-5635-a3ad-6edd10cf0138.html

With the monuments gone in New Orleans, communities are looking to their leadership and asking why their monuments haven't been removed.

The usual "blah blah blah" given as to why  the Confederate monument hasn't been removed isn't being accepted. People understand that where there is a will there is a way.

After St. Louis removes their Confederate monument other towns will be asking why their city hasn't removed their Confederate monuments. As each city removes their Confederate monument it will intensive the pressure to remove Confederate monuments in other cities. Who knows, maybe even Baltimore will find themselves removing a Confederate monument, maybe even two.

Other links about St. Louis removing the Confederate monument.

http://fox2now.com/2017/06/07/st-louis-begins-process-to-remove-confederate-monument-from-forest-park/

http://www.kmov.com/story/35612380/fencing-expanded-around-st-louis-confederate-monument

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2017/06/07/city-of-st-louis-prepares-for-confederate-monument-take-down/

For every city where activists are working to get rid of Confederate monuments I recommend this article which mentions the new type of opposition they are likely to face.

http://thegrio.com/2017/05/26/hundreds-of-confederate-statues-still-standing/#oQWeYWxF2IXyGtRl.01

The stereotype of what a white nationalist is and how they exploit it. "Baffler" magazine article

This is the link to an article, "White Nationalism's New Clothes," at the Baffler.

https://thebaffler.com/this-american-carnage/white-nationalisms-new-clothes-gais

I think people are beginning to realize that not all white nationalists wear odd clothes or are marginal individuals.

It will be a good development when people realize this since they will begin to see the white nationalists that previously they didn't.