Statues come tumbling down. Updated. More monuments. Final updatte

FINAL UPDATE: So many Confederate monuments, place names and other tthings are disappearing or being toppled or otherise gotten rid of ttthat tthere is no way I can keep up with it. I am spending the whole day collecting documentation for my archives on stuff being taken down and will be working into this evening to get everything filed away.

There might have been a Confederate statue  that  wasn't spray painted, perhaps  in some remote area, but it seems that most got a lot of spray paint.

Some statues have come down.

Here the United Daughters of the Confederacy removed this statue which was at a prominent public place.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/02/us/confederate-statue-alexandria-trnd/index.html

They might put it up on private property, but it doesn't have any real power as a private statue as opposed to a statue on public property. When it is on public property it is basically endorsed by the government. On private property it can still do work as a private shrine, so it isn't completely powerless.

On private property the cost of the maintainancce and keeping the statue  falls on private individuals. This isn't just the statue itself and the pedestal. A path to the statue and gates and lawns and bushes have to be maintained. Trash has to be picked up. Governments with Confederate statues expend money on them in doing these functions.

It does happen that private groups raise funds for statues on public property such as restoration, but the fact that the statue  is on public property gives the statue status making it easier to raise funds.

The neo-Confederates are aging and how much  money they will have to maintain statues in the future.

In Birmingham, Alabama another statue wass removed last night or the night before.

https://www.al.com/news/2020/06/watch-live-birmingham-taking-down-confederate-monument.html

The State of Alabama is stating they will sue Birmingham. It will be interesting how this works out.

https://www.wvtm13.com/article/alabama-attorney-general-files-lawsuit-against-city-of-birmingham-after-removal-of-confederate-monument/32746959

The Republican Party will be identified with the Confederacy.

Another story about both statues.

https://apnews.com/810a6cb13ce6cdbde5b534661c5f2da6

I think that if the Democrats get elected, they won't be giving a free pass to Confederate monuments and symbols.

Recently the New York Times had an article about military bases named after Confederates.

They really couldn't care less up until 2015. Now they want the names changed. The centrist Democrats and neoliberals have decided that being anti-Confederate is part of a winning strategy.

Updated 6/3/2020

Athens, Georgia

https://www.redandblack.com/athensnews/mayor-orders-county-to-look-into-removing-confederate-monument-downtown-commissioners-speak-on-sunday-protest/article_1db335a0-a5a9-11ea-845e-bf003e49571c.html

Bentonville, Arkansas

https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2020/jun/01/confederate-monument-bentonville-square-be-moved/

Birmingham, Alabama

https://www.today.com/video/birmingham-mayor-discusses-decision-to-remove-confederate-monument-84290629554

Robert E. Lee statue taken down at Lee High School in Montgomery Alabama.

https://www.wsfa.com/2020/06/01/robert-e-lee-statue-taken-down-lee-high-school

Richmond, Virginia

https://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/northam-to-order-removal-of-richmonds-robert-e-lee-statue/article_311a23b3-fb8c-5d87-a0cb-ca564241b29a.html

New Orleans and Savannah alerted about forthcoming Sons of Confederate Veterans national convention.

So far what we know about the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) forthcoming activities is this.

2020 National Convention in St. Augustin, Florida. Activists there are very aware of this forthcoming event.

https://scv2020reunion.com/    They have pulled the original artwork, but it is in the Internet archive.

https://web.archive.org/web/20190228212854/https://scv2020reunion.com/

2021 National Convention in Metairie, Louisiana. It is a suburbe adjacent to New Orleans. I let them know about his upcoming event. Groups there in the New Orleans area have been notified.

https://www.scv-bcamp130.org/2021-national-scv-reunion

The 2022 National Convention appears to be in Savannah,Georgia, but not much is known about it.  This is the website of the local SCV camp.  http://www.scvsavannah.com/   This hasn't been confirmed, but I did notify local groups to be on the alert.

There is a Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/960467037673144/  in which there is information about the SCV and their activities and ideology and information about upcoming activities and what different groups have done.

We are going to also put in the Facebook group notifications about other neo-Confederate group conventions and meetings.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy convention is scheduled in Richmond, VA, Nov. 5-9, 2020. Typically they hold their convention in Richmond every other year. So the 2022 convention is likely to be in Richmond in November. However, will all the change, any thing might happen. As the climate cools towards the Confederacy neo-Confederate groups are becoming more secretive about their activities.

Again, this is simply to express counter opinions an in no way will I support actions that are illegal.

"People Magazine" reports on Republican Georgia state rep. who warns African Americans State Rep. that she could go missing.

The article was in various news outlets, but now it is on the People magazine website.

http://people.com/politics/white-lawmaker-warns-black-former-colleague-confederate-statue-removal/

The Republican lawmaker, Jason Spencer, seems to be trying to put a spin on this.

People is a magazine of popular culture and reaches millions who otherwise don't follow the news.

The incident has also made Essence, a publication for millions of African American women.

http://www.essence.com/news/white-gop-rep-black-attorney-go-missing-confederate-statues

It made Vice which has a broad following among young people.

https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/d33e77/gop-rep-warns-black-woman-shell-go-missing-for-confederate-statue-views

It is on many, many news websites for major media.

I think the nation is realizing what lies below the surface of Confederate "heritage." It is white rage.

I always thought that pressing this issue would surface who was who.

Neo-Confederate culture of violence

I have always said that raising the issue of the Lost Cause would surface who people really are.

http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2017/08/29/georgia-republican-warns-democrat-she-could-go-missing-over-criticism-of-civil-war-monuments/

On Facebook a Republican Georgia State Rep. Jason Spencer warns Georgia State Rep. LaDawn Jones that she might go missing if she continues to criticize Confederate monument.

This is what Confederate "heritage" is about.

Burn Confederate flags on memorial day, so many to burn also

I will be burning Confederate flags on memorial day and putting it on Youtube. I will be burning and doing periscope broadcasting also.

I invite other people to burn and record it and put it on Youtube or facebook.

A lot of people know about the Confederate battle flag, but there are a fair number of other flags that you can burn and let people know about. You can burn over a dozen flags with Confederate origins.

I include a link so you can download, print and burn..

1. Bonnie Blue flag.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bonnie_Blue_flag_of_the_Confederate_States_of_America.svg

This flag, and when you see it don't let them tell you it is the flag of Somalia, which is similar, is a Confederate flag. I have seen it flow when I was walking off the campus of a university in the South. It was being flown by  a fraternity which has a reputation. They were standing in the front of the house and you could sort of tell from their expressions they thought they were pulling off something. Flying a Confederate flag but no one knew it.

2. 1st, 2nd and 3rd national flags of the Confederacy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_the_Confederate_States_of_America

The 1st national Confederate flag is also popular for people and institutions to fly when they want to fly a Confederate flag and avoid a reaction. Evidently the idea that flying one flag in support of a nation dedicated to the purpose to preserve white supremacy and slavery is okay if the general public doesn't recognize it. They are not concerned that Civil War buffs recognize it because they generally  don't care.

3. The Van Dorn battle flag, Flag of the First Corps Army of Tennessee, Flag of the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles, J.P. Gills Flag, Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, also called the Robert E. Lee Headquarters Flag."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_the_Confederate_States_of_America

4. Mississippi state flag. Sort of obvious.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Mississippi

5. This is the Confederate flag of Georgia and the state flag of Georgia.
Confederate flag of Georgia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_the_Confederate_States_of_America
State flag of Georgia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Georgia_(U.S._state)
You can see that it still incorporates an element of a Confederate flag.

The state flag of Georgia got ride of the obvious Confederate battle flag symbol but still incorporates the Confederacy.

6. The Confederate flag of South Carolina.
South Carolina Confederate flags. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_the_Confederate_States_of_America

Current flag of South Carolina. Adopted in Jan. 28, 1861.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_South_Carolina

7. The flag of the Citadel.
Civil War flag of the Citadel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_South_Carolina

Also the Big Red flag of the Citadel today. Somewhat a resemblance since it is an intentional replica.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Big_Red_Flag.jpg

8. First Confederate Navy Jack
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jack_of_the_CSA_Navy_1861_1863.svg

9. First Confederate Navy Ensign
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_Confederate_States_of_America_(March_1861_%E2%80%93_May_1861).svg

10. The state flag of Virginia was adopted when it was a Confederate state.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_Confederate_States_of_America_(March_1861_%E2%80%93_May_1861).svg

You will note that the slogan on the flag is also the slogan of John Wilkes Booth who stated it when he shot Abraham Lincoln.

11. State flag of Arkansas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Arkansas

12. State flag of Alabama
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Alabama

They are passing legislation to protect Confederate monuments so burn two of them.

13. State flag of North Carolina
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_North_Carolina


If you were surprised that your state was a Confederate flag or containing Confederate elements a burning of the flag will help educate the public.

David Poythress, Georgia politician who denounced Republican talk of secession in 2009 has passed away.

This is the link to the article. .

http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2017/01/16/secession-and-david-poythress-finest-moment/

The article has Poythress video denouncing this secession talk. You can also see it here at YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHtS9ZEhaKw

Click on the video to see it all.

More Confederacy in the Trump White House Dept. Former Gov. Sonny Perdue possible Trump choice to head up the United States Dept. of Agriculture

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/01/sonny-perdue-usda-trump

From the article:

Perdue has a disturbing nostalgia for the Confederacy. Back in 2010, he signed a law declaring April to be permanently recognized in the state as "Confederate History and Heritage Month," in a proclamation that neglected to mention slavery.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans were very happy with this proclamation. http://sonsofconfederateveterans.blogspot.com/2010/01/georgia-governor-signs-confederate.html

Martin Luther King statue at Stone Mountain

The Stone Mountain Association wants to put up a Martin Luther King statue at Stone Mountain.

Here is an article on the proposal:

http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2015/10/11/a-monument-to-mlk-will-crown-stone-mountain/

I think it is a fairly obvious tactic to preserve Confederate monuments. Tack on some monument to an African American nearby and blab on about diversity and tolerance and acknowledgement or whatever.

The leadership in the African American community sees this obvious ploy and has objected to it.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-stone-mountain-martin-luther-king-20151013-story.html

What is interesting is the Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans' response to the proposed monument.

http://gascv.org/scv-responds-to-attempt-to-place-mlk-statue-on-stone-mountain/

From the Georgia SCV press release:

The Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans responded today to the proposal by the Stone Mountain Memorial Association to erect a monument to MLK, former black civil rights activist. This decision by the Stone Mountain Memorial Association is wholly inappropriate in that it is an intentional act of disrespect toward the stated purpose of the Stone Mountain memorial from its inception as well as a possible violation of the law which established the Stone Mountain Memorial Association and charged it with promoting the mountain as a Confederate memorial.

Besides showing that the Georgia SCV is none too bright, it also quickly dissipates all their efforts to moderated their image by parading about H.K. Edgerton, making up mythologies about Black Confederate soldiers, and talking about "Heritage Not Hate."

It is always gratifying to see the opposition shoot themselves in the foot.

Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans Declare "Little Mary Phagan Day" UPDATE:

Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans declare a LITTLE MARY PHAGAN DAY in Georgia.

I am not making this up. I just got the news. This is the link to the web page announcing the Little Mary Phagan Day.

http://gascv.org/little-mary-phagan-day-in-georgia/

I have written about the Sons of Confederate Veterans promoting the book, "The South Under Siege" by Frank Conner. It is an anti-Semitic book and recently they have very strongly promoted it and they are selling it.

They have come up with some Confederate "heritage" tie in.

I think though it is very possibly part of their agenda regarding Jewish people. Conner's book portrays the Civil Rights movement as a Jewish conspiracy against the South. The case of Mary Phagan's murder is remembered since in resulted in the lynching of Leo Frank, a Jewish person who moved to Georgia from Brooklyn, New York.

It is a day of infamy in the history of Georgia.

The "Daily Beast" has an article about the lynching of Leo Frank. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/02/america-s-only-anti-semitic-lynching.html.

Of course the Georgia Division SCV will deny that it has some anti-Semitic baggage. They will claim that they are just remembering a young woman who was murdered.

UPDATE:

I was informed that the Ku Klux Klan was organized very shortly after the Mary Phagan case. The hysteria over the murder, inflamed by the governor, lead to an environment where the Ku Klux Klan was born.

Valdosta State University Professor Suffers Retaliation

VALDOSTA STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR SUFFERS RETALIATION

A Valdosta State University Professor who had opposed all state Confederate monuments has suffered retaliation by the university and. His email account was shut down.

I recently tried emailing Mark Patrick George who I had emailed before and the email bounced. I didn't know what had happened until I found these news stories.


http://clatl.com/freshloaf/archives/2014/08/18/vsu-prof-behind-effort-to-end-state-sponsored-confederate-memorials-alleges-retaliation-by-university-state

And this article

http://vsuspectator.com/2014/08/22/vsu-cracks-down-on-former-proffessor-protesting-against-confederate-memorials-in-georgia/

In the articles you can see the role of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in this.

Sons of Confederate Veteran Georgia Division Commander Ray McBerry scandal

These are quotes from the Atlantic Journal Constitution.

http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2010/04/29/parents-church-and-judge-told-future-gop-candidate-for-governor-leave-the-girl-alone/

Rachel Gandee was a band nerd in high school.

She didn’t drink. She didn’t smoke. Her grades were solid. The 16-year-old had just finished 10th grade and was, by her mother’s judgment, a good girl.

Then she fell in with Ray McBerry, a married history teacher and member of her small storefront church in McDonough. When their relationship began, McBerry was still four years away from his first Republican run for governor in 2006. He’s trying again this year.
Last month, the Georgia Professional Standards Commission released a summary of its investigation into McBerry, who resigned his position at Patrick Henry High School in Stockbridge in January 2003, shortly after Rachel’s mother filed a complaint. 

Eventually, in 2004, the GPSC would suspend his teaching certificate for five days for abuse of a student, lying to administrators and violation of the commission’s standard of conduct for teachers. 

The only person identified in that state report was McBerry. The identities of Rachel Gandee — her married name — and her parents were protected. 

But at some point, anonymity becomes a form of paralysis. The facts belong to those willing to discuss them in the open. 

Over the past few weeks, Rachel Gandee has eased herself onto the public stage, starting with a detailed account of her relationship with McBerry on SWGAPolitics.com, a southwest Georgia political blog run by Jeff Sexton. “The truth getting told,” she wrote, “might help me get over all this.”

There is a lot more in the story and the above is just a small part.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/03/ray-mcberry-sexual-partners-list_n_803889.html

The above article is about his suing people for libel.

Professor at Valdosta University in Georgia says that the State of Georgia should drop all Confederate commemorations

The article is online here:

http://clatl.com/atlanta/activists-state-should-end-all-confederate-memorials/Content?oid=11620447

From Confederate Memorial Day to streets named for Ku Klux Klan founders, the state of Georgia should pull the plug on its official support of Confederacy celebrations, say two Valdosta activists in a recent open letter to Gov. Nathan Deal and the entire General Assembly. 

Such "Southern heritage" memorials are simply taxpayer-funded pseudo-history that celebrates white supremacy, they say. And state leaders so far aren't biting.

The letter is the brainchild of Mark Patrick George, a Valdosta State University sociologist who runs a project studying a local lynching spree of the early 1900s, and the Rev. Floyd Rose of the Lowndes/Valdosta chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

"We contact you today to respectfully call for an end to the state of Georgia's endorsement, promotion and support of all Confederate holidays, events, and its management of historic sites and monuments related to the Confederacy. We also call for an immediate change to all state roads and highways currently named for Confederate leaders," says the letter, sent on June 23. 

George says they are acting on their own, though they have started reaching out to civil rights groups. They want to spark discussion of racial issues and raise awareness that the "heritage, not hate" mythos is factually wrong. The idea came from a documentary film that George, who grew up in South Georgia, is making about Civil War re-enactors, many of whom, he says, falsely believe the Confederacy was not primarily motivated by slavery and racism. 

"What exactly are we celebrating?" George asks. The ultimate answer, he says, is leaders and soldiers "who said God declared white people should be in charge of black people ... Where are the thoughts and feelings of African-Americans who are citizens of this state? Black people are paying for, in many ways, their own degradation."

The whole Lost Cause nonsense needs to go into the garbage can. More people are seeing this.

Wonders never cease, "Washington Post" Op-Ed argues that Democrats in the South should take a public stand against the Confederate flag

I was just astounded that the Washington Post ran this Op-Ed by Drew Westen at Emory University in Georgia arguing that the Democrats should take a public stand against the Confederate flag. Mudcat Sanders must be having a fit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-georgia-democrats-should-confront-a-confederate-flag-license-plate/2014/03/21/7b8da8ac-add7-11e3-a49e-76adc9210f19_story.html

Writing about the Republican campaign strategy in the Georgia gubernatorial race:

This year, the strategy has taken the form of a debate about custom license plates — in particular, a Georgia license plate sporting a broad, bold display of the Confederate battle flag. Democrats have traditionally struggled to counter such race-baiting. And Republicans are wasting no time in running Southern pride and prejudice up the flagpole against the two most promising Democrats to run for statewide office in Georgia in a decade: Jason Carter, grandson of President Jimmy Carter and a candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination; and Michelle Nunn, daughter of the popular Democratic senator Sam Nunn and a candidate for the U.S. Senate.

Westen argues to oppose this strategy the Democrats should:

Too often, Democrats have dealt with racial issues by avoiding them. Research shows that’s the wrong strategy, particularly in the South. Speaking directly about race allows our conscious values — which tend to be intolerant of racial intolerance, even in the heart of Dixie — to override our unconscious prejudices, which control our behavior when we’re not looking, or when other people aren’t, as in the voting booth. The best way to handle this kind of dog-whistle politics is to expose it for what it is.

Westen is right, the strategy of the Democrats had been to avoid the Confederate flag issue as much as possible in the hope of shaking loose a few extra white votes. Mudcat Sanders was a political consultant who argued for this position. In one article I read that his bed had a Confederate battle flag bed spread which is a sort of obvious and idiotic way of making a statement. (If some political operatives use dog whistles then Sanders was using a fog horn.) The Washington Post as a consequence of this policy and as a consequence of being the house publication of the Democratic party has avoided really critically examining the Lost Cause or arguing against the Lost Cause. I suppose also the Graham family that had owned the paper didn't want relatives or people at the club or acquaintances with Confederate ancestors and Lost Cause attitudes complaining either.

So I am so amazed to see this article. On the other hand I think that this change in attitude is confined to the Confederate battle flag and isn't intended to challenge the Lost Cause generally, but still it is a major shift for the Democrats in the South. Also, once you decide the Confederate flag isn't really desirable you are forced to engage the Lost Cause. The Democrats will be slow learners but I think they will learn.

For the Washington Post it certainly is a surprise. This is the third major article in the Post indicating a shift regarding the Lost Cause.

Not too long ago there was this Washington Post blog asking why Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson are in the Washington National Cathedral. This was known by a lot of people previously, but it wasn't commented on.I refer to the Post blog in this posting.

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2013/12/washington-post-columnist-john-kelly.html#.Uy21TfldWSo

Then there is this Washington Post column by Colbert King likening the Republicans to the Confederacy.I refer to it at this posting.

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2013/10/washington-post-columnist-colbert-king.html#.Uy21jfldWSo

I think some Democrats have figured out that there really isn't a reason to vote for them unless they represent a choice for the voters.

Former president Jimmy Carter is somewhat fond of the Confederacy and so it would be interesting to what extent Jason Carter will give up the Lost Cause or how he will frame the argument against the Confederate battle flag.