The a very similar version of the following letter was sent to the Interfaith Partners of South Carolina also.
I don't know if either group will bring up the issue of churches hosting neo-Confederate groups before the public. However, I do know that each letter alerts a lot of churches that hosting the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) will put them in the spotlight and they will be put in a position of making a lot of excuses which no one will believe about why they hosted a neo-Confederate organization. Both letters were sent by certified mail.
February
1, 2014
Edward
H. Sebesta
Rev.
Brenda L. Kneece – Executive Minister
South
Carolina Christian Action Council
P.O.
Drawer 3248
Columbia,
SC 29230
Dear
Rev. Kneece:
I
am an investigative researcher regarding the neo-Confederate movement who is
published in peer reviewed academic journals, by university presses and in Black Commentator. My resume is online
at www.templeofdemocracy.com/resume.htm.
I am writing this letter per our discussion earlier by email. I emailed you
this letter so you can easily use the links.
One
concern I have developed in investigating neo-Confederate groups is how they
are enabled by mainstream organizations such as corporations, churches,
government bodies and others. So I have decided to ask these groups to
reconsider their relations with specific neo-Confederate groups. I am documenting
my campaign online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/churchesoftheconfederacy.htm.
The
Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is an extremist and racist group which is
extensively documented in a Black
Commentator article which is available online at a free guest link at http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html. (Link is also in my online resume.)
In
the summer of 2013 I had a successful campaign getting corporations to stop
supporting the SCV as reported in a Black
Commentator article which is available online at a free guest link at http://www.blackcommentator2.com/527_cover_scv_donation_loss_sebesta_guest.html.
(Link is also in my online resume.)
The
SCV often selects a historic and architecturally impressive church to hold
their national convention service. When a faith group allows the SCV to use
their church there is an implied endorsement to the extent that the SCV is an
acceptable group to be using their facilities which normalizes them despite
their extremist and racist agenda. The use of a historic and architecturally
impressive church lends the prestige of the church building to the SCV.
The
SCV is planning on holding their national convention in Charleston in July
2014. They are currently looking for a church. I am hoping that no mainstream
church will let them use their church.
I
fully understand that the South Carolina Christian Action Council can’t direct
or order any member church or group to do anything and I am not asking that you
attempt to do so.
What
I am asking is that the South Carolina Christian Action Council raise the issue
with their member’s churches and groups to consider whether they should lend
their facilities to the SCV for the SCV’s national convention and let them know
about the Black Commentator article
on the SCV. If they have questions they can contact me through the Black Commentator article contact form
or the above email. Given I research extremist groups I have to be cautious.
I
am not even asking for the Christian Action Council to take a position against
hosting the SCV. I am confident that I have both the research and reasons to
convince any faith group that aiding the SCV is not a good idea. I merely ask
that the issue be raised with your members.
I
see that the South Carolina Christian Action Council is willing to bring up
many issues before the public, and that you specifically have an agenda against
racism. So I am hoping that you will assist me in my campaign against the
neo-Confederate movement by raising this one issue.
Sincerely
Yours,
Edward
H. Sebesta
P.S.
Temple of democracy comes from a 19th century metaphor for the
American Republic.
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/
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