Loathsome George Zimmerman is painting Confederate flags and teaming up with a bigot to sell prints of them. Friends like this are worse than enemies to pro-Confederates.

Loathsome George Zimmerman is now painting Confederate flags and prints of these flags are being sold by an anti-Muslim bigot who operates a "Muslim Free Zone" gun shop.

These are some links to the story.

http://gawker.com/muslim-free-gun-shop-raffles-off-confederate-flag-pai-1724703760

http://time.com/4001437/george-zimmerman-confederate-flag-painting/

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/george-zimmerman-florida-gun-store-selling-confederate-flag-prints/

As an opponent of the Confederate flag this is welcome news. What better could convince Muslims around the world to see the Confederate flag as a bad thing.

With Zimmerman painting Confederate flags what better could convince people in America that the Confederate flag is loathsome.

Also, amusing is that the Sons of Confederate Veterans even though they know that Zimmerman painting Confederate flags is not a good for the image of the Confederate flag, will be very reluctant to speak out against him since their membership is likely to contain many persons who are sympathetic to Zimmerman.

So the reputation of the Confederate flag takes a beating and the Sons of Confederate Veterans won't do anything about it.

It will be interesting how this is viewed among conservative groups. Zimmerman has some degree of popularity with fringe elements and this might be one more thing that will push the conservative movement in this country into embracing the Confederate flag.

Renewed call to get rid of army bases named after Confederate leaders

CALL TO GET RID OF CONFEDERATE ARMY BASE NAMES

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/251066-the-armys-confederate-cowardice

I find that this is very helpful to my effort to get the U.S. military to not let the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) to be involved in Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) in the high schools.

Republicans, Democrats, and the Confederacy. Republicans have a problem and the Democrats know it.

The Republicans have a problem regarding the Confederacy and the Democrats know it and are demonstrating that they are quite willing to exploit the situation.

The Republicans don't want to be associated with the Confederacy, but they don't want to be seen as anti-Confederate either.

When Obama is picketed by Confederate flag waving protesters, Oklahoma Republican congressional representatives masw sure that the public knew that they didn't approve of this.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/07/16/protesters-wave-confederate-flags-during-obama-visit/

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/248256-oklahoma-republicans-confederate-flags-at-obama-visit-disrespectful

Earlier there were Confederate protesters when Obama visited Tennessee.

http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2015/07/01/confederate-flag-supporters-protest-obama-visit/29565393/

Republican Gov. Nikki Haley and Republican state legislators took down the Confederate flag from the capitol grounds in South Carolina hoping to put the issue behind them.

Opinion polls show that Democrats see the Confederate flag as racist, but Republicans don't.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/184040/democrats-views-confederate-flag-increasingly-negative.aspx

In fact the supporters of the Confederate flags are largely Republicans and certainly are likely to vote in primaries.  The Republicans though have considerations besides winning primaries. They need to consider winning general elections, they need younger voters, and they can't risk being identified with the Confederacy. They have to consider their brand going into the future.

So the Republicans might agree to the flag coming down on the South Carolina capitol grounds, but they otherwise don't want to be either anti-Confederate or pro-Confederate. The whole issue could cause serious damage to their electoral prospects now and in the future.

The Democrats obviously sense this. President Barack Obama praises the Confederate flag coming down in South Carolina knowing full well that many Republicans are reflexively against what he is for.  Obama speaks against the Confederate flag during a speech in Kenya.

Obama previously hasn't had a lot to say about the Confederate flag when running for the presidency in 2008 and 2012, but know it remains to be seen how often he will bring it up. I think it will be very likely that Obama will find one way or another to bring up the Confederacy.

When Obama is traveling in the United States again, we can almost certainly expect that there will be anti-Obama protesters flying Confederate flags.

Obama's speaking against the Confederate flag and protesters with Confederate flags will likely make the Confederacy and flying Confederate flags at anti-Obama protests irresistible to many elements of the Republican Party base who will have no care at all about embarrassing the Republican Party.

The Democrats in congress recently have suddenly discovered the Confederacy as an issue and amended legislation to forbid Confederate flags from the U.S. government cemeteries.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/gop-house-confederate-flag-cemeteries-119892.html

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/house-gop-takes-step-back-on-confederate-flags-119889.html

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/confederate-flags-cemeteries-house-spending-bills-119958.html

However, some Republicans complained and the Republican House leadership pulled the bill. They aren't re-introducing it since they don't want to have to deal with the issue. They can't agree to the anti-Confederate measures, but they can't reject them either.

The U.S. House sessions were quite raucous. Shouting and booing.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/the-confederate-flag-brings-down-a-bill-in-congress/398123/


http://www.rollcall.com/news/republicans_to_vote_on_allowing_display_of_confederate_flag-242722-1.html?pos=hftxt

The bills are still not back on the House floor. I suspect the Democrats will be right on the issue if the Republicans try to get some legislation passed.

Now the Republican plan to put the Confederate flag behind them is coming undone even further. Bobby Jindal has decided to become the defender of the Confederacy. He is against the city of New Orleans getting rid of their Confederate monuments.

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/08/bobby_jindal_confederate_statu.html

If Jindal can gain just a few percentage points he will be in the top ten tier of the Republican presidential candidates and will be allowed in the main debates.

This will put a lot of pressure on other Republican Presidential candidates to defend the Confederacy. Maybe those not in the top ten can get into the top ten. Maybe those who are barely in the top ten will want to secure their position.

As Obama condemns the Confederate flag, as anti-Obama protesters fly the Confederate flag and as the Democrats seek to inject the issue into politics the issue of the Confederate flag might very well get interjected into the American presidential elections. It seems it is starting with Bobby Jindal who has little to lose in the polls.

The Confederacy is tumbling down. New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission votes to remove 4 monuments. UPDATE: Presidential candidate Bobby Jindal seeks to keep monuments in New Orleans UPDATE2: Jindal finds out there is no Heritage Act in Louisian

http://www.wdsu.com/news/local-news/new-orleans/historical-district-landmarks-commission-votes-to-recommend-removal-of-confederate-monuments/34703934

From the report: 

The first of two public hearings Thursday was conducted by landmarks commission. The hearings center on the Robert E. Lee monument at Lee Circle, the Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard statue at City Park, the Jefferson Davis monument in Mid-City and the Liberty Monument in the CBD.

During the hearing, the commission voted to bring forth its recommendation to remove the four monuments. The decision is not final, just a recommendation to the New Orleans City Council.

The Liberty Monument is a monument to a battle by the White League to restore white supremacy in New Orleans.

There has long been efforts against this monument. http://www.neworleanshistorical.org/items/show/283

The next commission to hear about the monument will be Human Rights Commission and I think it is very likely to vote for removal.

The neo-Confederates give their usual bogus and lame arguments.

As each city or state or park gives up Confederate monuments it sets the precedent for other political units to give up Confederate monuments. It makes the Confederate monuments that remain seem more anomalous and out of place. It also shows that the neo-Confederates don't have the political influence that people might have thought they did. Also, with so many places giving up the Confederacy the neo-Confederates face too many battles to focus on. It shows that the public symbols and monuments to the Confederacy can be removed and encourages people to attempt to do so. Finally, it creates an environment where the removal of Confederate monuments and symbols seems inevitable and so less and less effort is made to defend them and politicians don't want being a defender of the Confederacy to be in their political record.

UPDATE:

See this article.

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/08/bobby_jindal_confederate_statu.html


From the article:

Gov. Bobby Jindal's office is looking for ways he can keep four Confederate monuments erected in New Orleans, presumably over the objections of Mayor Mitch Landrieu and the City Council.

UPDATE2: Evidently the "Heritage Act" that Jinal's office referred to doesn't actually exist.

http://theadvocate.com/news/acadiana/13178602-123/heritage-act-invoked-in-no

West Point Academy historian discusses whether the Civil War was fought over slavery. UPDATE3: This video is still going strong. UPDATE: Found it on YouTube and added in embedded video UPDATE2: It is online two places, total views over 6 million. UPDATE3: It reached 7 million.

https://www.facebook.com/prageru/videos/923232114386312/

 The link above is a link to a video by a West Point Academy professor about the Civil War and slavery. He points out that it was about slavery.

It has been viewed over 5 million times.

I haven't been able to get the embedding to work.

He is proud that the U.S. Army defeated the Confederacy.

UPDATE:

The video has had 200,000+ additional viewers since I posted the link this morning 8/13/15.

UPDATE2: The video is on Facebook and Youtube separately. The total viewership is over 6 million.  Since the lunch hour update there has been 300,000 or more additional viewers to the Facebook video. The Youtube video is climbing also. Post this video on your  blog.

UPDATE3: The total on Facebook plus Youtube has just gone over 7 million. The phase of a rapid increase in the number of viewers seems to be over. I think though that it will get a steady low level number of viewers and it might have a revival in specific parts of the country when there is a local controversy.

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE IT ALL.

Book of primary documents for Arkansas' secession. Seems it was about slavery.

A BOOK I JUST PURCHASED.

When researching primary documents for the book "The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader," I realized that there was a great deal more material in each state. Newspaper discussions of slavery, many resolutions by state legislatures and other documents that show it was all about slavery.

I am so glad to see this book and look forward to seeing other books for other states.

http://news.uark.edu/articles/31972/protecting-slavery-in-arkansans-thoughts-words-on-eve-of-civil-war

As these books come out people will release that their state seceded to preserve slavery. The days are numbered for the neo-Confederacy.

Letter to the Director of the Naval Junior ROTC asking him to not permit Sons of Confederate Veterans to give awards to cadets

The following letter was sent by certified mail today. I will be writing the heads of the other Junior ROTC services this coming week.  If I don't get a satisfactory response I will be writing to higher levels in the military and to President Barack Obama if necessary. I am starting out with the letters and online postings, but will be fully developing my campaign in the coming months. I will still be writing Churches. The churches in the Dallas area are due a 2nd round of letters and I have been notifying my contacts in the area about the upcoming SCV convention there. 

                                                                                   August 3, 2015

                                                                                    

                                                                                    edwardsebesta@gmail.com

Dr. Joseph D. Smith

Director - NJROTC Program

Naval Service Training Command

250 Dallas Street, Ste. A     

Pensacola, FL 32508-5268 

Dear Dr. Smith:

I am writing you to ask that you no longer have cadets receive the H.L. Hunley Award from the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). The SCV, is I believe by any reasonable standard, a racist and extremist group. I enclose a dossier which was published in Black Commentator online at http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html. 

I also enclose a recent article that was published at Politico.com. It is also online at http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/04/civil-war-american-south-still-loves-confederacy-116771.html#.VWDG_pVFCM8. (I have the research byline.)

I am an investigative researcher into the neo-Confederate movement. I am published by peer-reviewed academic journals and university presses, as well as other media. I enclose a copy of my curriculum vitae which is online at http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/curriculum-vitae.html.

I was recently awarded the “Spirit of Freedom” medal by the African American Civil War Museum.

The SCV is not a patriotic organization. I enclose an article published in the Nov./Dec. 2007 Confederate Veteran, their official publication, where the Lt. Commander-in-Chief Ronald E. Casteel gives his regular column over to the former SCV Chaplain-in-Chief Fr. Alister C. Anderson who gives a scathing denunciation of Pledge of Allegiance. [Pages 8,9,56]

Fr. Anderson in the column writes, “Through some devious political connections he was permitted to write the Pledge of Allegiance with his Socialists intentions to weld together the mentality of all Americans in their allegiance to a centralized Federal Government.” [Page 56]

Then there is this statement in the column:

Southern scholars and historians have written that Bellamy’s idea to include “liberty and justice for all” is a substitute phrase which he was forced to use instead of his preferred phrase “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity,” the atheist words of the radical French Revolution.” [Page 56]

I also enclose an article from the Nov./Dec. 2012 Confederate Veteran in which the cover article compares Lincoln to Karl Marx and Adolph Hitler. The article concludes with the sentence:

Lincoln, Marx, Engels, and Hitler are indeed a strange but deadly ‘Band of Brothers.’

Then there is the SCV’s recent promotion of an anti-Semitic book.

I enclose a photocopy of an advertisement in the Jan./Feb. 2015 issue of Confederate Veterans magazine, their official publication, Vol. 73 No.1, pages 70-71 in which they recommend, praise and sell the book, “The South Under Siege, 1830-2000,” by Frank Conner, Collards Press, 2002.

This book argues that the 20th century Civil Rights movement was a Jewish conspiracy carried out against the South and that the idea of racial equality was itself a part of the Jewish conspiracy.

For example on page 392 in his book Connor states:

Until after the turn of the 20th century, anthropologists had routinely recorded genetic as well as cultural differences between races and ethnic groups – that being the whole point of anthropology. The highlighted differences among the races hand included those of intelligence. But as Kevin MacDonald points out in The Culture of Critique, a German-Jewish-immigrant named Franz Boas changed all that. At Columbia, Boas arbitrarily claimed that biological differences between races were miniscule – that environment alone shaped the behavior of the different races and ethnic groups (a la Rousseau). A number of other Jewish anthropologists swiftly adopted Boas’ position; and soon the Jews dominated the field of cultural anthropology. As MacDonald points out, by 1915 the Jews had gained control of the American Anthropological Association; and by 1926 they were chairing the anthropology departments at all of the major universities.

The SCV recommends this book as follows:

This important book by SCV member Frank Conner examines the true relations between the North and South from 1830 to June 200. It identifies the real history of each region, and the lies and distortion by which the Northern liberals have created totally false stereotypes of both the Northern liberal and the traditional white Southerner. It tells what the North has done to the South, and why the North claims to have done it, why the North really did it, and what the consequences have been. An excellent defense against the official history currently taught in the government schools. [italics in the original, Jan./Feb. 2015, Confederate Veterans Magazine, Vol. 73 No.1, page 70.]

I enclose copies of pages 392-393 & 406 of the book. I also enclose pages vii and viii of the table of contents to show that these anti-Semitic statements are not isolated examples.

In the same advertisement of the SCV you can also see that they are promoting the book, “Southern by the Grace of God” by Michael Andrew Grissom. This is a book which glorifies and praises the Ku Klux Klan as saviors of the South. I enclose documentation.

The enclosed documentation is to corroborate two items in the enclosed Black Commentator article about the SCV.

The SCV is giving awards to Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) cadets to advance their agenda.  I enclose an article titled, “SCV JROTC H.L. Hunley Award,” by A.C. Wilson III, National Chairman of the H.L. Hunley Award, in the Jan./Feb. 2014 Confederate Veteran, pages 62-64 in which Wilson explains the purpose of the award.

Wilson opens the article with:

Every year I have two or three camp commanders asking just exactly what this program does that contributes to our fulfilling General Stephen Dill Lee’s Charge to the Sons. [Page 62]

The “Charge” of Stephen D. Lee to the SCV is to promote the neo-Confederate version of the Civil War.

Wilson explains why the SCV has this program. The SCV gets to sit in at the awards programs and as he explains further:

Tomorrow’s leaders are sitting in these auditoriums and they represent the finest students their high school has to offer. As these young Americans are recognized by fraternal and military organizations, they remember who recognized their hard work and sacrifices. We, as presenters, sit among the communities proven leaders who are there representing the Sons of the American Revolution, Daughters of the American Revolution, Scottish Rite, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Military Order of Purple Hearts and many others. We are sitting alongside these individuals. We were not asked to sit on the back row, or they rather we not attend at all. We are meeting high school administrators, teachers and parents and will be asked to make presentations to classes on the War Between the States and share with these students the true history of the South, students who represent our future generations. [Page 62]

From the prior examples given we can see what the SCV considers to be “the true history” to be shared with students.

It could be pointed out that the SCV gives some of the H.L. Hunley awards to African American students, which is true. However, this appears to be a matter of public relations to obscure the ideology they are promoting.

Finally, when the Hunley sunk the U.S.S. Housatonic two officers and three non-officers lost their lives. Should we be giving awards that honor those who took the lives of American Navy servicepersons?

I ask that the SCV not be allowed to be involved with any programs of the NJROTC.  In particular I ask that they not be allowed to use cadets to advance their neo-Confederate agenda.

                                                                                    Sincerely Yours,

                                                                                    Edward H. Sebesta

Sons of Confederate Veterans is re-publishing "Southern Partisan" articles. Reactionary ideology in full view.

SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS PROMOTING NEO-CONFEDERATE IDEOLOGY

The South Carolina Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is putting online an article from the "Southern Partisan" magazine.

http://scscv.com/why-yankees-wont-and-cant-leave-the-south-alone/

This article gives insight as to the deeply reactionary nature of neo-Confederate thought. Richard Weaver's book, "The Southern Tradition at Bay" laments women voting and is very racist.

John McWhorter praised by the Council of Conservative Citizens

http://conservative-headlines.com/2015/07/anti-racism-americas-new-national-religion/


McWhorter writes silly things. The Council of Conservative Citizens loves him.

I have an earlier posting about McWhorter and another silly thing he wrote.


http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2015/06/kanye-west-is-praised-by-ben-jones.html#.Vbv5-_lViko

Presidential Questionnaire now on a web page. Questionnaire for the candidates on how they stand regarding the Confederacy and neo-Confederates

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/presidential-questionnaire.html

The questionnaire and the cover letter to the questionnaire is on the webpage.

From the webpage: 

There are a surprising number of ways a President and their administration is involved with policy and practice which promotes honoring the Confederacy or enables neo-Confederates.

So are these candidates have been written with proof of mailing.

REPUBLICANS: Ted Cruz (5/11/2015), Mike Huckabeee (5/11/2015), Dr. Benjamin S. Carson (5/11/2015), Carly Fiorina (5/11/2015), Rand Paul (5/11/2015), Marco Rubio (5/11/2015), George Pataki (6/2/2015), Lindsay Graham (6/17/2015), Rick Santorum (6/6/2015), Jeb Bush(6/17/2015), Bobby Jindal (7/3/2015) , Martin O'Malley (6/2/2015), Rick Perry (6/4/2015), Donald Trump (7/3/2015) .

DEMOCRATS: Lincoln Chaffee (6/17/2015), Jim Webb (7/3/2015), Hillary Clinton (5/11/2015), Bernie Sanders(5/12/2015).

Candidates who will be written next: Scott Walker, John Kasich, will be sent the questionnaire shortly.

Other potential candidates will be written after they announce. For candidates not responding to the first mailing there will be a follow up mailing by certified letter.

Lincoln Chaffee replied and said that he would not be answering questionnaires.

Counter Protest and Activity Facebook page for Sons of Confederate Veterans Convention in Richardson, Texas (a suburb of Dallas, TX)

COUNTER PROTEST AND ACTIVITIES AGAINST THE 2016 SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS REUNION IN RICHARDSON, TEXAS

Richardson is a suburb adjacent to North Dallas.

The FACEBOOK Event Page is:
https://www.facebook.com/events/412080045663443/

Sign up and invite your friends.

The SCV reunion page is:

http://scv2016.org/

The hotel that is accommodating them is the Renaissance Hotel, a brand of the Marriott corporation.

Obama tells Kenya that bad traditions should be dropped and gives as an example the Confederate flag.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/26/politics/obama-speech-kenya/

Or this link

http://qz.com/464182/obama-tells-kenya-that-some-traditions-are-bad-traditions/

From the Quartz report of the visit.

In a speech capping off his two-day visit to his father’s homeland, Obama also compared sexism in Kenya to Americans who hold on to the Confederate flag—which is frequently used as a symbol by US white supremacist groups.

“Every country and every culture has traditions that are unique and help make that country what it is, but just because something is part of your past doesn’t make it right, it doesn’t mean it defines your future,” he said.

“Around the world there is a tradition of oppressing women and treating them differently and not giving them the same opportunities, and husbands beating their wives, and children not being sent to school. Those are traditions. Treating women and girls as second-class citizens. Those are bad traditions: they need to change.”

BANAL WHITE NATIONALISM AND THE RICHLAND HIGH SCHOOL REBELS

BANAL WHITE NATIONALISM AND THE RICHLAND HIGH SCHOOL REBELS

This paper was released to the local media and the Texas Educational Agency this morning by Rev. Tatum of the Fort Worth Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SLCL).

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/richland-high-school-confederate-identity.html

It is about a high school in Haltom, Texas that can't seem to be able to give up the Confederacy.

It is my plan to help local groups across the nation fight neo-Confederacy and the Lost Cause and enabling of neo-Confederates.

"Richmond Free Press" publishes interview with me.

The article is online at the Richmond Free Press. The link to the web based issue is at:

http://richmondfreepress.com/news/2015/jul/24/dallas-researcher-driven-protest-educate-public-ab/

This is the print version.

http://issuu.com/richmondfreepress/docs/july_23-25__2015_issue?e=13821893/14381766

I am hoping that this lets people know that there is someone out three that has the information about the neo-Confederates.

Racial Politics at a Virginia Flagger event in Richmond and what the "Richmond Times-Dispatch" didn't tell you.

Recently I visited Richmond, Virginia to carry out activities including counter activities against the neo-Confederates there, in particular the Sons of Confederate Veterans 2015 National Reunion from July 15th to July 19th.

We did a lot of video recording while we were there. We plan to be putting up some videos online on Youtube which will show the thinking of neo-Confederates.

The following video is a speech of Richard T. Hines at the Virginia flagger rally on the afternoon of Saturday July 18th at the Capitol Square in Richmond, Virginia. Richard T. Hines was the former managing editor of the notorious neo-Confederate magazine Southern Partisan for 20 years. He was also a lobbyist for dictators.

An article on who he is is online here: http://www.thenation.com/article/lobbyist-lost-cause/

The link to the following video is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLQNSKfQwIE.

Click on the video to make it larger so you can see the entire video.



Watching the timing.

At 3:08 Hines makes brief reference to Gay pride flags to characterize those who are at the lowering of the Confederate flag in South Carolina and who wanted to see the flag lowered. He wants to characterize the anti-Confederate flag forces as pro-Gay.

At 3:16 Hines starts talking about what Conservative commentator Ann Coulter says about the Confederate flag.

At 3:26 Hines quotes Ann Coulter to say this about Nikki Haley:

"At least Nikki Haley should have waited for three or four generations before telling Southern Americans what symbols were allowable or not."

Nikki Haley was born in South Carolina and grew up there, but since her parents are immigrants Richard Hines and Ann Coulter don't think she really is Southern or American enough to make decisions about the place where she lives and despite the fact that she was elected by the residents of South Carolina to be the governor.

At 3:43 the politics of race comes up and Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are denounce as shysters and Nikki Haley is denounced for merely being on the stage with them.  The fact that Nikki Haley is a potential Vice-Presidential candidate with Jeb Bush is bemoaned.

The crowd of flaggers is cheering Hines' speech.

So we have homophobia, the politics of race, an attach on Nikki Haley and Jeb Bush a leading presidential candidate, a clearly expressed Xenophobic and anti-immigrant sentiments, and an attack on Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Did any of this get into the Richmond Times-Dispatch coverage of the event. Not at all, not even hinted at.

This was the coverage of the rally. http://www.richmond.com/news/local/article_0624e257-8be0-5d14-8f59-86e9476b1e3f.html

Even though the opening speech was by a former editor of the Southern Partisan, the reporter puts the word "neo-Confederacy" in quotes:

"We’re here to see what motivates the Virginia Flaggers, what makes them tick,” said Sebesta, who has written studies of the “neo-Confederacy” movement.

Otherwise the entire report was the uncritical repeating of the assertions of the Virginia flaggers.

I was in communication with the reporters at the Richmond Times-Dispatch and sent them considerable documentation about the Sons of Confederate Veterans none of it made it into their paper.

Generally the Richmond media is sympathetic to the Confederacy. We hope to have more videos online from the visit as time goes on.

Interviewed for Nationally Syndicated article by the McClatchy newspapers about public school American history textbooks and the Civil War

Nationally Syndicated article by the McClatchy newspapers about public school American history textbooks and the Civil War. The link is:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article27527029.html

The article has run in about a dozen papers across the nation.

For historians, however, there is little question that slavery was the driving factor in sparking secession and later the war. Teaching history incorrectly, they say, allows people to justify supporting the Confederacy without addressing related questions of racism. 

“If you don’t understand what the Civil War was about, you don’t have anything to argue against Confederate nationalism,” said Sebesta. “It’s an erasure of African-Americans in the South by saying the Confederacy was the South. It’s creating a Southern identity as a white identity.”

 It was interesting how the Children of the Confederacy was unwilling to explain what they were doing.

But with the exception of three attendees who like Shelby and her grandfather, Martin Schaller, agreed to interviews, it was hard to learn what the Children of the Confederacy conference teaches its members about the history of slavery and the role it played in sparking the Civil War. 

Conference organizers declined to share conference materials with anyone not registered for the conference. They said members of the organization could not speak to the news media without approval from the organization’s director general, who could not be located Thursday, the convention’s opening day.

Eventually, the general manager of the hotel where the convention is being held through Saturday ordered two McClatchy reporters to leave.

The impasse was perhaps predictable. More than 10 phone calls throughout the week leading up to the conference, and several emails to the organization’s director general, went unreturned.

The group’s unwillingness to share its approach to Civil War history makes it hard to know how its program fits into what a growing number of historians and experts say is the perpetuation of dangerous myths about the war and the antebellum South that are common in public school texts and are fueled in seemingly innocent war re-enactments.

 It is always interesting when a group is secretive about what they do.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article27527029.html#storylink=cpy

UPDATE ON RICHMOND VISIT

Was interviewed yesterday, Thursday, July 17, 2015, by the Richmond Free Press. If there is an article I will post a link to it.

Thursday we traveled to Monument Avenue and we did photos of the monuments with me having a "The Heritage is Hate" sign. Interviewed people.  Also took the sign to where the flaggers in front of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts were.

Talked to the flaggers to get their viewpoints. It was really sort of sad. I think they are self-indulgent, but they have lives in which it seems they only have the Confederacy.

They didn't seem to be belligerently racist or anything, I think it is more a matter that black lives don't matter enough to them to critically review their attachments to the Confederacy.

I think they are taking themselves down a dead end avenue.

Coverage of the Protest at the Museum of the Confederacy

Protest at the museum of the Confederacy.

There was TV news coverage also of which there will be links in this blog following the Youtube video.

This Youtube was by Martin Images.






http://wric.com/2015/07/15/protesters-flock-to-confederate-heritage-convention/


I am pictured in this story but not interviewed.
http://www.nbc12.com/story/29551125/protesters-want-chesterfield-hotel-to-drop-sons-of-confederate-veterans-reunion

Questions for H.K. Edgerton. Hopefully he will answer them if he comes to Richmond UPDATED.

H.K. Edgerton is an African American member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) who goes about defending the Confederacy. I have for him the following question which I hope to present to him in Richmond. UPDATE: See the two questions added at the end.

QUESTIONS FOR H.K. EDGERTON

1.       Jefferson Davis, a Confederate hero to the Sons of Confederate Veterans in his history “The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government,” published in 1881 by D. Appleton & Co., New York, in Vol. 2 pp. 600, in his condemnation of the Emancipation Proclamation, Jefferson Davis in his book reprints his proclamation of January 1863:

“A proclamation, dated on January 1, 1863, signed and issued by the President of the United States, orders and declares all slaves within ten of the States of the Confederacy to be free, except as are found in certain districts now occupied in part by the armed forces of the enemy. We may well leave it to the instinct of that common humanity, which a beneficent Creator has implanted in the breasts of our fellow-men of all countries, to pass judgment on a measure by which several millions of human beings of an inferior race -- peaceful, contented laborers in their sphere -- are doomed to extermination, while at the same time they are encouraged to a general assassination of their masters by the insidious recommendation "to abstain from violence, unless in necessary self-defense."

QUESTION: Do you think African Americans are an inferior race or would be contented with slavery?

2.      Jefferson Davis, in his history, “The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government,” published in 1881 by D. Appleton & Co., New York, in Vol. 2 pp. 161, in anger at Abraham Lincoln's joy at the enlistment of African Americans into the U.S. Army Davis states:

Let the reader pause for a moment and look calmly at the facts presented in this statement. The forefathers of these negro soldiers were gathered from the torrid plains and malarial swamps of inhospitable Africa. Generally they were born the slaves of barbarian masters, untaught in all the useful arts and occupations, reared in heathen darkness, they were transferred to shores enlightened by the rays of Christianity. There, put to servitude, they were trained in the gentle arts of peace and order and civilization; they increased from a few unprofitable savages to millions of efficient Christian laborers. Their servile instincts rendered them contented with their lot, and their patient toil blessed the land of their abode with unmeasured riches.

QUESTION: Do you think African Americans have servile instincts?

3.      Robert E. Lee, a Confederate hero to the Sons of Confederate Veterans, in a letter to Andrew Hunter in Jan. 11, 1865 writes the following.

DEAR SIR: I have received your letter of the 7th inst., and, without confining myself to the order of your interrogatories, will endeavor to answer them by a statement of my views on the subject. I shall be most happy if I can contribute to the solution of a question in which I feel an interest commensurate with my desire for the happiness of our people. Considering the relation of master and slavery, controlled by humane laws and influenced by Christianity and an enlightened public sentiment, as the best that can exist between the white and black races while intermingled as at present in this country, I would deprecate any sudden disturbance of that relation unless it be necessary to avert a greater calamity to both. I should therefore prefer to rely upon our white population to preserve the ratio between our forces and those of the enemy which experience has shown to be safe. But in view of the preparations of our enemies it is our duty to provide for continued war, and not for a battle or campaign, and I fear that we cannot accomplish this without overtaxing the capacity of our white population. Should the war continue under existing circumstances, the enemy may in course of time penetrate our country and get access to a large part of our negro population. It is his avowed policy to convert the able-bodied men among them into soldiers, and to emancipate all. [ The letter is from “Memoranda on the Civil War,” pages 600-601, The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, Vol. 36 No. 4, August 1888. Also, “The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies,” (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1880–1901), series 4, vol. 3, 1012–1013.]

QUESTION: Do you think that any form of slavery could be the best relation that can exist between whites and African Americans?

4.      Robert E. Lee, in testimony before the Reconstruction Committee of Congress testified that he thought Virginia would be better off if Virginia could get rid of all the African Americans in the state?  [“Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction,” of congress, pages 135-136, testimony of Robert E. Lee before the Congressional Joint Committee on Reconstruction in response to questions by Mr. Blow, on February 17, 1866.]

QUESTION: Do you think Virginia would be better off without African Americans?

5. In the Sept./Oct. 2003 Southern Mercury, a publication of an educational PAC of the Sons of Confederate Veterans,  Frank Conner has an white supremacist article “Where We Stand Now: And How We Got Here.” In it, African Americans are asserted to have low IQs, a fact which Conner asserts has been covered up by a liberal conspiracy. In a section of his article titled, “Liberals Create a False Public Image of the Blacks,” Conner writes:

Previously, anthropologists had routinely recorded the notable differences in IQ among the races; but at Columbia, a liberal cultural anthropologist named Franz Boas now changed all of that. He decreed that there were no differences in IQ among the races, and the only biological differences between the blacks and white were of superficial nature. The liberals swiftly made it academically suicidal to challenge Boas’ flat assertion. Meanwhile, the liberals in the media heaped special praise upon black athletes, musicians, singers, and writers – and treated them as typical of the black race. The liberals were creating a false image of the blacks in America as a highly competent people who were being held back by the prejudiced white southerners. [Conner, Frank, “Where We Stand Now: And How We Got Here,” Southern Mercury, Vol. 1 No. 2, pages 10-14, quote on page 12.]

QUESTIONS: Do you think African Americans have lower intelligence that whites? Why was Frank Conner allowed to write this for Southern Mercury rather than being expelled from the Sons of Confederate Veterans?

6. QUESTION: Is Robert E. Lee your hero?

7. QUESTION: Is Jefferson Davis your hero? 

DO THOSE WHO VOTE FOR THE CONFEDERATE FLAG VIOLATE THEIR OATH OF OFFICE? An article in "The Hill"

DO THOSE WHO VOTE FOR THE CONFEDERATE FLAG VIOLATE THEIR OATH OF OFFICE?

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/247413-voting-for-confederate-flag-violates-oath-of-office

To quote from the article.

Article VI, clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution requires all senators and representatives to take an oath of office. This oath requires them to swear allegiance to the Constitution. Rep. Calvert's (R-Calif.) proposed amendment to a 2016 spending bill allowing the Confederate flag to be displayed on National Park Service land violates this oath and encourages others to support an insurrectionist government, the Confederate States of America.

Over one hundred and fifty years ago, my family led the insurrection. My great-great-great grandfather, Howell Cobb, was the president of the Provisional Confederate Congress. His brother, Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb, is credited with writing the Confederate Constitution. Their cousin, General Henry Benning, for whom a Georgia fort is named, led Confederate troops into battle against the Union.

They led the insurrection because my family didn't want to give up their slaves. The war had nothing to do with state's rights. It was all about slavery and the money it brought to the family. What they did was wrong and I'm appalled that Calvert wants to recognize them and other Confederate soldiers who fought to enslave African-Americans.