"USA Today" covers John Sims Burn and Bury

http://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/nation/2016/05/30/85145182/


http://www.burnandbury.org/livechannel/

This is the schedule

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156963125565273&set=a.10150169586840273.403627.739230272&type=3

Burning six different Confederate flags tomorrow at 2:30 EST

http://www.burnandbury.org/livechannel/

The above will be the live channel. 

I am going to burn. 

11. Confederate Battle flag.

22. 2^nd National Confederate flag, “Stainless” designed around the idea of white supremacy. The white is stainless.

33.   United Daughters of the Confederacy North Carolina Division Ku Klux Klan flag.

44. Bonnie Blue flag and some other lesser known flags that Fraternities fly so they can fly a Confederate flag and people don’t know about it.

55. LSU Confederate flag and how they blocked an African American student’s campaign against it.

66.  The Citadel flag which is an exact copy of the Citadel’s Confederate flag of 1861. This university has dealings with the United Daughters of the Confederacy. 

"Think Progress" reports on John Sims "Burn and Bury" plan. UPDATE: I am going to burn 12 or more Confederate flags tomorrow.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/05/29/3783061/memorial-day-burn-confederate-flag/

John Sims hopes to make this an annual event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rar_fYtqrtY

Click on the video below to see the whole view.



UPDATE:

I will be burning 12 plus Confederate flags tomorrow as part of the Burn and Bury project

A resolution for your county or city to vote against Texas secession UPDATE:

Forever American Declaration

INTRODUCTION:

This is a declaration for your city or county to make in response to proposals of Texas secession.  It serves multiple purposes. One it establishes that your city or county will remain a part of the United States of America in the unlikely event that Texas secedes.

One of the assumptions of Texas secessionists is that if they get Texas to secede because they are unhappy with the politics of other Americans we all necessarily have to go along with it. We can secede too, if necessary, right back to the United States of America.  Texas secessionists should be confronted with the possible breakup of Texas driven by their folly.

Hopefully it never comes to that. More importantly the Forever American Declaration is a means by which Texans, who want to stay in the United States of America, can publicly declare so. The fact that a large number of Texans don’t want to secede and are committed to not to secede thus will be known. 

Perhaps more importantly we need to get elected officials to take a stand on this and identify which elected officials are either sympathetic to Texas secession or not willing to take a stand against it. Some people view the 16 nay to 14 yea, with one abstention, vote against Texas secession by the platform committee at the Texas State Republican Party convention in May 2016 as something positive. It is appalling. It should have been 31 to 0 against. Those voting for it should not be considered patriotic at all, instead enemies of our nation.

DECLARATION:

We, (legislative body) of (city or state), declare that (city or state) is forever a part of the United States of America and will remain so under all circumstances by what means are necessary to do so. No claim of sovereignty by any group seceding from the United States of America will be recognized nor any authority claimed by secessionists nor any laws passed by secessionists.

UPDATE: This could apply to any place in the United States of America where there is a secession movement. It would work the same way and have the same impact. 

Huffington Post publishes John Sim's article about starting an annual ritual to burn the Confederate flag on memorial day.

Burn it again! Huffington Post article on John Sims starting an annual observance of burning the Confederate flag.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-sims-/burn-and-bury-memorial-birth-of-a-ritual_b_10114068.html

https://youtu.be/Liz5Azj2h4Y  Link to the video.

Click on video to see it entirely. 

Vintage Jim Schutze, "Dallas Observer" republished article from 1999 about getting rid of Confederate names for schools. Was extensively interviewed for this article.

"Dallas Observer" republished article on getting rid of Confederate names for Dallas schools. Yours truly in article.

This school was 90+% African American and was named Jefferson Davis.

http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/vintage-schutze-go-away-dixieland-8338585

More things to do to oppose Texas secession

This list and the prior list are just a start. By making a list of things to do we start to get people to start thinking about ways to oppose Texas secession and realize that they can actively oppose secession right now.

The last item is let me know what you think would be a good way to oppose Texas secession.

Hopefully Texas secession doesn't go further and this year was the high tide of craziness for Texas secession. However, if it does become more real, we will want to have done some thinking about what we might do, and have some preliminary organization against Texas secession.

So share this list and the previous list. Join the Texans True to the Union Facebook page and invite your friends.

More Things to Do To Oppose Texas Secession

1.               Oppose celebration of the Confederacy: Celebrating those who were violent secessionists tends to give people the idea that secession is a great thing.  When counties and cities pass resolutions declaring a Confederate history month it shouldn’t be surprising that secession is seen as a legitimate option. Confederate monuments, place names need to go.

2.             Ask others to imagine being boxed in by boundaries: It is more than just having to go through customs to get to Chicago or New Orleans or someplace else. It is about being separated from others in our nation.  People will realize this if they give it some thought.

3.             Ask others to imagined being governed by these people: Listen or read their raging anger and realize what living in a Texas governed by them would be like.

4.             Write an essay against Texas secession: Even if you don’t get it published you can put it on your blog or Facebook page and share it with people you know. It is a good exercise to clarify your thoughts why you are against secession.  

5.              Think of something you can do to oppose Texas secession and let us know about it: Think of an idea and let us know about it so we can add it to the list.

Share this list. https://www.facebook.com/TexansTruetotheUnion/

Burn it again!

http://www.burnandbury.org/

Do it again!

Six things you can do to oppose Texas secession

This is just an initial list of ideas. I suppose some are fairly obvious. It is my first list. I thought it would be good to start opposing Texas secession now and get an initial list out there.

I plan to do more things to oppose secession such as a reading list on Texas history. I do urge people to joint the Texans True to the Union Facebook page. You can keep informed at that page.

Six Things to Do To Oppose Texas Secession

1.               Celebrate being American: This could be a national holiday, like Martin Luther King’s birthday, but it could be other things. Read something by your favorite author with whom you share being American. Listen to a musician who with whom you share being American. Realize that by being American you get to share in a great national life.

2.             Don’t vote for anyone who supports secession: This means that you will need to ask candidates their position. Candidates need to learn that there is a public against this. Candidates that support secession need to be defeated at the polls. Elected officials that support secession need to lose re-election.

3.                Join anti-Texas secession groups: https://www.facebook.com/TexansTruetotheUnion/ At this time this one Facebook page is the only group, but there might be others. You might form one.

4.             Share anti-Texas secession articles: When there is a good article why Texas secession is a bad idea, make sure you share it.

5.              Know why Texas secession is a bad idea: Be informed about what the consequences of secession would be. Think through why you are against secession. It isn’t enough to say that the Supreme Court has ruled against it though it is good that it has. Your argument should be more than economic. Money isn’t everything.

6.             Share this list.

Texas Nationalist Movement welcomes Neo-Confederate Abbeville Institute support.

This is the web page of the Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM) referring their readership  to the Abbeville Institute article on Texas secession.

http://www.thetnm.org/texas_secession

This is the Abbeville Institute article.

http://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/texas-secession/


I think this welcoming of support by the neo-Confederate movement tells a lot about the Texas Nationalist Movement and their attitudes on race.

I am going to start making up a list of things, large and small, that people can do to oppose the Texas Nationalist Movement.

Confederate heritage as it actually is

http://gawker.com/university-of-wisconsin-suspends-sae-chapter-for-chokin-1777655159

Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity, founded in the antebellum South hazing and racist behavior at the Univ. of Wisconsin.

In this song the SAE members are singing about when African Americans can join. It seems that it is never according to the song.

http://gawker.com/sae-frat-bros-sing-racist-song-about-when-black-people-1690214205

Podcast of the Texas Republican Party secession debates.

Sound track of Texas Republican's arguing for secession at the Texas State Convention

What is interesting is how loud the cheering is for the secessionists. The anger against the United States.

https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-miracle-podcast-7-sound-secession/

The craziness is boiling to the surface.

CRAZINESS TAKES OVER TEXAS REPUBLICAN PARTY UPDATE: By small margin late night vote secession removed from platform.

I have been following the Texas Nationalist movement. It has continued to surprise me.

First they get a resolution for a secession voted on by the Texas State Republican Executive Committee, and though defeated they get one-third of the committee to vote for it and discover that those voting against are scared to go on record as being against it.

Then later, they they get the resolution passed in somewhere between 10 to 22 county GOP conventions.

Now it is reported that a platform plank on secession will be both debated and voted on at the Texas State Republican Party convention in Dallas, TX.  This is getting real.

http://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Texas-GOP-to-debate-secession-on-convention-floor-7462082.php

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/05/texas-republicans-gop-secession-resolution

My previous blog postings give background information on how this Texas secessionist movement has progressed developed.

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/search?q=texas#.VzPcdPkrKiM

The very fact that it will be debated and voted on at the Texas Republican Party state convention is a tremendous advance for the cause. They will get volunteers and next time they do a signature drive to get the secession resolution on the Texas Republican Primary ballot (You can do this in Texas.) they will get the signatures. It doesn't matter if the vote is 3 to 1 or 4 to 4. If the measure loses 2 to 1, it will be a tremendous victory for a new secessionist movement.

Don't think that they can't get one-third of the delegates voting for them. They got one-third of the State Republican Executive Committee to vote for the measure. Delegates will worry also how it will impact their careers if they vote against it. Everyone thinks they can vote for it and avoid the Texas nationalists targeting them because someone else will vote against it, or that in the end it is a joke.

Also, this secessionist sentiment has roots in the Republican Party. I have the run of the Texas Republic magazine and it includes many prominent Republican officials and the magazine is sympathetic to the Confederacy and secession. It had neo-Confederates involved.

UPDATE:

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/State-GOP-rejects-secession-proposal-7468180.php


What is notable that the platform committee waited until late at night to reverse their vote and pull the measure. Even then it was 16 to pull, 14 for the secession item, and 1 abstaining for the 31 member platform committee.

The fact that the vote wasn't 31 to 0 should be cause for concern.

The Texas Nationalist Movement hasn't had at the time of this update a comment on losing. It seems they tend to report victory quickly, and defeat late, if at all.

Going as far as they did with this effort, they have achieved a victory in terms of making the possibility of secession more plausible, getting more people aware of their movement. It would be reasonable for them to expect that with the next state convention they might pick up a couple votes and it would be out for a vote by the convention.

I think that if Donald Trump is elected, they will face a difficult time getting support. If Hillary Clinton is elected, I think the Texas Nationalists will get  a lot of support and will win the vote at the next Republican Party state convention. At some point the Republican Party base will realize that their agenda has no future in the nation. At that time there will likely be secession movements all over the place.

TRIPLE BAD DAY FOR NEO-CONFEDERATES

The U.S. Treasury Department has decided to keep Hamilton on the $10 bill, probably due to the success of the recent Broadway play "Hamilton."

Instead Harriet Tubman will replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/04/20/report-tubman-replacing-jackson-on-20.html

Ben Carson, continuing to make sure people know that he is a fool, has suggested that Harriet Tubman go on the $2 bill because not many people use that denomination.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/04/20/carson-put-tubman-on-bill-no-one-uses.html

1. Neo-Confederates hate Hamilton and removing him from U.S. currency would have been a victory for them.

2. Neo-Confederates love Andrew Jackson who fought the Seminoles to preserve slavery.

3. Neo-Confederates will loath having an abolitionist, an African American and a woman on any U.S. currency. They will really hate Harriet Tubman being placed on the $20 bill and bumping Andrew Jackson off U.S. currency.

QUOTED ON MISSISSIPPI, HOMOPHOBIA, AND WHITE SUPREMACY IN THE ATLANTA BLACK STAR

http://atlantablackstar.com/2016/04/18/mississippi-a-state-of-white-power-and-black-self-determination-in-conflict/

I will get back to this post in a couple days.

Religious Scholar gives his assessment of the meaning of Confederate iconography at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond

http://openfriendshipinaclosedsociety.blogspot.com/2015/08/signs-of-crimes-and-forgiving-victim.html


The above is the link. The reassessment of church's connections to the Confederacy is happening.

St. Paul's Episcopal Church is the church I wrote back in 2014. They first decided to disinvite the United Daughters of the Confederacy, then they decided to assess their Confederate imagery in the Church.


The correspondence and news articles can be read at this link.

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/richmond-2014-2015.html

Scholar's Project on the story of integration in Little Rock, Arkansas.

SCHOLAR SENDS THANK YOU FOR MATERIALS

http://13450559.nhd.weebly.com/immediate-legacy.html

I have a website supplying the pages of the White Citizens' Council newspaper for scholars of the Civil Rights movement.

I got an email and this website was put up using the materials.

It is about the story of the integration of Little Rock.

If you haven't checked out www.citizenscouncils.com you should. You will realize that many discusses of civil rights and race today are echoes of the past discussions.

Aunjanue Ellis calls for Obama to ban Confederate flags from Federal property.

http://time.com/4270903/mississippi-confederate-flag-issue/

Aunjanue Ellis, an actress known for her role in The Help, is the star of ABC’s Quantico and co-stars in The Birth of a Nation, out on Oct. 7, calls for Obama to ban Confederate flags from Federal buildings.

"... it is time now that Obama sends a bill to Congress outlawing the flag of the KKK and the Confederacy from being flown on all federal property."

Essay about the myth of Southern solidarity for secession

Frank Cocozzelli  had this published.

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2015/11/4/14238/8927

This is the draft press release which goes out this coming weekend to media, social justice groups, etc. I will be printing it out in the morning and editing

Which Church is Hosting the

Sons of Confederate Veterans in 2016?

The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is having their 2016 national convention in Richardson, TX on July 13-17, 2016 http://www.scv2016.org/. Unlike past practice, but as in 2014 the SCV is going into stealth mode and is not announcing at which church their memorial service will be.

A campaign is underway to convince churches in the Dallas, Texas area not to host or lend their facilities to the SCV. A reasonable person would see that it is a racist and extremist organization by any reasonable standard which is documented at http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html. The campaign to get churches not to host neo-Confederate groups is documented at http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/churches-of-the-confederacy.html and the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/events/412080045663443/.

However certain denominations have past records of hosting neo-Confederate groups.

SOUTHERN BAPTISTS: They hosted the 2014 SCV national convention. It is documented online here. http://www.timesexaminer.com/historical/1914-2014-national-reunion-of-sons-of-confederate-veterans. A letter was written to the president of the Southern Baptists and copied to all 60 plus board members. http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/southern-baptist-convention.html. There was no reply.  A letter was recently sent to the head of the Southern Baptists in Texas and all the board members and hopefully there will some response. Correspondence online at http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/richardson-texas-2016.html.

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH: Historically they have frequently hosted SCV events.  (See enclosed Bar Graph.) In 2014 the former Bishop of Dallas was written but there was no reply. A letter was recently sent to Bishop Ferrell and hopefully there will be a reply. Correspondence online at http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/richardson-texas-2016.html.

EPISCOPAL CHURCH: Historically they have frequently hosted SCV events (See enclosed Bar Graph). In 2014 the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas was written and the reply was that he didn’t know of any church hosting the SCV, but he didn’t say that a church wouldn’t. Bill Murchison, contributor to Southern Partisan and former board member of the Texas League of the South is influential in the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas. A follow up letter has been sent to Bishop Summer and hopefully there will be a more definitive reply. Correspondence online at http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/richardson-texas-2016.html.

UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: They haven’t hosted too many SCV events, but many of their churches host SCV monthly meetings (See enclosed Excel sheet). The UMC has hosted national events for the United Daughters of the Confederacy repeatedly despite correspondence asking them not to. http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/united-methodist-church.html.

The North Texas Conference Bishop McKee was written to in 2014, recently a follow up letter has been sent and hopefully there will be a reply.  Correspondence online at http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/richardson-texas-2016.html. 

PRESBYTERIAN USA:  They are in the top four of hosting national neo-Confederate convention events. (See enclosed Bar Graph.) The 1^st Presbyterian Church in Texarkana, AR, lent their facilities to the Children of the Confederacy national convention in 2015. Presbyterian Voices for Justice has raise the issue (See http://www.pv4j.org/network-news/new-network-news-june-2015.pdf) but it remains to be seen if the Presbyterian USA church will give up the Confederacy. Correspondence in 2014 went unanswered. Hopefully they will respond to a recent letter sent in 2016.   Correspondence online at http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/richardson-texas-2016.html.

OTHER DENOMINATIONS: From the Bar Graphs you can see that other denominations have also hosted neo-Confederate events. Additionally certain Christian Reconstructionist groups and reactionary Presbyterian denominations have had an affinity for the Confederacy.

The article, "The US Civil War as A Theological War: Confederate Christian Nationalism and the League of the South," in the Canadian Review of American Studies, Vol. 32 No. 3, pp. 253-284, describes these conservative denominations. (Available online at: http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/ConfederateChristianNationalism.pdf).

As some denominations stop hosting neo-Confederate groups others may step in to take their place. Remember it might be your church, ask and find out.

CORRESPONDANCE DOCUMENTED ONLINE:

As other religious leaders, denominations, churches and anti-racist groups are written to the correspondence will be online at: http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/richardson-texas-2016.html. Additionally documentation can be sent via Cloud Services to those interested.

CONTACT:

Ed Sebesta can be contacted by email at edwardsebesta@gmail.com. His curriculum vitae is enclosed. He was recently awarded the Spirit of Freedom medal by the African American Civil War Museum and is published by university presses, peer-reviewed academic journals, and Black Commentator. http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/curriculum-vitae.html.