Take 'Em Down NOLA Item # 5 - The end of the Confederacy in the built environment and place names

The importance of the Take 'Em Down NOLA national conference is that we are networked now. A loose network to be sure, but a network. There is the sense that there is a national movement being born.

The conference has been inspiration for other groups to form and work in their areas. Information is being exchanged. I gave out 80 copies of my book "Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction," to the attendees. To one individual from each city I gave a copy of the "Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader," and "Pernicious." I think they will be surprised how rabid the neo-Confederate movement is.

I also shared with the people for whom I got contact cards online resources including my website http://www.confederatepastpresent.org/ and my curriculum vitae with its sources. http://templeofdemocracy.com/curriculum-vitae.html

If some neo-Confederate group is defending Confederate statues some place I can have information to the local group fighting Confederate statues as soon as they contact me. Though now the network is aware of this article.

http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html

Being informed is always an asset and people will be bring the information I have shared to others.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans will no longer be able to pass themselves off as sentimentalists and neither will the United Daughters of the Confederacy be able to pass themselves as persons with historical nostalgia. The neo-Confederate agenda will be known.

I can get information documenting the neo-Confederate movements hostility to all sorts of groups in hours.

The other groups bring their own talents and resources into the effort with their experiences to organize and mobilize.

We haven't gotten involved about half of the groups across the nation which are involved so there is potential for expansion and as mentioned new groups will be forming.

Another national convention is planned to be in Jacksonville. Annual conventions will keep the sense of there being a national movement and continue the exchange of information. I think Jacksonville will be closer to groups in Virginia and the Carolina's and we will get more participation from that part of the nation. Also, being in Florida I think there will be people wanting to have a combined vacation/conference visit. The ocean will be close by.

Up until recently campaigns against Confederate statues have been done by temporary ad hoc groups or groups that are only temporarily focused on this. Also, one interesting feature of the attendees at the NOLA conference is that they understood how the built environment created a framework of values that shape society.

Whereas there had been groups in defense of Confederate statues that continued from year to year for generations, there hadn't been counter organizations against the Confederacy that were more than temporary efforts. That is now changed. Elected officials will have to understand that there will be groups holding them accountable if they support or aid neo-Confederates. There might be a protest group showing up at their next event.

The was the comparison of local efforts and learning that some of the obstacles and behaviors they observed were the same in their different cities and an exchange of tactics and counter-arguments that people had learned.

The Confederate built environment is losing popularity over time and I think it just needs some focused groups to keep pushing and in 20 years Confederate monuments will be few and the indicators of some really backward town.

The Confederacy is going down.