Arkansas bill to drop Robert E. Lee holiday goes to governor for signature

http://www.swtimes.com/news/20170318/arkansas-king-lee-bill-sent-to-governor

The bill if signed, and Governor Asa Hutchison is planning on signing it Monday in a ceremony, will remove Robert E. Lee from the state's Jan. 19th holiday which will be for Martin Luther King.

As the article points out that leaves only Alabama, Mississippi having a Robert E. Lee/ Martin Luther King holiday combined.

As the article points out there used to be seven states with Lee/King combined holidays.

Some Republicans in the state legislature came up with various excuses to not change the holiday without endorsing the Confederacy. This has been a strategy of late to defend the glorification of the Confederacy by having rationalizations that don't specifically defend the Confederacy but find some reason or another for the Confederate monument to stay, the Confederate holiday to be retained, and the street or building named after a Confederate not to be renamed.

I am sort of surprised that this has happened. It could be that with the massacre in 2015 some state legislators wanted to do something to further de-Confederate their state.

It might be though that the Lee holiday  came up in trying to attract a factory, facility, or business headquarters to Arkansas. Some competing site just needs to point out that they have a Confederate holiday and it would give pause to families wondering what type of state to which they would be moving. Competing sites probably would like to bring a place's Confederate identity to attention as a means of blocking the other sites chances of locating a corporate facility.

I don't think a corporation's non-discrimination policy is worth much if they don't consider the issue of the Confederate self-identification of a place to which they wish to locate a facility.

I think at some point I should ask corporations to consider this and give it some weight.

Jos. A. Banks chooses to support the Sons of Confederate Veterans

Earlier this summer I had a campaign to get corporations to drop supporting the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV). It was successful.

The campaign is documented in an article at Black Commentator. You can read it at this free guest link:

http://www.blackcommentator2.com/527_cover_scv_donation_loss_sebesta_guest.html

They were one of the companies which I wrote asking them not to support the SCV.

Additionally, the affinity shopping host, We Care did drop the SCV. But it seems one company has decided to continue to support the SCV, Jos. A. Banks.

http://sonsofconfederateveterans.blogspot.com/2013/09/scv-members-offered-discounts.html

Also, in the Jan./Feb. 2014 Vol. 72 No. 1 issue of Confederate Veteran, the official publication of the SCV, on page 55 there is a notice titled, "Corporate card offered to SCV members for Jos. A. Banks."

Essentially the clothing from Jos. A. Banks constitutes a Confederate uniform. I plan to let this be known in other venues. PLEASE SHARE.

I sent the following email to them:

From:                                         Edward H.Sebesta (my email address)

Sent:                                           Saturday, January 11, 2014 10:52 AM

To:                                               'corporatecard@jos-a-bank.com'

Subject:                                     Jos. A. Banks supports a racist organization

Dear Jos. A. Banks:

“Black Commentator” has this article about the racism and extremism of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV).

The free guest pass for the article is online at:

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

With the publication of this article corporations generally dropped the SCV. You can read another article about this at:

http://www.blackcommentator2.com/527_cover_scv_donation_loss_sebesta_guest.html

Though Jos. A. Banks was written about the SCV and though We Care dropped the SCV it seems that Jos. A. Banks has decided, despite it being revealed that the SCV is extremist and racist, to continue to offer a corporate card to the SCV.

This makes Jos. A. Banks complicit with the agenda of the SCV and it brings into question any employment non-discrimination policies you might have.

Essentially, Jos. A. Banks clothing comprise a Confederate uniform.

Regards,

Edward H. Sebesta

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/

Project to write corporations who donate to the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) now underway, dossier on the SCV scheduled to be published this week. UPDATE: Published UPDATE2: SCV dumped.

My dossier on the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is scheduled to be published on July 25th this coming week. I will have a blog on it with the guest pass URL for readers. There might possibly be a delay of a week in publishing, but currently that is the schedule.

Next weekend I am writing 46 corporations and individuals asking them to stop supporting the SCV with donations. I have already gotten names, addresses, and assembled the mailing materials. Each CEO will get a copy of the article scheduled to be published.

You can read about how corporations donate money to the SCV at a previous blog posting.
http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2013/06/corporations-that-offer-to-give.html

The draft of the letter that is being sent to them is at this blog posting:

http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2013/06/letter-to-ceos-of-corporations-that.html

The article that is going to be mailed to them has been published:

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

For some reason Taio Cruz's song "Dynamite" with its line "I am wearing all my favorite brands, brands, brands, brands," is running through my head after typing this list. I wonder if Mr. Cruz and his fans would consider the Confederacy one of their favorite, "brands, brands, brands, brands." I doubt it. In fact a lot of brands probably don't want to be associated with the Confederacy in the public mind.

UPDATE 2: www.we-care.com has dumped the SCV. Technically the page is still up, but there are no companies listed. Total victory.

The companies are:

Adidas
Aeropostale
Alamo Rent A Car (They advertised in the Confederate Veteran)
Anthropologie
Apple Store
AT&T Wireless
Banana Republic
Barneys New York
Bed Bath & Beyond
Bloomingdale's
Converse
DKNY
ESPNShop.com
Footlocker
Fossil
Ghiradelli Chocolate
Giorgio Armani Beauty
Godiva Chocolatier
Guess
Jessica Simpson
Jos. A. Bank
Lancome Paris
Lee
Lindt Chocolate
Macy's
NASCAR Superstore
Nautica
NFL
Nordstroms
Old Navy
Oscar de la Renta
Ralph Lauren
Saks Fifth Avenue
Sesame Street
Sports Authority
Starbucks
Theory
True Religion Apparel
Urban Outfitters
Vichy Laboratories
Walgreens
Wedgwood Waterford PLC
Wrangler
Yves Saint Laurent

Corporations that offer to give donations to the Sons of Confederate Veterans. UPDATE: Article published that is going to be mailed to corporations that donate to the SCV

These are the texts at the http://scv.we-care.com, about supporting the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV).

We at the Sons of Confederate Veterans have a trusted partnership with We-Care.com. Your purchase through this site helps us continue the work of preserving and teaching American History and the truth of the Confederate Veteran.

And:

Sons of Confederate Veterans

Your purchase through this site helps Sons of Confederate Veterans preserve the history and legacy of the heroes who fought for the Confederacy so that future generations can understand the motives that animated the Southern Cause.

These are the companies we are going to write first. Perhaps in installments or all at once for their offering donations to the SCV. The text of the letter we are going to send is at a previous blog posting. http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2013/06/letter-to-ceos-of-corporations-that.html. We are going to have a status EXCEL sheet online at some point in the project to track correspondence with them. The dossier about the SCV is still with my editor. Some surprising organizations willing to donate to the SCV are Sesame Street, PBS Kids Shop, and PBS.

The following article will be printed out and mailed to the corporatiosn that donate to the SCV.
http://www.blackcommentator.com/526/526_confederacy_sebesta_guest_share.html

UPDATE: The campaign was a complete success. Article on campaign here:
http://www.blackcommentator2.com/527_cover_scv_donation_loss_sebesta_guest.html

So here are the companies: 

Company	Address	Head	Title
Adidas	adidas AG , Adi-Dassler-Strasse 1, 91074 Herzogenaurach, Germany	Herbert Hainer	CEO
Aeropostale	22nd Floor, 112 West 34th Street, NEW YORK, NY 10120	Thomas P. Johnson	CEO
Alamo Rent A Car	600 Corporate Park Drive, St. Louis, MO USA 63105	William Lobeck	President & CEO
Anthropologie	5000 South Broad Street, Building 10 Philadelphia PA 19112	David W. McCreight	CEO
Apple Store	1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA 95014	Timothy D. Cook	CEO
AT&T Wireless	208 South Akard Street Dallas, TX 75202	Ralph de la Vega	President & CEO
Banana Republic	Two Folsom Street San Francisco, CA 94105 USA	Jack Calhoun	Global President
Barneys New York	575 5th Ave, New York, NY 10017	Mark Lee	CEO
Bed Bath & Beyond	650 Liberty Ave. Union NJ 07083	Steven H. Temares	CEO
Bloomingdale's	1000 3rd Ave. New York NY 10022	Michael Gould	CEO
Converse	One High St. North Andover MA 01845	Jim Calhoun	CEO
DKNY	550 7th Ave. New York NY 10018	Mark Weber	CEO
ESPNShop.com	Espn Plaza. 935 Middle Street, Bristol, CT 06010, United States	John D. Skipper	President
Footlocker	112 West 34th Street, New York, New York 10120	Ken C. Hicks	CEO
Fossil Group Inc.	901 S Central Expy, Richardson, TX 75080	Kosta N. Kartsotis	Chairman of the Board & CEO
Gay.com	10990 WILSHIRE BOULEVARD, PENTHOUSE ,   LOS ANGELES, CA 90024	Paul Colichman	CEO
Ghiradelli Chocolate Company	1111 139th Avenue, San Leandro, CA 94578-263	Marty Thompson	CEO
Giorgio Armani Beauty	114 5th Ave # 17, New York, NY 10011	Graziano de Boni	CEO
Godiva Chocolatier Inc.	333 W 34th St., New York, NY, 10001 United States	James A. Goldman	CEO
Guess? Inc.	1444 South Alameda Street Los Angeles, CA 90021	Paul Marciano	CEO
Jelly Belly	1 Jelly Belly Ln, Fairfield, CA 94534	Robert Simpson Jr.	President and Chief Operating Officer
Jessica Simpson		Jessica Simpson
Jos. A. Bank
Lancome Paris, L'Oreal	L’Oréal USA, 575 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA	Jean Paul Agon	CEO
Lindt Chocolate, Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Spruengli AG	Lindt & Sprüngli (International) AG, Seestrasse 204, CH-8802 Kilchberg, Switzerland	Ernst Tanner	Chairman of the Board & CEO
Macy's	Macy's Inc., 7 West Seventh Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202	Terry J. Lundgren	CEO
NASCAR Superstore	1 Daytona Blvd, Daytona Beach, FL 32114	Brian France	CEO
Nautica	40 W. 57th St., New York, NY, 10019 United States	David Chu	CEO
NFL	345 Park Ave., New York, NY 10154	Roger Goodell	CEO
Nordstrom	1617 6th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101, United States	Blake W. Nordstrom	CEO
Old Navy
Oscar de la Renta	550 Seventh Avenue New York NY 10018	Oscar de la Renta	Owner
PBS KIDS Shop	Public Broadcasting Service, 2100 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA 22202	Paula A. Kerger	President & CEO
Ralph Lauren	650 Madison Ave C1, New York, NY 10022	Ralph Lauren	Chairman of the Board & CEO
Reebok	1895 J W Foster Blvd, Canton, MA 02021	Uli Becker	CEO
Saks Fifth Avenue	362 9th Avenue, New York, 10001	Stephen I. Sadove	CEO
Sesame Street	1 Lincoln Plaza, New York, NY, 10023 United States	H. Melvin Ming	CEO
Shops PBS	Public Broadcasting Service, 2100 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA 22202	Paula A. Kerger	President & CEO
Sports Authority	1050 W Hampden Ave, Englewood, CO 80110	Darrell Webb	CEO
Starbucks	Starbucks Corporation, 2401 Utah Ave S., Seattle, WA 98134	Howard Schultz	CEO
Theory	38 Gansevoort Street New York, New York 10014	Andrew Rosen	CEO
True Religion Apparel Inc.	2263 E. Vernon Ave., Vernon, CA, 90058 United States	Lynne Koplin	President
Virgin Atlantic Airways	50 Brook Green, The School House, London,  W6 7RR, United Kingdom	Sir Richard C. Branson	President
Walmart	702 SW 8th St, Bentonville, AR 72716	Mike Duke	CEO
Walgreens	200 Wilmot Rd, Deerfield, IL 60015	Gregory D Wasson	CEO
Wedgwood Waterford PLC	Embassy House Herbert Park La, Ballsbridge, Dublin,  4, Ireland	David W. Sculley	CEO
Urban Outfitters	Urban Outfitters, Inc., 5000 South Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19112-1495	Richard Hayne	President & CEO

Letter to CEOs of corporations that support the Sons of Confederate Veterans, updated. UPDATE: Article that will be mailed to CEOs has been published

The following is the letter we are going to write corporations who support the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The dossier on the SCV isn't yet online. I haven't made a final selections of which corporations I am going to write first. When I do I will announce it in this blog.

Companies who support the SCV make a mockery of their anti-discrimination policies that they have.

At the website you will see the following explanation:

Your purchase through this site helps Sons of Confederate Veterans preserve the history and legacy of the heroes who fought for the Confederacy so that future generations can understand the motives that animated the Southern Cause.

The following is the letter: 

 DATE

 Edward H. Sebesta

 Address

President

Company

Address

Dear XXX:

Please find enclosed a printout from http://scv.we-care.com/ where your company offers a benefit to both the organization the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and its members. It is disappointing to see that your company is aiding the SCV, a neo-Confederate organization that is both extremist and racist. Official SCV literature compares Abraham Lincoln to Hitler, and praises and promotes books that defend slavery and books that laud the Ku Klux Klan. Please find enclosed a dossier on the SCV with detailed footnotes of all quotes and assertions. This dossier is also available online at <url here>.

In supporting the Sons of Confederate Veterans you are both doing a disservice to the American public, and give lie to any statements your company might make in personnel policies against discrimination. I ask that you cease supporting the Sons of Confederate Veterans, be this directly or through subsidiaries or intermediaries.

                                                                                                Sincerely Yours,

                                                                                                Edward H. Sebesta

The article which will be mailed to CEOs documenting the extremism of the SCV has been published. The following is the link:

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

UPDATE:

The campaign was a complete success. Article on campaign.
http://www.blackcommentator2.com/527_cover_scv_donation_loss_sebesta_guest.html