Spreader of stereotypes

SouthernN'Proud

Southern Discomfort
A Virginia parent is irate that her local school district is allowing elementary school students to attend a “Dixie Days” historical event because it’s put on by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Some 400 local students are expected to attend the Mechanicsville event, which is intended to promote factual Civil War history and heritage and "to promote the life of the Confederate soldier" through re-enactments and the like.

"I am appalled that the school is sponsoring this trip," said Karla Stevenson, whose fourth-grade son attends one of the schools. "This is something that brings up a lot of negative thoughts."

She said the sponsoring organization holds racist views and uses the Confederate flag and uniform to intimidate minorities.


**end**

I am currently in the application process to become a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. This organization is not the KKK. Not even close. Major activities include the cleaning, decorating, and maintenence of graves belonging to CSA veterans, "Civil" War re-enactments for historical preservation and educational purposes, financial assistance for descendants of pensioned CSA veterans when needed, the furtherment of accurate history as opposed to what we were all taught in school, and similar activities.

To become a member, one must prove direct genealogical ancestry through verified documentation to a CSA soldier. Hence, not just anyone with an axe to grind can become a member of this organization. I am in the process of obtaining these documents pertaining to my fifth-great grandfather, who survived the War for Southern Independence and succumbed years later to the Spanish Flu epidemic that ran rampant through Southern Appalachia, killing both himself and his wife in the late 1910s.

Maybe calling their event "Dixie Days" was a bad idea. But the event itself is a wonderful idea. It is way past time our kids learned what really happened instead of what a Boston textbook publisher wants us to believe happened. Americans continue to live in blissful ignorance of one of our country's most misunderstood events, and as long as this happens, the ripple effects harm every one of us every day.

I've said it many times before, and here it is again: If this flag offends you, you need a history lesson.
 
The flag represents a treasonous attempt to break up the country. It represents a region that supported slavery & treason over a unified, free America. Just because you believe that the south got shafted doesn't mean we're ignorant of the facts. We just hapen to disagree with your final assessment.

Her specific reasonings are as ridiculous as they are misguided however. The Bill of Rights does not include a section on "reedom from 'negative thoughts'.
 
Gonz said:
The flag represents a treasonous attempt to break up the country. It represents a region that supported slavery & treason over a unified, free America. Just because you believe that the south got shafted doesn't mean we're ignorant of the facts. We just hapen to disagree with your final assessment.

Again, show me where any attempt was made to usurp the government in DC. As to "breaking up the union", read some history. Secession was a final resort, forced upon the legislators by their moneyed New England counterparts. Check into who sold their slaves South, then outlawed the ghastly practice after safeguarding their own profits. The names might surprise you. IF you can read with an open mind.

Every region of the United States supported slavery. You just don't like admitting it.

Anyone who knows the facts will reassess their views. Just because you refuse to learn them doesn't make me wrong; it makes you stubborn.

The SCV does more good in this country than most any recognized civic organization you could name. They just don't do it in your town. That alone does not make them the Klan, like it or not.

Narrowminded views do not become you. I really wish you'd hop off that pulpit and dig a little into history. You'd be as shocked as I was if not as outraged. Still, suit yourself. You'll be far from alone in your views. Maybe that's what really matters. It takes a little guts to stick to your guns in the face of popular misguided trendiness.

I still defy you to read the Confederate Constitution and tell me you couldn't support it. Take out the slavery clauses, which were still in the American Constitution at the time remember, and tell me it was not better than what we have today. I bet you can't do it with a clear conscience.
 
I always thought the flag was because the South sceded. Also racism is not restricted to the south. Parts of the North still have racists. Plus not everyone in the South is racist.I am in school in NC and it does not seem racist. Everyone here for the most part gets along. The flag itself was just a symbol for those who had sceded.
 
SouthernN'Proud said:
Again, show me where any attempt was made to usurp the government in DC.

SnP said:
Secession was a final resort, forced upon the legislators by their moneyed New England counterparts.

Even you admitted it.

SnP said:
Anyone who knows the facts will reassess their views.

Now there's a broad statement.

SnP said:
I really wish you'd hop off that pulpit and dig a little into history.

You assume that since I disagree with your assessment that I am a "northerner". I was born in a southern state. My momma is from Mississippi. Her daddy is from Mississippi & her mom was from western Alabama. My paternal family was awaiting the US, in Arizona. I have no ties to the union...save one. I disagree with breaking up the US. United We Stand, Divided We Fall.
 
the link said:
Does Lincoln truly deserve the title of "Great Emancipator?"

He was the sitting President & he issued the Proclamation. That equates to a resounding YES.
 
Oh,
In conclusion, there are mountains of evidence showing that Lincoln was a white supremacist...

Another source that has no agenda? He was hardly a supremest...he was a man living in the mid-1800s.
 
Gonz said:
Even you admitted it.

I admitted that secession was not what anyone wanted. The Southern states got sick of being crapped on. They tried every option available to them, then voted to peacefully leave what they voluntarily joined. It's called government by the consent of the governed. It's a cornerstone of democracy. It used to be used here. It ain't no more.

By the logic you and others use, Poland should still be part of the Soviet Union, because their leaving to govern themselves weakened the union as a whole. Agree?

Funny how every time a people anywhere in the world desire freedom from a governemnt they no longer support, we send tanks and troops and sing songs and everybody up in Washington lines up in front of the cameras to be seen supporting these poor oppressed people...except when it was our own people wanting these things. Then it was a terrible idea.

Hypocrites.

Secession is not anarchy. Maybe all you need is a dictionary. No one in Dixie wanted control of the federal government...they wanted to leave it. Why do you not get that?

I assume nothing about you. That's one of our differences. I draw my opinions based on your statements. If you have ancestors from Dixie, and you call the movement treason, you are accusing your own relatives of treason. If you can do that, OK. I can't. I didn't live then. I am trying to glean what I can of the REAL way things were, and in so doing I have learned a lot about the tyrant Lincoln. You refuse to consider historical documented facts because they clash with your preconcieved notions and the myths you learned so well in high school. That's your choice. As is replying to my ramblings. I am only trying to further the cause of factual, nonedited history. In so doing, some of our icons may get egg on their faces. So be it. If they are not what we believe them to be, they should get egged. Works for OJ, right?
 
SouthernN'Proud said:
By the logic you and others use, Poland should still be part of the Soviet Union, because their leaving to govern themselves weakened the union as a whole. Agree?

Hardly. Poland had a long history befiore being overtaken & consumed by the USSR.


SnP said:
Secession is not anarchy.
As a general course of argument, I disagree. There can be times it is appropriate. Obviously, I don't think the break up of the United States was one of those times.

SnP said:
I didn't live then.

Which is precisely why I prefer letting history stay in the past. We need to remember & to learn from it, not relive it. As I've repeatedly said, using 21st century morals to judge (fill in the century) is unjust.
 
Gonz said:
Which is precisely why I prefer letting history stay in the past. We need to remember & to learn from it, not relive it.


No argument here, when it is recorded factually. This is not. The impact of what happened in the 1830s and 1840s is still reverberating throughout the South today. The economic blight inflicted upon my (and by your admission, your) ancestors still has an effect on the day to day lives of millions of people. Maybe it doesn't bother you. Maybe it should if you really stand for what you claim.

If the events of 1830s America had happened in, let's say...Spain, and historical research brought these facts to light today, people everywhere would be up in arms. Our government would at the very least be issuing proclamations denouncing the events. Likely, relief funds would start flowing like water over a cliff. Instead, we get edited accounts, mistaken and misleading information, a monumental cover up that is going on to this very day, a campaign of cultural genocide to rival the one of actual attempted genocide (from the mouth of your hero the thieving bastard Sherman), an attitude of assumed superiority for some reason (we didn't pass the laws prohibiting blacks from living here...the Union states did that), and an overall reaction of "Oh just take your lumps and be quiet about it like a good little lap dog." Ummm....no thanks. Wrongs should be righted, and this is a big'un.

Whether you prefer your cozy little myth or not, it is beginning to get exploded. Sooner or later, the truth will surface. It already has, it just needs exposure. When that happens, I wanna see some people scramble. It's gonna be right funny. Remember the deal about Thomas Jefferson having children by his slaves? Tip of the iceberg, my friend. As the truth about Dishonest Abe gains momentum, I hope to be on the committee to sandblast that little shrine of his up in Washington. All those granite minerals enslaved in that statue need to be emancipated.
 
SnP, most of the stuff you've been mentioning was more or less common knowledge even when I was a kid. Every several years it comes up again, people argue about it for a while then it gets shoved back under its rock for a while. The main difference now is the easy dissemination of information in today's society. Frankly though, I'll be shocked if anything comes of it. History is written by the winners ("accurate history" is an oxymoron) and even when contradictory information comes to light people in general very much prefer the pablum they grew up with to the facts. For instance, when was the last time you heard anyone talking about Jack Kennedy fucking anyone who'd stand still long enough while he was president. I fully understand that you are outraged and I understand why. I would suggest to you though, that the truth actually lies somewhere between what you think it is and what Gonz does.

You're absolutely right about one thing though, emancipation was a smokescreen. Rather remeniscent of more recent events, huh?
 
And with all due respect to all who read this, that mentality of acceptance is precisely what I and others are trying to get past. What a person chooses to believe for themselves is fine with me, regardless of the topic. Opinions are what they are. But some things go deeper than the surface. When that's the case, do we not strive as a society to correct the misrepresentations? If all these events of 150 years ago had no bearing on life today, I probably wouldn't give a flip much either way. But they do have bearing. If you don't think so, drive through Alabama or Mississippi or Hancock County TN sometime. Sure, there are places in every state where poverty is rampant. But just go through some time. Then check your government statistics about mean family income per state. Chart it on a map. See if you discern a pattern. See how long it's been that way. I bet I can tell you when the pendulum started swinging, and if certain parties have their way, it'll never swing back.
 
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