Confederate Battle Flag At MOC

My letter to the Honorable Mr. Sam Carter, Board of Supervisors, Appomattox County, Va. You may wish to do something similar. Here is the gentlemans email address: sam.carter@appomattoxcountyva.gov
 
Dear Supervisor Carter,
 
I hope you are well. I wish to make you aware of some rather disturbing events that have taken place at the Museum of the Confederacy. I am the president of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. We have been around since 1896 and have around 31,000 members today. My organization has been keenly interested in the Museum of the Confederacy for as long as we have been in existence. In the past the museum has been a grand defender of the Southern plight to gain self-government and has been used to tell the story of our common ancestors.

Unfortunately, lately, and under the direction of Mr. Waite Rawls, the museum has taken a turn to the north. Recently Mr. Rawls attempted an effort to rid the museum’s name of the word "Confederacy." He received much resistance from the community and he reversed his efforts (for now). With the new museum in your backyard he is once again senselessly fanning the flames of discontent. It boggles the minds of many a Southerner as to why there is to be NO Confederate flag flying outside of The Museum of the Confederacy.
 
There is a great deal of angst over this situation and my membership, joined by many others, is incensed. I bring this matter to you today because I know of your love for your community and I hope we share a common bond with our noble past. I would like to see the Museum a success that would not only benefit the truthful history of our region but bring prosperity to your fair city. Two weeks ago, with this same motivation, I called Mr. Rawls to speak with him about these present concerns. We spent over three hours on the phone over the weekend. I know that many people will be determined to see a flag fly outside of the museum and many will make their feelings known by protesting outside of the museum. I pleaded with Mr. Rawls to take action to divert this otherwise unnecessary disruption. But he only gave me weak excuses of not even considering their requests. He told me that your office would be "furious if he put a Confederate flag outside." He told me that the Mayor would be very upset, then he told me that his investors informed him that if he did anything controversial then they would withdraw their funds. With so many stories, I don’t know what to believe therefore I am to believe none of it.
 
Due to Mr. Rawls past views of the symbols of the Confederacy and his apparent agenda to pander to the politically-correct and the northern dollar, I lean toward the notion that it is Mr. Rawls and Mr. Rawls alone that wish for no Confederate flag to fly outside of the Museum of the Confederacy.

I could have helped resolve this problem long ago, but Mr. Rawls does not see fit to have the opinion of the largest and most respected heritage organization at their table to discuss matters so vitally important to us and our fellow Southerners.
 
I ask you today to help us change the mind of Mr. Rawls and let’s find an amenable solution. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call. I am most,
 
Respectfully yours,
 
Michael Givens
Commander-in-Chief
Sons of Confederate Veterans
(931) 442-1831
http://scv.org/

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From: Lunelle Siegel [mailto:siegels1@mindspring.com] Sent: Friday, March 23, 2012
To: ‘sam.carter@appomattoxcountyva.gov’
Cc: ‘Michael Givens SCV’
Subject: Confederate Battle Flag at MOC/Toursim/Offended

Good day, Sir,
 
It was brought to my attention through the Sons of Confederate Veterans, that the Board of Supervisors is opposed to the Museum of the Confederacy flying the Confederate Battle Flag on its grounds.
 
To say that Appomattox represents unification and the standard of the Confederate Soldier is not welcome is offensive and insulting to me.
 
It hasn’t been that long since I learned that I am descended from a Confederate Veteran, but shortly after I did, I purchased print of a Mort Kunstler painting which portrays the surrender at Appomattox.  In that picture, prominently is the furling of the flag of the gallant men of my family, representing the end of their hopes of defending their families against the continued attacks on the South and her culture, that we still endure today, exemplified by your Board’s unwillingness to accept the flying of a prominent symbol of what happened there 147 years ago.
 
Each year my mother and I take two historical tourism trips a year, spending thousands of dollars in the local economy each visit.
 
Please know, that we vote with our pocket books and, I believe there are many other ladies like us, that would find more friendly destinations than ones who would purposely want to offend us by insulting our families by not honoring our family’s veterans.

Lunelle M. Siegel