Confederate flag did not warrant removal
Nov. 30, 2011
The removal of the Confederate flag at the courthouse was just plain wrong and despicable. The flag and monument are exactly where they need to be. It was on that site where the first courthouse stood, that served as the capital of Louisiana from 1863 to 1865.
This would have also been the place where companies would have disembarked for the front. It was here that the 3rd National was lowered for the last time.
This would be no different of a historical display than the artifacts that are in the courthouse.
Are they next?
Also this is the site of, I believe, the last (46th) reunion of the old veterans in 1936. Unlike some, I found nothing intimidating about the scrolls. On one side was the dedication by the U.D.C. and on the other, words of commemoration of the gallantry and valor of the soldiers.
How is it the feelings of the one (real or imagined) is more important than the feelings of the many?
As proven by The Times’ poll that at last count was 75 percent to 22 percent in favor of the flag staying.
Another unanswered question is why weren’t there any objections to the flag when the aggrieved won their court cases? Why didn’t they choose another venue, if the flag was so prejudicial?
Of course the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled against them and their mindless arguments. I remember when Mayor Cedric Glover (we greatly admired his courage and consideration) signed a Confederate Heritage Month Proclamation, as did the mayor of Natchitoches, and a couple of other black mayors. I was beginning to think that maybe they saw that the heritage people didn’t hate anyone or celebrate slavery, any more than they celebrate Satanism and the occult on Halloween.
Approximately 80 percent to 90 percent of the men that disembarked at this spot were non-slaveholders as were the rest of the Confederate army. They were poor, did not own property and could not vote.
Many could not read nor write. They fought in defense of their homes and families, whom they thought would be robbed, raped and murdered by roving mobs led by Nat Turner, or John Brown, and urged on by Thaddeus Stevens and the Radical Republicans. God bless those men in butternut and gray. America’s greatest army and generation.
I believe in my heart that the motive for some on the commission, was racial hatred and malice, for the others ignorance, cowardice and 30 pieces of silver.
Wilbur Snellings
Bossier City.
