“Response or Lack Thereof…”
From: wildbill4dixie@yahoo.com
Regarding Museum of the Confederacy director Waite Rawls’ recent response to compatriot Lauret…. the last time I saw that much B.S. in one place, I was participating in a reenactment and I was marching through a cow pasture.
First, regarding “the disdain for the flag by the NAACP,” where is it written that this group is the anointed king of us all? I am still trying to find where it is written that I must subscribe to every whim that this organization hands down and I have yet to find anything of the sort! Apparently Mr. Rawls considers himself to be one if the NAACP’s loyal subjects!
Next, as far as Mr. Rawls citing the “resistance” of the UDC and SCV in the 1950s, I’m not totally sure of what he’s referring to. I would hazard a guess however that the “resistance” he refers to was the resistance to the Brown vs Board of Education decision and the resistance to the various civil rights laws which followed over the next 10 years. Being old enough to remember some of these events, I can tell you that such decisions and such laws were opposed by a large segment of the American population, including members of my own family. (And I did not grow up in the South…I grew up in New England!).
My father, in particular, who raised us to judge others by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin, (no, MLK didn’t make that saying up because my dad was using it before old Martin ever thought of copying it from someone else), was no fan of forced segregation. However, he was no fan of forced integration either. Nor was he a fan of government telling its citizens where they must send their children to school! This was my dad’s view, it was a commonly held view of the time, and I see no reason to penalize anyone for it. From my point of view, it is one that I still subscribe to.
Finally, Rawls cites the old “flag was used by white supremacists” argument. Big deal! Those same people use the U.S. flag, the Christian cross and other commonly used symbols. Besides, (and this is important to remember), attacks on Southern heritage today don’t just include attacks on a particular flag – they include attacks on EVERYTHING pertaining to said heritage, including holidays, events, Confederate heroes, etc. Hell! I can’t even take a “no, the war was not about slavery” position without someone calling me names! The issue here then isn’t simply an issue of a particular confederate flag not being allowed. Nothing that would cast the South in anything but a villainous role is allowed, not even an opinion! Rawls and others can keep their tired old “flag was used by white supremacists” argument. I refuse to buy it or fall for it.
Bill Vallante
Commack NY
SCV Camps 3000, 1506, 1961, 2086 (Associate Member)
