POLITICIANS CLEAR PATH FOR ANOTHER ILLEGAL REMOVAL
The city of Norfolk, Virginia can remove its “Johnny Reb” Confederate statue from a busy downtown intersection the state attorney general and a local prosecutor have determined.
Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Gregory Underwood filed court papers late Tuesday saying his office and the office of Attorney General Mark Herring will not make any efforts to prosecute the City when they remove the statue, dedicated in 1907.
The law, which dates back to 1904, bans counties from moving such memorials. It was updated in 1997 to include cities in the ban. But the ban is only effective IF political officials enforce it. “I have no intention of ever taking any enforcement actions,” Underwood wrote.
He adds that neither his nor Herring’s office have any interest in stopping the city from removing the eight-story monument, which features a Confederate soldier atop a pedestal.
Norfolk politicians voted to remove the statue more than two years ago, however, the vote came with a proviso that the statue would only be moved if it was legal. Last year, the city filed suit against the state saying that the state law infringed upon the city’s rights. So basically the proclamation by the state’s top prosecutors is an out of court settlement to green light the city to disregard the law and do whatever its politicians want to do.
ALSO IN VIRGINIA
Last week discussion about changing the dress code in Franklin County’s schools has evolved into a debate about whether the Confederate Flag should be deemed offensive.
Penny Blue, the only black member of the Franklin County School Board, raised the issue during a meeting last week when the body considered making revisions to its dress code that were simply intended to simplify the code and loosen restrictions on hemlines, as parents of daughters complained it was near impossible to find shorts and skirts in compliance.
At the present, the entire board has told Mrs. Blue that they do not agree with her that the Flag is offensive. But if I have learned anything, Mrs. Blue will not let this go. Her friends at the NAACP are likely to start showing up to upcoming meetings. Our friends in the Rocky Mount, North Carolina area need to start attending school board meetings.
NORTH CAROLINA PROTESTS PERSIST
For more than seven hours Saturday, hundreds of people demonstrating against or in support of a Confederate statue and battle flags on display in the heart of this largely liberal small town of Pittsboro chanted, sang and taunted each other.
Sanford Road’s three lanes separated the dueling sides for much of the afternoon, with people in passing cars sometimes honking or cheering.
Among the groups represented were Heirs to the Confederacy, ACTBAC, CSA II, the Virginia Flaggers and the Hiwaymen, an Arkansas-based group
Across the street about 200 members of antifa and other Marxist/progressive/liberal groups held signs and waved flags. A few of this group included local liberals but most were bussed in from out of town and out of state. Many of them the same folks who were bussed in to protest Silent Sam, the Confederate monument at UNC-Chapel Hill.
IS THE VERY WORD “SOUTHERN” NEXT?
The North Carolina Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) was quick to criticize this week’s decision by the Winston-Salem City Council to change the name of the annual Dixie Classic Fair to the Carolina Classic Fair.
In a response, North Carolina’s SCV asked, “The word ‘Dixie’ signifies regional pride in the Southland and is a popular description for our region. So is the word ‘Southern.’ Is the word ‘Southern’ next to be considered offensive and to be banned from our vocabulary?…there is nothing offensive about the word Dixie.”
“The City Council says they want to distance themselves from the word Dixie, ‘which has Confederate roots.’ Why don’t they distance themselves from the region of America known as Dixie? A region that has been known as Dixie, since long before the War Between the States. There is nothing offensive about the word Dixie and an overwhelming majority of citizens wanted to retain the Dixie Classic Fair name. So, why not keep the name that the people the City Council supposedly represent want to keep?”
“The only people that would find offense in the word Dixie are those that find offense in anything Southern. This is just another manufactured controversy, created in the minds of a few politicians that are willing to waste nearly 100 thousand dollars to appease their ego, while insulting Southerners, the very people that have attended the Dixie Classic Fair for more than 130 years.”
The agricultural fair, held each October, attracts an average of 325,000 people each year, according to the Winston-Salem Visitor Center.
BLACK POLITICIAN THREATENS GOVERNOR
A Nashville Democrat offered some words this weekend to Republican Governor Bill Lee about the state capitol’s bust of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Rep. Harold Love says he told the governor Saturday, “The Capitol Commission needs to meet before we go into session to resolve this. Otherwise, we will bring legislation to fix it.”
Rep. Love, who is black, says his conversation with Governor Lee about the bust took place during the past weekend’s Tennessee State football game where Lee helped officiate the coin toss for the historically black university.
The governor is already on the record as saying: “We need to have a broader conversation around that as well and bring in those who are actually responsible for deciding the location of that bust-you know there is a Capitol Commission. I want to convene those folks and move forward.”
Since that statement the governor has replaced two members of the State Capitol Commission but its not clear how they might vote on removing the Forrest bust.
As of late Monday afternoon, the governor’s office had not indicated if it will bring a petition as former Governor Haslam did before the State Capitol Commission to remove the Forrest bust
By state law, any removal of capitol hill artifacts needs approval as well from the Tennessee Historical Commission, if it were first approved by the State Capitol Commission. But as we have already seen with the whole fiasco removing the statue of General Forrest in Memphis, the law is not always a deference in Tennessee.
MISSISSIPPI SCV TO DEDICATE NEW MONUMENT
This Sunday (October 27) a Pontotoc SCV camp has planned a day of reenactments and speakers, as well as the unveiling of a monument, dedicated to the bravery and valor of WBTS soldiers.
It will be an afternoon of remembrances and activities on Sunday at 2 p.m., at the Confederate Cemetery, located about three miles southeast of the Natchez Trace, on Hwy. 41.
In addition to the other soldiers who died there, the six-foot granite monument will commemorate Col. Jeffery E. Forrest, commander of the Fourth Alabama Calvary, who was killed in battle, on Feb. 22, 1864.
“We honor all the brave men…who fought and died and gave everything for what they believed in,” said Mike Kidd, who serves as the Pontotoc camp’s Lieutenant Commander.
According to Kidd, the old town of Prairie Mount was once located near the site.
Jeffery Forrest was the younger brother of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, and, according to Kidd, the 25-year-old fell fighting the largest cavalry ever assembled during The War, including 7,500 soldiers, 20 pieces of artillery, and best weaponry available, under the command of Union Brig. Gen. William Sooy Smith.
“Forrest was beloved by his men, and accounts say that out of respect, fighting stopped on both sides, when he fell from his horse,” Kidd said.
Reenactors will bring to life some of the events of the Battle of Okolona, Kidd said. Musicians will play songs from the period, and book vendors will be on-hand. Rep. Steve Holland will be among the guest speakers.
Gates will open at noon, and the dedication will take place at 2 p.m., and will last about 30 minutes, Kidd said.
“We’re humbled and impressed that so many people have expressed interest in the event,” said Kidd, whose group has vastly renovated the cemetery grounds, including clearing trees, as well as erecting a fence and two flag poles.
“This is an important part of Mississippi’s history, and was part of a conflict that changed the country as a whole,” said Kidd.
The Pontotoc Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans formed in 2015, and includes approximately 40 members, Kidd said.
NON-HERITAGE NEWS AFFECTING THE SOUTHLAND:
A few weeks ago we reported that former President Jimmy Carter fell in his home and sustained an injury requiring stitches.
This week we are sad to report that President Carter has had another fall, again at his home in Plains, Georgia. He has been admitted to Phoebe Sumter Medical Center for observation and treatment of a pelvic fracture. He is in good spirits and is looking forward to recovering at home.
Bernie Sanders speaks out in support of Tulsi Gabbard.
Days after Hillary Clinton said that Tulsi Gabbard was a “favorite of the Russians,” 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders spoke out in support of Tulsi, calling the suggestion that she is a foreign asset “outrageous.”
Mitt Romney confirms running a ‘secret’ Twitter
In a conversation with McKay Coppins of The Atlantic, Mitt Romney confirmed a story from Slate writer Ashley Feinberg that he operates a Twitter account under the name Pierre Delecto.
DOES CHINA HAVE DESIGNS ON THE U.S.?
by Al Benson, Jr.
Al Benson, Jr., is the Editor of the Copperhead Chronicle. In addition to writing for Southern Patriot and other publications, he is a member of the Confederate Society of America and the League of the South.
Does Communist China have designs on and plans for this country? They always have, and those designs have not gone away with the supposed collapse of communism in the early 1990’s.
Way back in June of 1986 there was an article in the New American magazine by Kirk Kidwell entitled Reagan and The Red Dragon which dealt with the U.S. State Department’s conciliatory position toward Red China. Mr. Kidwell noted: “The Administration’s proposal alarmed a number of conservatives. ‘The sale of advanced avionics to Red China is another step in the U.S. State Department’s long history of accommodating the interests of the United States and the interests of freedom to Communist goals and programs.’ So said Senator Jesse Helms.”
Helms also said that: “Red China is not a reliable ally. The West will rue the day it did anything at all to strengthen China’s Communist government.” Of course one has to remember that one of the State Department’s star employees in his day was a man named Alger Hiss. Anyone remember Mr. Hiss-the Communist spy?
Of course I realize that even mentioning the name of the New American magazine is enough to automatically get this article removed from certain venues, but the truth is still the truth, even though Big Tech in this country seeks to cover it up. Over the years I have kept a file of articles about Red China’s designs to weaken and ultimately destroy the West. And anyone who thinks they ever ceased those designs is naïve.
The leopard has never changed his spots. Even PBS Radio (www.pbs.org) has to admit that.
In a web article by Courtney Vinopal on Oct 3, 2019 the headline reads: In China’s film industry, the Communist Party is in the director’s chair.
The article states:
“The Chinese government wants to send the message that representing their country should take precedence above anything else, Rosen said, and that actors who find themselves in the crosshairs of the authorities will often ‘go overboard in praise of the Communist Party’ in order to keep working. Over the past decade, China has focused on its home-grown film industry as part of its broader efforts to build up its creative industries overall. These efforts have proved immensely profitable; China is soon expected to surpass the U.S. and Canada as the world’s No. 1 film market, and a number of Chinese film companies have signed lucrative deals with Hollywood studios in recent years.”
Stop and look at this last statement. No matter what anyone says or what they deny, that means that Hollywood is going to be strongly influenced by the government of Communist China. If you are a moviegoer you might start to look for hints of that influence-subtle and not so subtle. This sort of influence is one reason my wife and I no longer go to the movies.
I don’t need to pay some theater chain somewhere exorbitant ticket prices so I can be propagandized rather than entertained-and there is a difference!
The article continues:
“Disney is not going to offend China-they’ve had so much invested there, with theme parks, etc. and their films,…”
Disney may well offend American parents anymore-some of their recent offerings have done so, according to comments I have read, but they won’t dare offend the Communist government in China. There was a day when you could trust Disney movies to be pretty much wholesome and entertaining. I remember that day. It no longer exists.
There was also a recent article (12/12/18) on https://www.breitbart.com by Robert Kraychik. This article observed that:
“Former Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) told Breitbart News that China uses technology and finance as tools to globally project its communist ideology. Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large Rebecca Mansour asked McCotter about recent developments related to China’s giant telecommunications company Huawei. Huawei’s CFO, Meng Wanzhou, was released on bail by a Canadian court on Tuesday after being arrested on Saturday in Vancouver, Canada.”
The article continued:
“(Communism) is antithetical to the progression of human nature, and the prosperity and salubriousness of human nature’ stated McCotter. ‘When you understand that the (People’s Liberation Army’s) former general founded Huawei, and you understand what they were up to, if you understand the influence and operations run by (people) like Ceausescu and his regime, you understand what Huawei was. Huawei is not a private entity, because communist ideology does not allow it to be a private entity. Everything is owned by the state, and you’re allowed to use it at their leisure, at their whim. So these are front groups. These are not separate organizations. So they are going to be used to get into the technology of the West, and those countries of democracy.”
McCotter noted of the Chinese Liberation Army that “they have a division of cyber warfare, and so this is something that has been long planed, and it’s just a progression…So when you look at it, it’s been part of an overall comprehensive effort.”
In other words, even with the so-called “collapse” of communism, the Red Chinese have never ceased their efforts and agenda to undermine the West, and especially the United States. This is something we today need to grasp. Those people are still out to do us in-and now they have help from many in our own Congress and the prostitute press in this country.
All the radicals in our own Congress are shouting that Trump has committed treason. What they are actually doing is blaming him for the sins they have committed. So when it comes to treason, maybe we should look a little closer to home. Many may be tempted to think that our own Congress and Red China have nothing in common. Sorry, but I am not one of those. I think they have more in common than we’d like to think.
A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE OF SLAVERY
Part 3 of 10 – by Mike Scruggs
Mike Scruggs is the author of The Un-Civil War: Shattering the Historical Myths; Lessons from the Vietnam War: Truths the Media Never Told You, and over 600 articles on military history, national security, immigration, current political affairs, Islam, and the Middle East.
The role of slavery as a cause of the U.S. Civil War has been disingenuously exaggerated. The Civil War was fought to prevent Southern secession and independence and the loss of more than 80 percent of total Federal tax revenues. The Morrill Tariff, part of a 37-year history of protective tariffs profiting the North and exploiting the South, was passed, signed, and endorsed by Lincoln in March 1861.
This tariff was so outrageously unfair and burdensome to the South’s agricultural export economy that it practically forced the cotton-producing states to secede to pursue their own economic interest by free trade. States Rights were closely related to Southern economic welfare. Southerners also felt that the Northern political majority was moving away from the Constitutional principles of 1776, 1789, and 1791 toward a consolidated national government pursuing purely sectionalist Northern interests.
The principal Northern objective regarding slavery was simply to prevent it from spreading into the territories and new states. The Civil War was not a moral crusade to free slaves.
The tension over slavery, however, can be considered to be a major cause of Southern distrust of Northern culture and political dominance. The idea that the slaves should eventually be emancipated was widespread in both North and South. Most favored the British model of gradual emancipation and remuneration to slave owners, taking care that the slaves could be made ready for economic and political freedom and the Southern economy would not be suddenly devastated. A small but growing minority, however, believed the slaves should be emancipated immediately and slave-owners harshly reproved and ostracized. This minority identified themselves as “abolitionists,” but “radical abolitionists” or “ultra- abolitionists” would be more accurate.
The issue in the churches was the Authority of Scripture, with most Southern churches retaining a strong belief in the authority of Scripture and many Northern Protestant churches leaning to a more liberal view of Scripture that placed humanist values above the authority of Scripture. The frontal attack from prominent Northern pulpits on slavery ran directly against clear teachings in the Epistles of Paul and Peter in the New Testament and the Mosaic books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Many Northern churches and boards began to rule that slave-ownership itself was a sin and that slave-owners should not be made missionaries, church officers, receive communion, or even be allowed church membership. These Northern churches were thus calling sin what God had not called sin in Holy Scripture. Southern pastors could not surrender the Authority of Scripture for the sake of what would be a heretical unity or endure the outrage against innocent members. The Presbyterian Church had already had a major split over liberal versus traditional conservative Scripture interpretation and theology in 1837. In 1861, the more conservative Southern churches abandoned the growing liberalism of the national church completely. The Methodist split along North-South lines came in 1844, and the Baptists followed, establishing the Southern Baptist Convention in 1845. This was not about Southern economic dependence on slavery. It was about the Authority of Scripture and Northern Protestant degrading of that authority and their slippage into humanistic liberalism.
The struggle over the Authority of Scripture versus widespread infidelity to Scripture is still with us and stoking the fires of ignorance, distortion, injustice, hatred, and social, cultural, and political chaos today more so than even in those perilous days from 1830 to 1877.
That is why it is important to know what the Bible actually says and teaches on slavery. It is the kind Providence of God that slavery is behind us, but we must know Scripture to know the full truth of history and its implications on current and future controversies. That is why this series relies principally on Scripture quotations. The verses of Leviticus are especially important to full understanding of the issues.
Leviticus 25: 44-46. (ESV) The Jews may buy and hold slaves from nations around them.
Other Important Verses from Leviticus and Exodus:
Leviticus 25:10 The Jubilee.
It must be noted here that the Jews generally did not impose the conditions of slavery on their own people and limited any involuntary service obligation to six years for Jews and did not apply Jubilee rules to gentile slaves.
See Exodus 21: 2-6 below.
Exodus 21: 2-6
Leviticus 25:39-43 If your brother becomes poor and sells himself to you.
Leviticus 25: 47-55 Redeeming a Poor Man.
While the Bible rebukes mistreatment or abuse of slaves, both Old and New Testament passages regarding slavery clearly do not hold the slave owner or master as being in sin, but regulates his relationship to his slaves and exhorts him to treat them with dignity, respect, and fairness. Radical abolitionist rejection of the clear teaching of Scripture on slavery wreaked havoc in the churches and the nation. Unfortunately, the ignorant virtue-signaling modern versions of the radical abolitionists are creating the same kinds of social destruction and chaos today.
CONFEDERATE PLAQUE – A PART OF MARYLAND’S COMPLEX HISTORY
by Boyd Rutherford
Boyd Rutherford is the 9th Lieutenant Governor of the State of Maryland. He is a Republican.
I read with increasing irritation The Baltimore Sun’s recent editorial, “Confederate plaque is an offensive symbol that doesn’t belong in the State House” (Oct. 9).
Each paragraph of both was more egregious than the last, representing the complete unwillingness of The Sun’s editorial board to view this situation through an objective lens.
The Sun has access to both the vote records and my official recommendation. Nevertheless, the board wrongly concludes that the State House Trust was attempting to “give equal play” to both sides of the Civil War. I agree with Speaker Adrienne A. Jones’ assertion that history tells us there was a right and a wrong side to this conflict. And as an African American – which The Sun conveniently left out of its coverage of this matter not once, but twice – and a descendant of slaves, I am acutely aware that the Confederacy sought to keep our ancestors enslaved. That this body would chastise me on that fact is as laughable as it is offensive.
It is undoubtedly divisive to suggest that I would only make my recommendation based on the “influence” of another officeholder rather than propose a logical compromise on my own. I take complete ownership of this recommendation and continue to feel it was the correct decision.
As I stated in my letter, the Confederate flag is “a divisive symbol that has no place in this or any state house.” I also believe we “have an obligation to represent our history appropriately. That memory helps us all appreciate the progress we have made in the years since, and our continued work toward a more perfect union.”
To ignore Maryland’s complex, painful history as a divided state during the Civil War does a disservice to all those who died attempting to free their countrymen from bondage. The Sun claims that we “must never forget” the history of slavery and the inequalities that African Americans have and continue to face in America. To that I ask: How do we ensure future generations do not forget this painful chapter and the consequences it wrought if we remove any reference from public spaces, whether or not we agree with them? Leaving the plaque provides visitors with the opportunity to confront our complicated history head-on.
I voted to remove the Roger B. Taney statue from the State House grounds, just as I voted to keep the altered plaque hanging within its doors. That the Baltimore Sun Editorial Board cannot understand how the Trust could make both decisions says more about its own divisive motives than it does about the work of the State House Trust.
FROM THE EDITOR
Dr. Ed is a pastor, author, public speaker, radio personality, lobbyist, re-enactor, and the Director of Dixie Heritage.
Obviously we disagree with Lt. Gov. Rutherford. But when the Lt. Governor of a State sends you an article you run it, if, for no other reason, respect.
We have been busy lobbying in Annapolis and Baltimore, making more than a few trips up there this year. Encouraging the preservation of monuments and memorials in Maryland.
So having the attention of the Lt. Governor, we are going to do all we can to keep that dialog open.
In the case of this particular article, Lt. Gov. Rutherford’s has welcomed our readers into his head for a few minutes to discover a little bit of his thinking. Let me say, that Rutherford’s thinking is probably not that far off from the thinking of other politicians throughout the South, especially the black politicians. So hopefully this article will help you as you consider calling your own Governor, Lt. Governor, Congressman, or State Representative.
Until Next Week,
Deo Vindice!
Chaplain Ed
Dixie Heritage
P.O. Box 618
Lowell, FL 32663
