bookmark_borderThe future of Confederate memorial parks…

A pretty cool AI (I assume) creation from Confederate Coffee Company:

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by A Proud Confederate Business. The Coffee of the South. (@confederatecoffeecompany)

I certainly hope so. And I particularly appreciate the hashtags #Inclusion and #TrueInclusivity. Indeed, contrary to popular belief, Confederate symbols are symbols of inclusion, because the Confederates were rebels who fought back against authority, and their symbols therefore signify rebellion, resistance, and nonconformity in all their forms. There cannot be true inclusivity without including the Confederates.

bookmark_borderRemembering the Lion of Atlanta

A monument vandalized and destroyed by people who only care about the perspectives, the rights, and the feelings of the majority; who only tolerate the existence of people like themselves; who deliberately inflict harm and pain on people who are different for no other purpose than to inflict harm and pain:

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Judy Smith (@judysmithphotography)

“The importance of preserving history and heritage, even in the face of controversy and loss.”

Amen to that. Every day, I strive to continue on in defiance of the people that I described above. On many days, this feels impossible. The pain reaches unbearable levels and my efforts feel pointless. Yet I keep trying to take meaningful steps to honor the historical figures that matter to me, and to find a meaningful path forward despite the horrific losses that they have inflicted. Because no matter what the people described above might think, preserving history and heritage are truly important.

bookmark_borderWise words about the Confederacy by Lyon Gardiner Tyler

The Virginia Flaggers made a great post, in honor of Confederate History and Heritage Month, quoting from the book “A Confederate Catechism” by Lyon Gardiner Tyler. In the book, Tyler answers commonly asked questions about Confederacy. Here’s an excerpt: 

6. Did the South fight for slavery or the extension of slavery?

No; for had Lincoln not sent armies to the South, that country would have done no fighting at all.

7. Did the South fight for the overthrow of the United States Government?

No; the South fought to establish its own government. Secession did not destroy the Union, but merely reduced its territorial extent. The United States existed when there were only thirteen States, and it would have existed when there were twenty States left. The charge brought by Lincoln that the aim of the Southerners was to overthrow the government was no more true than if King George III had said that the secession of the American colonies from Great Britain had in view the destruction of the British Government. The government of Great Britain was not destroyed by the success of the American States in 1783. Nor would the government of the United States have been destroyed if the Southern States had succeeded in repelling the attacks of the North in 1861- 1865. Had the North refrained from conquest, its example would have been felt by Germany and there would have been no World War costing millions of lives. A group of Northern States in 1861-65 assumed the imperialistic attitude of Great Britain in 1776 and Germany in 1914, and substituted the armed fist for the American principle of self-government. Universal peace will never ensue till the principle of self- government, which requires no armies to maintain it, is recognized throughout the world.

(emphasis mine)

Once more for the people in the back: Secession did not destroy the Union, but merely reduced its territorial extent.

This is an excellent rebuttal of the brainless, hackneyed, repeated-ad-nauseam lie that the Confederates tried to “tear the country apart” and “destroy the union.” The Confederates attempted to leave the United States. And there is literally absolutely nothing wrong with that, whatsoever. People have a fundamental right to leave something if they want to. Leaving something is not the same as destroying it. Just as it doesn’t destroy a team, or a friend group, or a get-together, or a party, or a class, or a club, or a company, or an organization, for one person to leave, it doesn’t destroy a country for states to secede from it; it merely makes it smaller. You don’t have a right to force other people to remain part of something against their will. It really is that simple.

View the full post here.

bookmark_borderNew home for Surry County, Virginia, Confederate Monument

Some slightly positive news out of Surry County, Virginia: the Confederate monument which was unjustly removed from its rightful location is being put up in a new home.

I recently saw this post from the Virginia Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, showing a crane and several workers in the process of re-erecting a monument. “Surry County Monument is going back up!! Strong work Compatriots!,” the post read. I wondered about the context behind this monument, and although doing research on these kinds of topics is fraught with potential for excruciating pain to be triggered, I decided to do just that. I found out that, according to the Smithfield Times, the Surry County Confederate monument had existed outside the courthouse in Surry, Virginia for over 100 years. Unfortunately, after bullies and bigots in the Virginia state legislature wrongfully passed the disgraceful law removing legal protections for people who are different from the norm, thereby allowing the past five years of horrifying atrocities to be unleashed, the Surry County Board of Supervisors decided to join in on the campaign of state-sponsored bullying of people who are different, and wrongfully voted to remove the monument. 

The one positive thing in this situation is that the county gave the monument to SCV Camp #9, who have now put it up at 384 Mount Ivy Lane, where it can be viewed by the public. A little piece of good news in what is overall a terrible situation. 

bookmark_borderJeb Stuart Preservation Trust’s response to the despicable bill HB1699

The Jeb Stuart Preservation Trust, the organization that runs and maintains Jeb Stuart’s boyhood home, wrote an excellent letter to the Virginia governor regarding the despicable bill that bullies and bigots in the state legislature are attempting to pass.

Here is the most important passage from their letter:

HB1699… can be argued as viewpoint discrimination. In 1995 Virginia Supreme Court held viewpoint discrimination as an egregious free speech violation. In Rosenberger v. Rectors and Visitors of the University of Virginia (1995), the Supreme Court declared: ‘When the government targets not subject matter but particular views taken by speakers on a subject, the violation of the First Amendment is all the more blatant. Viewpoint discrimination is thus an egregious form of content discrimination. The government must abstain from regulating speech when the specific motivating ideology or the opinion or perspective of the speaker is the rationale for the restriction.’

(emphasis mine)

The concept of viewpoint discrimination really captures what is so deeply and fundamentally wrong with this disgraceful bill and the thought process behind it. Thank you, Jeb Stuart Preservation Trust, for putting this idea into words and providing legal citations to support it.

You can read the letter in its entirety here.

bookmark_borderGive me liberty or give me death

I’m a few days late, but March 23 was the 250th anniversary of Patrick Henry’s famous “give me liberty or give me death” speech.
President Trump signed a presidential proclamation honoring this important moment in history.
This isn’t something that I can picture Joe Biden or Kamala Harris doing, because neither liberty nor history is something that they value. Although he is not perfect, it is things like this that make me glad we have Trump as our president.

bookmark_borderAn argument that the statue genocide is unconstitutional

I recently came across an excellent article by David McCallister at the Abbeville Institute, entitled, “A Modern Bill of Attainder?” In it, he argues that the despicable “Naming Commission,” which erased all diversity from the names of military bases and also completely destroyed Arlington National Cemetery, is unconstitutional because its actions constitute a Bill of Attainder:

Removals of base names, ROTC battle streamers, just to name a few constitute honors granted but removed pursuant to a Congressional Act meant to stigmatize a group’s progeny into perpetuity. By the passage of section 370 of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress did just that when they adopted Elizabeth Warren’s Naming Commission provision based on her contention of universal, and individual guilt for treason, acting as judge, jury and executioner, with a complicit Congress behind her, despite President Trump’s veto of the troublesome Law.  The Law singled out a deemed group unworthy to have any honors based on their military service, over 150 years after the fact, and saddling their descendants with hereditary shame and stigma.  No trial, no treason.  No treason, no condemnation.  No condemnation, no cancellation.

(emphasis added by me)

These sentiments really resonate with me and articulate what is so wrong with the statue genocide in a way that I hadn’t thought of before. The sentiments expressed by McCallister apply not only to the disgraceful Naming Commission, but to all atrocities committed against Confederate historical figures and Christopher Columbus as well.

Essentially, removing a historical figure’s statues, monuments, public art, holidays, names, and other honors constitutes giving that historical figure the death penalty. Yet there was never any grand jury convened to charge the historical figures (and in many cases, no particular crime that they’ve even been accused of committing), no due process, no speedy and public trial (or any trial at all, for that matter), and no jury. And because historical figures are no longer alive, they are not able to be confronted with the witnesses against them, to obtain witnesses in their favor, or to have the assistance of counsel for their defense. In short, what has happened with statues and monuments over the past few years constitutes giving historical figures the death penalty without a trial. And this violates the Fifth and Sixth Amendments of the Constitution. Plus, the atrocities committed against statues are the very epitome of cruelty. If these sickening actions are not “cruel and unusual,” then nothing is. Therefore, the statue genocide violates the Eighth Amendment as well.

bookmark_border“Faith Lift” column about Christopher Columbus

Check out this positive article about Christopher Columbus – a rare thing in today’s society. Written by Canadian pastor and columnist Rob Weatherby, it outlines six types of danger that Columbus faced and triumphed over: the risk of encountering sea monsters and/or falling off the edge of the earth (both considered serious possibilities at the time), the risk of violent storms, the risk of running into a wind-free spell and getting stuck, the risk of encountering rival Portuguese explorers, the risk posed by hostile native tribes, and the risk of mutiny by his own crew.

As the author points out, these factors “underscore the immense courage of Columbus.” Sadly, to many people in our society, courage such as that which Columbus displayed, is not valued. Being remarkable, standing out, and doing magnificent things is not valued. Instead, the only thing that is valued, for so many in our society, is compliance, sameness, and mindless conformity. That is what is motivating the atrocities that have been committed against Christopher Columbus over the past five years.

bookmark_borderMy open letter to Gov. Youngkin regarding HB1699

Unfortunately, bigots and bullies in the Virginia legislature – who believe, apparently, that everyone who is different from the norm should be obliterated from existence – passed a bill known as HB1699. You can read about this disgusting, unconscionable, and immoral bill here. (I guess I don’t make reading about it seem very appealing when I describe it that way, but describing it with milder language would be inaccurate.)
I wrote the below email to Governor Glenn Youngkin, encouraging him to veto this bill:
Dear Governor Youngkin:
I am writing to respectfully ask that you please veto bill HB1699. This bill is mean-spirited, cruel, discriminatory, and hurtful. I am on the autism spectrum, and my special interest is history. What makes history so important to me is that it includes stories and perspectives from a wide array of different people. Confederate history is part of history. People who fought for the Confederacy deserve to be honored just as much as anyone else does. Their stories deserve to be told, and their history preserved, just as much as anyone else’s. It is unconscionable that, after years of the most brutal and vicious attacks imaginable on Confederate historical figures, a bill would be introduced that would hurt lovers of Confederate history even more than we have already been hurt. Bill HB1699 would personally hurt me as an autistic person who loves history. It’s beyond upsetting that a bill such as this would even be under consideration. Please, please veto this horrible bill.
Sincerely,
Marissa
I highly encourage you to do the same. You can contact Governor Youngkin by…
Email: glenn.youngkin@governor.virginia.gov
Phone: (804) 786-2211
Or mail:
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 1475
Richmond, VA 23218