Monday, October 26, 2015

"The Chronicles of Higher Education" has article about universities which allow United Daughters of the Confederacy Awards.


The link to the article is:

http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/bowdoin-ends-confederate-heritage-award-like-many-still-offered-by-u-s-service-academies/106066

I was interviewed by Peter Schmidt some months ago. I am quoted in the article.

This article covers the fact that the U.S. military academies have Confederate awards and some of them named after racists.

I believe the Univ. of Virginia still has a UDC Jefferson Davis award also.

This publication is widely read by university leaders and professors everywhere and anyone of consequence in academic institutions.  Administrators at these universities are probably wondering if they have a UDC connection of some sort and should seek to end it.

I plan on sending this articles to the heads of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) so that they realize that these issues get in the news. They have been either not responding to my letters or giving meaningless replies. There is nothing like the prospect that you might be in the news having to explain yourself to give moral clarity to the thinking of a government functionary.

One of the primary themes of Schmidt's article is that Bowdoin College suddenly changed their mind after the Charleston massacre even though just a few months earlier they said that they weren't planning to get rid of the Jefferson Davis award.

On record are the military academies saying that the Confederate awards are alright, even if named after nasty racists. They are probably thinking of changing their minds also.

Other writers have brought up different aspects of the U.S. military honoring the Confederacy or aiding and abetting neo-Confederacy.

The article also brings up my 2011 letter to Obama about the Arlington Confederate Monument and has a link to it.

As I have said, one Confederate defeat leads to another. I am really planning on pressing on.


Friday, October 23, 2015

Bowdoin College drops Jefferson Davis Award UPDATE: Chronicle Education does article on Bowdoin dropping the UDC. Discusses other university with UDC connections. Mentioned in article.

The law college at Bowdoin College in Maine has dropped the Jefferson Davis award and is giving the award's endowment back to the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC).

https://bangordailynews.com/2015/10/22/news/midcoast/bowdoin-college-drops-award-honoring-confederate-president/?ref=moreInpolitics

The UDC each year would mention the award and who got it in their magazine. It has been on my to do list to write all the U.S. military service academies asking them to stop working with the UDC. This will be a good article to send along with that letter. Precedent often has an effect on decision making.

However, this event is important for other reasons than that its elimination makes other such awards seem anomalous and a cycle which works to make the Confederacy less and less legitimate as the elimination of one thing leads to the elimination of other Confederate things.

This is the effect on the UDC itself. As the award is rejected, the UDC is rejected. Giving the award to Bowdoin College gave the UDC prestige with its membership. Rejection not only reduces one item for which annually the giving of the award was also giving the UDC prestige. There is an old saying, "We honor others to honor ourselves."  I am not sure it is always true, but with UDC their giving an award was always self-promotional.

As the UDC finds its awards rejected it loses prestige among its members.

UPDATE:

http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/bowdoin-ends-confederate-heritage-award-like-many-still-offered-by-u-s-service-academies/106066

Article brings up the U.S. Military service academies and the fact that they work with the UDC and the fact that the awards are named after racists.





Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Confederacy vanishing, losing legitimization day by day

These are just some of the events where practices which legitimized the Confederacy are being eliminated.

The Florida Senate dumps the Confederate battleflag from its seal.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article40308723.html

Capitol of Arkansas renames Confederate Boulevard.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/21/us-arkansas-confederate-idUSKCN0SF02920151021

This is a counter effort to raise the Confederate flag voted down by 20 to 1.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/10/19/tenn-co-no-raising-confederate-flag.html

The above is just one day of Google alerts.

As I have stated before, as each Confederate symbol vanishes the remaining Confederate symbols seem to be more anomalous which increases the pressure to get rid of them, and when one of them is removed it then makes the remaining Confederate symbols, now fewer in number, seem even more anomalous, which repeats the process.

Also, each specific type of Confederate symbol removal sets a precedent. Such as the Florida Senate getting rid of the Confederate flag from their seal. It makes people in other states start to wonder what the seals of their legislative bodies contain, and what other seals of other institutions contain.

I expect the effort to slow down after awhile because there won't be as many Confederate symbols to remove and those that remain will be in reactionary areas and places not amenable to change. These remaining Confederate symbols will look very anomalous and the local chamber of commerce will be very interested in getting rid of them so their local community won't look like idiots.


Sunday, October 18, 2015

Breitbart article against the Confederate flag

The Lost Cause is really lost when the more "expressive" conservative media is against you.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/10/15/honor-american-flag-discarding-relics-past/

I think the conservative movement has decided that the whole Lost Cause thing is baggage they don't need, don't want to have to drag along, don't want.  Also, if some conservatives don't like it they can vote Democratic.


With friends like this, you don't need enemies dept.: Republican party election official asked to resign over his racial comments and pro-Confederate comments.


Butner made national news last year for Facebook postings extolling the Confederacy, denouncing gays and lesbians, and blasting demonstrators protesting the priorities of Republican legislative leaders and Gov. Pat McCrory.
On Facebook, Butner displayed a photo taken at one demonstration in Raleigh and noted the black participants. "I GUESS THE WHITE FOLK COULD NOT GET OFF BECAUSE THEY WERE TOO BUSY BEING PRODUCTIVE GOOD CITIZENS," Butner wrote in 2013.
1
Butner also commented on Twitter about Oprah Winfrey receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom: "@Oprah WELL YOU GOT YOUR MOF THANKS TO YOUR BLACK PREZ AND A LOT OF WHITE WOMEN. CAN YOU EVER DO ANYTHING ON YOUR OWN?"
Butner was chairman of a local housing agency at the time and a public housing resident complained anonymously to a U.S. Housing and Urban Development official in Greensboro. Butner did not seek reappointment when his term ended in August 2014.
Read more at http://www.wral.com/ncarolina-elections-board-weighs-dumping-official-over-posts/14970618/#vsqPlsOwHeqT1u7o.99



"National Review" uses "Confederate" as a term of denigration

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/425564/sanctuary-cities-illegal-immigration-confederates-nullification

This is an article by Victor Davis Hanson in National Review online criticizing the sanctuary city practice regarding undocumented immigrants.

What struck my interest is that as part of Hanson's criticism of the sanctuary city movement is that he compares them to the Confederates and does so in the title of the article.

The Lost Cause has really gone down when a leading conservative magazine writer thinks likening an opponent or a movement of which he doesn't approve to the Confederacy or Confederates is a good tactic.




With Friends like this you don't need enemies. Confederate flag supporters charged with terrorism

http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/10/15/confederate-flag-charges-georgia-savidge-dnt-ac.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/

Confederate flag supporters were charged with terrorism.




Maryland likely recalling Confederate license plates.

The article is at this link in the Washington Post.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/md-is-likely-to-begin-recalling-license-plates-with-confederate-flag-images/2015/10/15/296179ae-7384-11e5-9cbb-790369643cf9_story.html

Yet another state recalling Confederate automobile license plates. This is important not just for the momentum it drives for other states to recall their Confederate license plates. It is important also because it makes it very unlikely that any state that hasn't a Confederate license plate to adopt one.

However, the  most important thing is that each time a Confederate symbol is removed from display by the government, it makes the remaining displays by government seem more aberrant which leads to another governmental unit dropping another Confederate symbol which then leads to other governmental units dropping a Confederate symbol and so on.

As governmental display of Confederate symbols become less frequent the remaining ones brand the governmental units that display them as being backward and raise questions about the locality.

Peoples spouses are less comfortable moving their with their children when their are displays of Confederate symbols by the local municipality. Companies usually need to recruit specialized talents to run their operations from a national labor market, and when the candidate and spouse visit, having a big old Confederate flag at the court house is off putting, especially if the engineer, or programmer, or other STEM professional is a minority member.

People don't want their children having their high school memories involving the Rebels or some other Confederate name.

Minority parents will have to wonder how their children will be treated in the local schools.

More than a few chamber of commerce groups are probably figuring out that their local Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) camp and UDC chapter are liabilities.

When a SCV camp or a UDC chapter is able to successfully defend a governmental Confederate symbol I am sure neighboring counties will take note.






Supposedly Professional Civil War Museum promotes "Black Confederate" mythology

Kevin M. Levin while visiting the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania came across an exhibit at the museum which showed a picture of Black Confederate soldiers.

http://cwmemory.com/2015/09/27/ex-slaves-attend-confederate-veterans-reunion/

From Levin's blog posting.
While walking through the exhibit I came across an image of African American men in attendance at a U.C.V. reunion in Tampa in 1927. There is nothing unusual about this image, though unfortunately, the museum labeled it, “Reunion of African-American veterans of the Confederate Army, 1927.” I took a quick pic of it and put it out of my mind until Wayne showed me the original image. At first we didn’t see it it but then someone noticed that at least one of the ribbons clearly states “Ex-Slave.” 
What Levin doesn't state is whether the museum corrected the exhibit. Even if they did, it might interesting to see if the correction remains or the photo is re-deployed in another exhibit to create the same impression that Black Confederate soldiers exist.

A larger question, which Levin doesn't raise, is why a supposedly professionally curated museum in 2015 would even make such a claim. The nonsense of the neo-Confederate claims of Black Confederates has been extensively discussed and these claims have been shown to be nonsense. Kevin Levin has done an excellent job of doing this.

The reality is that the Civil War industry panders to Lost Cause believers. Those who know better don't criticize this pandering.


St. Paul Episcopal Church moves to rid itself of Confederate symbols, Ashley Luskey chatters to try to save the white geographic space

In 2014 as a result of my letters to them, St. Paul's Episcopal Church dis-invited the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC).

http://richmondfreepress.com/news/2014/nov/07/confederates-hold-service-downtown-church/

This is part of my general campaign to get churches to not host neo-Confederate groups.

http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/churches-of-the-confederacy.html

To my surprise St. Paul's Episcopal Church has further decided to get ride of Confederate memorials that are part of the church itself.

http://www.richmond.com/news/local/city-of-richmond/article_fda4f734-e732-5c7f-bbe3-5f66f1f09cb3.html

This effort is not unique to St. Paul's Cathedral. Another Episcopal Church, the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. is getting rid of its Confederate stain glass.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/29/living/national-cathedral-confederate-images/

The effort by St. Paul's has led to discussions by historians, including one by Ashley Luskey who published a rational for St. Paul's to keep the Confederate memorials.

Kevin Levin did an interesting blog posting with links to two articles on the topic.

Kevin Levin's blog posting is:

http://cwmemory.com/2015/10/01/st-pauls-episcopal-and-the-limits-of-public-history/

Christopher Graham blog posting is:

https://whighill.wordpress.com/2015/10/01/historians-doing-historian-things-on-confederate-monuments-is-not-enough/

Then there is Ashley Luskey's writing on the topic:

http://publichistorycommons.org/ashley-luskey-civil-war-memory-post/
She voices the usual justifications, "history is being white washed" etc. She doesn't seem to get it that the Confederate symbols glorify the Confederacy and have power as long as they are in their place.

I have written this before, "Every Confederate monument whispers, 'Civil Rights might be the slogan of the day, but white supremacy is for the ages.'"

Kevin Levin's blog posting and Christopher Graham's posting make good points and refute Luskey.

I think that all three however miss the big picture about race and Christianity and these historic churches.

These historic churches are usually downtown in metropolises of substantial size. In many cases people whose parents or grandparents attended those churches have moved (fled) to the suburbs. In a lot of cases the church is finally closed down and sold to another denomination with an urban demographic. ( I mean minorities.)

There is a church in my neighborhood a few blocks away which was sold since the members were getting tired of driving from the suburbs into Oak Cliff, a part of Dallas. I was told that they held on for a while, but as the older members died off and the younger members were growing up in the suburbs it finally came to an end.

In other cases, for churches that think they are universal and that have a history of African American and Hispanic members will, they will consider recruiting members from those people that live downtown.

I can tell you that Ashley Luskey's chattering rationalizations aren't going to be generally accepted by minority members.  I am sure that the Walter Williams of the world will be glad to go to a church with Confederate symbols, but most African Americans don't want Confederate symbols around when they are dealing with life issues.

Another issue is that Christianity's center of gravity is leaving the West. Christianity started as a religion in Asia and its center of gravity is leaving or has left the West. Interest in religion is declining in the West. Christianity is thriving outside the West.

The Anglican Communion has a great many members in Africa. It is a global faith.

The Confederacy is baggage that American Episcopal church doesn't need if it wishes to be connected to a global Christianity. The same goes for other American churches.

Besides planning on writing Richardson and Dallas churches in the coming year, I am planning on writing religious leaders concerned with race overseas and in Africa. Let the United Methodist Church explain to their members there why they are fooling around with the Confederacy.





Martin Luther King statue at Stone Mountain

The Stone Mountain Association wants to put up a Martin Luther King statue at Stone Mountain.

Here is an article on the proposal:

http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2015/10/11/a-monument-to-mlk-will-crown-stone-mountain/

I think it is a fairly obvious tactic to preserve Confederate monuments. Tack on some monument to an African American nearby and blab on about diversity and tolerance and acknowledgement or whatever.

The leadership in the African American community sees this obvious ploy and has objected to it.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-stone-mountain-martin-luther-king-20151013-story.html

What is interesting is the Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans' response to the proposed monument.

http://gascv.org/scv-responds-to-attempt-to-place-mlk-statue-on-stone-mountain/

From the Georgia SCV press release:
The Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans responded today to the proposal by the Stone Mountain Memorial Association to erect a monument to MLK, former black civil rights activist. This decision by the Stone Mountain Memorial Association is wholly inappropriate in that it is an intentional act of disrespect toward the stated purpose of the Stone Mountain memorial from its inception as well as a possible violation of the law which established the Stone Mountain Memorial Association and charged it with promoting the mountain as a Confederate memorial.
Besides showing that the Georgia SCV is none too bright, it also quickly dissipates all their efforts to moderated their image by parading about H.K. Edgerton, making up mythologies about Black Confederate soldiers, and talking about "Heritage Not Hate."

It is always gratifying to see the opposition shoot themselves in the foot.

Exploited African American family wises up and gets rid of Confederate memorial marker for their ancestor

The story is here online.

http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/article_72691a31-c659-510f-a770-47e471a8c9b0.html

Originally the family had accepted the marker for their ancestor, but has since wised up.

This family isn't unique, there are a lot of African Americans like this who would be flattered to have a Confederate memorial or honor.  That is why a lot of these Confederate memorials and holidays and flags persist in the South, there are African Americans who don't mind the Confederacy.

When there was a vote in Mississippi about the state's flag which has a Confederate battle flag on it there were places where a clear majority of African Americans voted to keep the Mississippi flag as it is.

I don't know if this represents a trend or not. I suspect some family members and African Americans in the community expressed some opinion to the family and that got them to thinking.

I don't know though.

League of the South leader complains about the crazies he meets as a League of the South Leader

The irony of the following League of the South blog posting is hilarious.

http://www.lsrebellion.blogspot.com/2015/10/how-not-to-respond-to-police.html

Tuggle's complaint is:
These two are members of the minuscule but VERY vocal "Re-Establishment" movement. They're often confused with the "Sovereign Citizen" groups, but are in fact a different brand of fruitcake. I should know -- when I was the State chair of the North Carolina League of the South, I got to see and hear these characters up close and all too often.
I suggest that the League of the South members and leaders consider the old cliche': "Birds of a feather flock together."

A secessionist calling a group which claims to have "re-established" a government "fruitcakes" is really too hilarious.

I was told that the ancient temple at Delphi had an inscription which translates as "Know thyself." I recommend that League of the South members consider that.


Disturbing, huge Russian audience for this blog

DISTURBING. HUGE RUSSIAN AUDIENCE FOR MY BLOG ON NEO-CONFEDERATES




On my blog http://newtknight.blogspot.com/ I have reported on the Russian support for neo-Confederates in the United States, specifically the League of the South.

Here is one of my postings. http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2014/12/league-of-south-allowing-it-to-be-used.html#.ViOhCH6rSM8

You can find the rest of the postings using the search term "Russia."

I have been tied up with other projects, but have a back log of blog postings I need to do. So I logged on this morning to my blog to start posting. I immediately notice that I am having a lot of readership which is surprising. If I haven't been posting it is usually 75 to 150 a day, typically around 100. That was the readership rate when I last checked about 2-3 weeks ago.

THIS MORNING, I am seeing 300 and 400+ readers. I start using Google's tracking features and I see that I have a huge readership in Russia. See the above graphic. There are 3 times as many readers of my blog in Russia than from the United States last week. Russia 1308, United States 439, Ukraine 58, Germany 40, Switzerland 27.

It could be that opposition to the Russian are reading my blog to see what type of movement the Russian government is backing. Or a lot of Russian government officials and supporters are reading my blog as part of their plans to back the neo-Confederates. I am inclined to think it is the latter, though I can't give a good reason why.  Maybe it is both.

I have had a lot of Russian and Ukranian readership before for certain weeks. I have had weeks where the overseas interest has been very high. I find this odd for something of an internal historical matter for which the American media has very limited interest.

I don't mind overseas readers and I expect some. I think some are stray views for American Civil War students in other nations. It is just that I find having such a surge from Russia to be troubling. Maybe  nationalists there are into imagining the United States breaking up and my blog is of interest to them.

I really don't know. Why would my blog be of interest to Russians that much  For other countries it is just two digits.
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