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S.E. Wood Stars and Bars -- gone
forever I am a Southerner. Both by choice and by the
grace of God. My home was at the southern end of Virginia's Shenandoah
Valley. I grew up hearing about the battles of Bull Run, Manassas,
both the first and second, Seven Pines and Cold Harbor. Two of
our children were born in Petersburg, VA, within sight of the
Battle of the Crater. From our home you could still see the Confederate
trenches and cannon emplacements. My father's hero was Confederate
Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, and Stuart's portrait, complete with
his ostrich-plumed hat, graced our mantle. I learned early Gen.
Stuart's dying instruction to his men, "Go back! Go back!
And do your duty, as I have done mine, and our country will be
safe. Go back! Go back! I had rather die than be whipped!"
I am fully aware that the primary issue of
the Civil War was states' rights, and not the abolition of slavery.
For proof, you need look no further than to understand that South
Carolina was the first state to ban the owning of slaves, and
that although the Civil War started April 10, 1861, Lincoln's
Emancipation Proclamation to abolish slavery wasn't even written
until 1862. But having said all that, I believe the effort
by Mississippi, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama to continue
to preserve a vestige of the Confederacy in their state flags
creates animosity, and serves no worthwhile purpose. Just as responsible Southerners lost in their
struggle for state sovereignty some 140 years ago, we, the Sons
and Daughters of the Confederacy, sat by during the '50s and
'60s and lost all claim to the Stars and Bars as symbols of our
Southern heritage. We let the pot-bellied, red-necked, tobacco-spitting
and most ignorant among us be chosen by the news media to represent
the "New South," and then saw the flag under which
many noble men fought and died be turned into bumper stickers,
head rags and motorcycle jackets. We watched and did nothing. By default, we have let the likes of those
who today are rioting against the Summit of the Americas meeting
use the noble symbol of the Confederacy as their excuse for hatred,
bigotry and lawlessness. It's no wonder the Stars and Bars is
now looked upon with such distaste. So, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina -- let it go. The hallowed symbol of the Confederacy no longer represents what you think it does. And we let it happen. |