Battle over the past rages on in an evolving South

Christian Science Monitor ^ | from the February 24, 2005 edition | By Patrik Jonsson

[.cnI redruM]

RALEIGH, N.C. – Bronzed Johnny Rebs, sprinting across a Capitol lawn, charging soundlessly for the ideals of the "lost cause," have long been seen as a quaint and largely harmless part of this region's heritage. Today, doubts rise alongside pride in regard to these sculpted heroes.

A school board declines to name a new high school in Cherokee County after Georgia's Civil War governor. Floridians question why Confederate soldiers adorn a water tower. Even the word "South," in some quarters, has become a slur - a convenient repository of national guilt over the exploitation of Africans in the Cotton Belt a century and a half ago.

[ken21]

i know a guy that was fired because his southern accent grated on his employer and peers in texas.

the northerners run the tv stations and they'd make fun of his language. they're a transient lot, always moving up the ladder from market to market, hoping to get to the big markets like los angeles or new york city. so, they reflect urban, northern culture.

yes, his own state. fired for speaking texan.

[Darnright]

>Today, doubts rise alongside pride in regard to these sculpted heroes.<

Oh, good grief. And how much of this doubt comes from northern transplants who make a career out of telling Southerners what's wrong with the South?

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

THE BIG BUTT!!!!!

I have traveled I-85 up & down since 1968.

I will never, ever forget when BIG BUTT went up.
From one direction you can see where Big Butt needs just one more wipe!

[.cnI redruM]

There's an excellent question. Pick up and read "The Metaphysical Club" if you get the spare time. There was a big antiwar movement in New England in 1861 to 1862 for exactly that reason.

[TC Rider]

THE BIG BUTT!!!!!

I have traveled I-85 up & down since 1968.

I first saw it in '83, it is certainly the highlight of any trip from Raleigh to Greenville, SC. (Well, maybe second after buying fireworks.)

[Tuscaloosa Goldfinch]

Yep, Tuscaloosa has it's share over on the campus.

[SuziQ]

I'll have to check our library for that book.

[Luke21]

The South has saved this nation. I am proud that my father is from Alabama and mother from North Carolina.

The 2000 election turned on West Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas rejecting their own Democratic Party heritage and home state candidates. If Gore had just won his home state, his attempted theft in Florida would have been unnecessary.

Try having a presidential election without the South. No region of our country better demonstrates what "American" is. God bless Texas and the South. You are the best.