Posted on 12/03/2010 4:39:40 AM PST by Colonel Kangaroo
Event marks war's anniversary
CHARLESTON -- The shots are solely verbal -- and expected to remain that way -- but at least one Civil War Sesquicentennial event is triggering conflict.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans plan to hold a $100-per-person "Secession Ball" on Dec. 20 in Gaillard Municipal Auditorium. It will feature a play highlighting key moments from the signing of South Carolina's Ordinance of Secession 150 years ago, an act that severed the state's ties to the Union and put the nation on the path to the Civil War.
Jeff Antley, who is organizing the event, said the Secession Ball honors the men who stood up for their rights.
"To say that we are commemorating and celebrating the signers of the ordinance and the act of South Carolina going that route is an accurate statement," Antley said. "The secession movement in South Carolina was a demonstration of freedom."
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People plans to protest the event, said Charleston branch President Dot Scott. She deferred further comment to Lonnie Randolph, president of the state NAACP.
"It's amazing to me how history can be rewritten to be what you wanted it to be rather than what happened," Randolph said. "You couldn't pay the folks in Charleston to hold a Holocaust gala, could you? But you know, these are nothing but black people, so nobody pays them any attention."
When Southerners refer to states' rights, he said, "they are really talking about their idea of one right -- to buy and sell human beings."
Antley said that's not so.
"It has nothing to do with slavery as far as I'm concerned," he said. "What I'm doing is honoring the men from this state who stood up for their self-government and their rights under law -- the right to secede was understood."
Antley said, "Slavery is an abomination, but slavery is not just a Southern problem. It's an American problem. To lay the fault and the institution of slavery on the South is just ignorance of history."
Antley said about 500 people are expected to attend the ball, which begins with a 45-minute play and concludes with a dinner and dancing. S.C. Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, an ardent Civil War re-enactor, is among the actors in the play. The actual ordinance of secession document also will be on display.
Randolph said the state NAACP is consulting with its national office in Baltimore regarding the format of the protests, which also could extend to other 150th anniversary events. "There is not one event that's off the table," he said.
Asked whether there could be good Sesquicentennial events, Randolph said, "If there were a dialogue to sit down and discuss that event 150 years ago and how it still negatively impacts the lives of so many people in this state and around the country, that would be a good discussion, but not an event to sit down and tell lies about what happened and glamorize those people who thought America was so sorry and so bad that they wanted to blow it to hell. That's what they did -- that's what they attempted to do, and we want to make that honorable?"
Charleston is receiving increased national attention as the nation's plans for the Sesquicentennial move forward. This was where it began, with the state becoming the first to secede on Dec. 20, 1860, and firing the first shot on April 12, 1861.
Most of the Lowcountry's Sesquicentennial events have been announced with little controversy -- many involve lectures by respected historians and scholars.
In its vision statement for the observance, the National Park Service said it "will address the institution of slavery as the principal cause of the Civil War, as well as the transition from slavery to freedom -- after the war -- for the 4 million previously enslaved African Americans."
Michael Allen of the National Park Service said he is aware of plans for the Secession Ball but noted that most Sesquicentennial events have found common ground among those with differing viewpoints.
"Now some people might be upset with some pieces of the pie. I understand that," he said. "I think that's the growth of me, as a person of African decent, is to realize that people view this in different ways."
Allen said other Sesquicentennial commemorations being planned will mark events that have a strong black history component, such as Robert Smalls' theft of the Confederate ship Planter and the 54th Massachusetts' assault on Battery Wagener.
"At least what's being pulled together by various groups, be they black or white or whatever, will at least be more broad based and diverse than what was done in 1961," Allen said. "Hopefully, at the end of the day, all Carolinians can benefit from this four-year journey."
Tom O'Rourke, director of the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission, said Sesquicentennial organizers were fooling themselves if they thought the Confederate side of the story was going to be buried in the observances.
"I think there will be controversy, I think there will be hurt feelings, and I think that as this anniversary passes, we will question what else we could have done to tell the whole story," he said. "But I am OK with all of that. ... I think all discussion is progress."
Read more: http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/12/03/1847335/secession-ball-stirs-controversy.html#ixzz1737LSVRv
Yeah I asked Mo-joe if I could keep a copy of the picture. I hope he says yes.
MJ, Vol II . . . too too funny. :)
Why southerners of course, darlin'. Whatever do you imagine he meant?
I want to go too! Period clothing would be so neat:) Heck, I like to go to Charleston every chance I get.....my favorite place in all the USA.
We're all great:) Check your mail in just a few.
Why are you wasting your time and my time with this nonsense? You had every opportunity to correct your "thoughtlessness" and you chose not to. Not my problem, it's your's.
Among other similarities, Jeff and Obama share a high standing in the worst president ever competition except President O is at least president of a real nation.
He and Non-Sequitur have Lincoln fetishes. I imagine their weekends consist or taking turns playing lincoln during phine sex calls.
Just trying to figure out the borders. As near as I can tell, pictures of cross-dressing men in top hats posted by people like Mo-joe are all right but ones posted by people like me are porn. Does that pretty much cover it?
While your weekends appear to consist of filing every post I make and trolling for personal information on me. Who is the pathetic one in this situation?
Not to mention digging up pictures of men in lingerie and top hats. It truly boggles the mind of why you would do that. Or where you would go to get pictures like that from. But hey, everyone needs a hobby right?
BRAVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Piss off
Ditto
So do you mind if I save a copy of your book picture or not?
Face it.... the US,=non Confederate states were led by corrupt politicians, industrialists and panderers, who after decades of making fortunes sailing to Africa to purchase slaves, and decades of luxuriating in federal bounties and tariff protections ensuring their industries surviving foreign competition, became incensed that the Confederates had the temerity to reclaim their powers of self government, and end their political association with brigands and thieves.
You can applaud those spineless, gutless, stinkin’ yankees that waged war on a third of the population to keep them chained, so that they could continue to plunder the states for their own benefit. Almost 95% of Southern wealth was plundered by yankees between 1861 and 1874, first by the morally superior yankee military looting Southern homes and women, then by military/reconstruction governments comprised of yankees that plundered state treasuries, actions that took almost a century to recover from.
So post away from your moral high ground and condemn those that had the GUTS to secede, condemn those that joined their ancestors in desiring to live under a government of their choosing. People like you make me sick. I wish they would divide this country in half. It’s too damn big anyway. The differences too great, division too wide, hatred grows daily, it’s time to cite irreconcilable differences and divorce peacefully.
Coming from the chicken sh$$ that’s too scared to post his states flag in the profile.
The Colonel’s thread really brought out the Union Uber Alles nuts and lunes. These guys play the race card at the drop of a hat.
LOL, back the ole KKK are we? Are you seriously so ignorant that you think the KKK is or was only on the South. You are an idiot.
It's all they have.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.