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
As long as you don’t use it for a real book by you with that title.
Honestly? Because you got it right. I actually hate grits and I do hate sweet tea. So I want to keep it to remind me that even a moron like you can actually post the truth, albeit accidentally, on rare occasions.
And if I said yes, I mind, you wouldn’t still save it. You’re just a weirdo. If I didn’t want it saved, I wouldn’t post it.
This from the man who saves personal information and, literally, every post I make.
Uh huh. Let me know when one politician, even at the county level, gets elected on a secessionist platform. Or when you start collecting signatures to put secession on a state ballot initiative. Or, in fact, when one single tangible piece of progress toward secession happens beyond you and your pals blustering about what you're going to do "one of these days."
Don't worry, sleep well. No secession is scheduled now or ever. The Federal Boot will be there in the morning for you to lick and spit shine. The Lincoln Temple will be swept and tourist will ogle Jed Clampet on his throne.
The DADT queers are getting ready to redecorate the men's showers on Naval surface vessels. I hear Vaseline™ dispensers are high priority.
All is well, the Union trudges on.
A guy sitting on a stool cooking...wearing a bra, panties, garter and woman's nylons with a stovepipe hat. Surely that was the part that attracted you to the picture to begin with.
Like I said: all talk, no action.
No worries. I'll leave the writing to carton253 and Lee's Ghost.
We knew that.
All is well, the Union trudges on.
And the rebels bitch and whine. All is as it should be.
I never understood the attraction of circus side-shows until I started dealing with Lost Causers. Truly an odd lot. Did you see Mo-Joe's photoshop in reply 204? What kind of person collects pictures like that? What would you plug into a search-engine to even find pictures like that?
Porn is porn - either you are offended by it or you are not. If you are offended by NS posting it you must, unless you are a shameless hypocrite, be offended when moejo or idabooby or one of the other mouth-breathers posts it.
That it only offends you when NS posts it = selective outrage.
If it is inappropriate because your children are viewing a particular thread, intellectual consistency suggests that it is inappropriate on any thread.
It only offends you on the threads you say = selective outrage.
“likes of you” = people like you who play the selective outrage card at the drop of a hat.
Indeed they are. I have a lincoln gif that would send you off the deep end so I won’t post it.
FR yanks are the most racist people I know except for those on a really vulgar internet forum devoted to the hatred of blacks.
I don't do porn, but I'm not the posting police. However, when I've got children on a thread, I'd really appreciate it if the porn pics aren't posted. I'm sure you would appreciate the same courtesy and I can assure you it would be extended.
If it is inappropriate because your children are viewing a particular thread, intellectual consistency suggests that it is inappropriate on any thread.
It was obvious I had kids on that thread. I actually broke the news to NS nicely, just in case he wasn't aware. It goes back to courtesy.
That it only offends you on the threads you say = selective outrage.
It's that courtesy thingie again.
“likes of you” = people like you who play the selective outrage card at the drop of a hat.
Uh huh, yeah, sure.
Who is we? Are you becoming parsifal?
Search geeks, nerds, dorks, which is what you would search for if looking for something to put on a cover of a book that you wrote. You’ll see. I suggest Bing, but feel free to use Google.
You are too kind:) I love it!
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