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
I have no clue. I know what I would like it to be. It’s never going to happen. It should, but it won’t UNLESS we have a CW2 or something really drastic happens. I just do not think we can co-exist any longer. Dems and Republicans used to not hate each other, we just had different views. It’s not like that now. We are truly a country divided and I believe headed toward some sort of war inside the US. Where would you divide it? No the Japs do not get Hawaii and I have no idea but the Russians don’t get it. Why would you say that?
We would be 2 countries, allies.
But Montana for sure isn’t going to like that at all. They get stuck in the kook half.
We would be 2 countries, allies.
Allies? How could the Jesus States of America be allies with the Abortion-Gay States of America? But if Minnesota changed their mind and decided to go over to the Jesus side, the AGSA would invade like the Serbs and do ethnic cleansing to hang onto as much territory as possible.
I think we would be semi-friendly, not like North and South Korea, or maybe it would be. I think it’s becoming like that, we just aren’t divided so everybody fights everywhere, that’s no way to live.
if ya don’t like fightin’, turn off the cable news. And Hannity, too.
Not to worry, when NY and MA secede following the conservative revolution, federal troops will be sent in to restore order. When the dissident leftists go underground, will we hunt them down like the Stasi did?
if ya dont like fightin
______________
It’s not that easy, surely you know that. People argue at work, families are estranged, it’s bad. We are a country divided and the divide is widening each year. The illegals are adding to the woes.
Now mo-joe, watch your language! You never know when southernsunshine's sensitive kids may be watching.
Of course it is.
I respect other's rights to post as they please (who am I to judge what others post), but courtesy when children are on a thread is just the right thing to do.
And had I known the very sensitive southernsunshine offspring were on the thread I would never have posted that picture. Good thing they aren't around to see what mo-joe posts on this one. Might lead to some embarrassing "Mommy why is that man wearing woman's clothing" kind of questions,and God only knows what trauma.
Ping
It's always the milquetoast Yankee Republicans (R-CT) who think secession is ridiculous. I guess the thought of not having the South to save your butts is too chilling. Look, New England is a joke. Nothing but a cold socialist RINO factory. You live there, I pity you RINO boy.
With the level of hate that you and your buddies have for us? Think more East and West Germany.
No, the rest of us think it's ridiculous, too. The idea of people like you and your Lost Cause friends actually organizing one is too funny for words.
I guess the thought of not having the South to save your butts is too chilling.
The idea of the South saving anyone's butt is amusing.
Look, New England is a joke. Nothing but a cold socialist RINO factory. You live there, I pity you RINO boy.
And Kansas and Missouri are hell on earth. By all means stay away from here. Stay far away.
Good fences make good neighbors.
Not a problem.
Those that profit from the misery of others through the wages of warfare and monetary manipulation are still at work.
Digging up the horrible memories of slavery and remnants of racism,only serves to divide this country at a time when we are most divided.
Once again, the battle over freedom from the tyranny of a fascist federal government raises it's ugly head.
There are citizens of this country who adhere to the principles of Progressives but, they are in step with international groups and financed by foreign wealth.
These are our true enemy not, your brothers from the South.
You're like Obama: you hate your own country.
And East Germany built a fence all along her border. No doubt your confederate states v2.0 will emulate East Germany in that, among other things.
Whew!
And you love your country so much that you can't wait to get the hell out of it? I suppose that makes sense in what passes for twisted Dixie logic.
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