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
The thought of a war being fought because a state(s) wanted to go their own way is preposterous as you calling me a fascist.
Are you a complete and total moron? Do you even understand the concepts we’re talking about here? Unilateral secession is not only a right, but a duty according to our Founding Fathers.
The right to unilaterly seceed was given to the States to KEEP THINGS LIKE THE CIVIL WAR FROM OCCURING!
God in Heaven you must be publically educated.
You believe in the Confederate democrats who fought for slavery and formed the fascist KKK coven and committed treason against the United States. So yes that makes you a fascist.
Can you get any more liberal memes into one post in such a small amount of words? Do you even know what fascist means?
BS. The Founders did not believe in unilateral secession as some sort of group right. The Founders believed in a system of checks and balances and not the concept of a mere majority in a state being able to take over and rule over the citizens of the United States who reside there through unilateral secession.
I say it is you who are the complete moron.
Moreover, had the Constitution had a no secession clause, it would have never been ratified. Interestingly, some say if there had been a out clause, it wouldn't of passed either, I disagree with that. Had an out clause been in the USC, it would have still passed IMO.
YOU obviously need help in learning to read and interpret the English language
Do you really think that the KKK formed by the Confederate democrats and carried on by the Progressive democrats was not fascist? It is you who really need an education.
Yet all you and your fellow KKK coven members have is to throw childish insults. Typical from democrats be them the Confederate type of Progressive type I guess.
If the Founders didn’t believe in unilateral secession, then why did they seceed from England? Were they fascists also, since their actions were illegal under English law.
The very Declaration of Independence proves you completely wrong, yet you can’t see it.
Do you realize some of the biggest KKK organizations were in WV,IN,PA and OH?
I couldn't agree more! In fact, I doubt that even one State would have ratified such a document given that they had just fought a war against the most powerful military on earth to free themselves from such an arrangement.
Yeah, I figured I could bait you into another display of your true nature.
My true nature, i.e. I have a deep understanding of history and the hypocrisy of the North during the Civil War? Or are you simply calling me a racist?
Correct and anyone who doubts that should read the South Carolina Secession Declaration where slavery is specifically mentioned eighteen times.
From a constitutional standpoint, the Confederacy's problem was that it never addressed the Articles of Confederation which speaks of a PERPETUAL Union, a Union that the Constitution sought to make "more perfect."
If by education you mean brainwashing in a government school so that I think like you, then no thank you.
Is the Klan an evil organization? Yes, absolutely no arguments here on that point.
Is the Klan a fascist organization? No. By definition they cannot be as they are not in favor of the government controlling all aspects of our lives. They believe in racial differences and believe that the white race is superior so in that respect they are evil, but they are NOT a fascist organization. Words mean things, I suggest you learn what a fascist is before you use that word further.
Wagglebee, the Articles of Confederation were superceded by the Constitution. The fact that the AoC speak of a perpetual union is immaterial to what Constitutional rights the South had in secession.
Sounds like a real hoot but if conflicts with my planning our annual “Fall of Savannah Celebration Hoe-down” on December 21st.
There was a war already at the time of the Declaration and the DOI was not a legal act of secession as you want to frame it but exactly what it is titled a ‘declaration of independence’. The DOI does not mention secession it declares Independence.
You and yours want to claim that the Constitution and the Founders agreed with your right to secession but there is nothing in the Constitution at all to back up your claim. The legality of unilateral secession is clear – the Constitution does not allow it. Revolution though is of course a natural right.
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