Do Southerners Have the Right to be Described as "Native Americans"?

10-7-2010 | comtedemaistre

[ComtedeMaistre]

Southerners who celebrate their cultural heritage, are among the most misunderstood people in America. Italians who celebrate Colombus Day, and Irishmen who celebrate St. Patricks Day, never have to suffer the grief that Southerners who want to celebrate Robert E. Lee's Birthday have to endure.

Southern identity is partly about celebrating the Anglo-Celtic culture, which is the core culture that existed in America at the time of the founding of America in 1776. It is the culture that gave us the King James Bible, Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, William Faulkner, and others. Most Southerners, both white and black, are descended from people who were in America before the Civil War in 1860.

It is often said that America is a nation of immigrants. Southerners are not immigrants to America. When the first Southerners came to Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, America did not exist as a nation. Southerners were the pioneers who built America. Southerners created colonial America in 1607, before the Mayflower folks arrived in 1620. Two sons of the South, the Virginians, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, led America to independence as a Constitutional Republic in 1776. Why shouldn't Southerners be proud of such a great heritage?

Many of the Northerners who love to mock and insult the South, are people whose ancestors came to America as immigrants, after the statue of liberty was put up in 1886. They love to mock the people who created and built the America that their ancestors immigrated to. If someone could create a time machine, and we could go back to the 1890s, we would tell our Southern ancestors to stop those European immigrants from getting off their boats at Ellis Island. It is time that the Southerners who created American culture and the American nation, are shown a little appreciation by the Ellis Island Yankees, who just got off the boat the other day. If you are a pro-Southern Yankee, this complaint does not apply to you, of course.

[Genoa]

Since we’re into Southerners vs Northerners, we might want to ask again -— was the civil war between the American North and South about slavery as the standard talking heads want us to believe, or was it about state rights and the right to self-determination?

Both. Northern opposition to the extension of slavery into the territories and newly formed states was regarded as interference with the southerners' property rights and freedom of movement. But the media eliminate the part about state's rights.

[wardaddy]

I’m southern back to Pochahontas-Rolfe and Byrd of the FFV

and the old Sullivan prod line too

but this idea makes no more sense than pandering to anyone else over identity

when whites eventually become a persecuted minority rather than persecuted majority then I would like minority special treatment

/s

[keep your powder dry]

Amen to that!

[frithguild]

suffer the grief that Southerners who want to celebrate Robert E. Lee's Birthday have to endure

Maybe pick someone for your holiday who is not associated with the death of hundreds of thousands to preserve slavery?

[Genoa]

Actually, a lot of northerners were content to let slavery continue in states where it already existed. It was extension of slavery that was the hot button. Only the radical abolitionists wanted to eliminate slavery in the southern states.

[ArrogantBustard]

Well said, sir! One either is, or is not, American.

[wardaddy]

don’t worry, the race card dealers just haven’t seen this thread yet

give them time and the alert will go out on the what culture war? radio waves

and all 9 or 10 of them will come streaming in to avenge injustice

[dblshot]

was the civil war between the American North and South about slavery as the standard talking heads want us to believe, or was it about state rights and the right to self-determination?
Both, states had right to self determination and some (agricultural states) chose slavery. Easy to abolish slavery when you don't really need the cheap labor. That said not that many people in the South owned slaves, the Antebellum plantation was a giant farm owned by mostly english moneyed gentry with lots of political clout. The large Scots-Irish population in the south was lower class. There is a saying that bad cases make bad law and slavery a bad case has made states rights 'bad' law.

[alarm rider]

My family goes back a lot of generations. I was born here, I am a native American.

[Jedidah]

My folks were in Jamestown, in Plymouth, first settlers of Annapolis before it was named. We moved into the Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky, then westward. I speak as the seed of pioneers:

Sure, you can claim Southern superiority. You can fly the Rebel flag if you want.

But it’s ill-advised to use our heritage to stir up trouble.

One of the great legacies of the colonists was a deep and abiding belief in God and his Word. From Paul, as written in I Corinthians 10:23—

” ‘Everything is permissible’ — but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything is permissible’ — but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.”

This thread aims at divisiveness. We have enough of that already.

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Romans 12:18

[runninglips]

I identify myself as a Native American whenever I am asked, census job application or whatever. The only people that have been here longer are those older than me.......dead people don’t count anymore btw.

[CodeToad]

Same here. For generations my family has lived here. I sure as Hell am not a Brit or a German or a Chinese citizen. I am an American. I have never met a “Native American” that was pure indian blood. Oh, but I have met a number of them called “Bob” or “Shawn”.

[dblshot]

True but it would be easier to pass antislavery law as more non slave states joined the union.

[rhombus]

suffer the grief that Southerners who want to celebrate Robert E. Lee's Birthday have to endure

Maybe pick someone for your holiday who is not associated with the death of hundreds of thousands to preserve slavery?

suffer the greif that a Northerner who wants to celebrate Sherman's birthday have to endure. ;-)

[Old North State]

If you are born in America but not a native American, where are you a native of?

[Jedidah]

Agree.

[AlexW]

“Since we’re into Southerners vs Northerners, we might want to ask again -— was the civil war between the American North and South about slavery as the standard talking heads want us to believe, or was it about state rights and the right to self-determination?”

You are right.
I was born in Memphis, and my parents had been from Atlanta.
I consider myself a true southerner.
As with many, however, my ancestors arrived in the north
from Scotland and Ireland.
My only notable ancestor was Uncle Sam, a great great great uncle.
He became famous when he was selling pork to the US army
in the war of 1812.
Some of his family migrated south into Georgia.
My mother’s Irish family settled in Kentucky.

Slavery was just a side note to the reason for the civil war.

[ComtedeMaistre]

[This “indigenous” fetishization is nothing but left-wing aryanism (these people are more deserving because of their race and ancestry).]

I never said Southerners are “more deserving”. But the endless mockery of Southerners in our popular culture is excessive. Is it wrong for Southerners to “pull rank” against those who are constantly mocking them?

As I made it clear in my post, I have high regard for Yankees who respect the South. I respect those who respect us.

[Oorang]

My great x9 grandmother came to Jamestown, VA in 1610 when she was 10 years old. Her eldest daughter (my ancestor) was born 1617 in Jamestown. That line of the family moved to North Carolina in 1815. I’m American and I’m southern. I’m also middle aged, female, and a good shot with many a weapon so anyone that wants to argue the American and/or the Southern can kiss my grits.

[cripplecreek]

Frankly I think divisionists are pathetic trolls.