[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 24, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E547-E548]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            EXPOSING RACISM

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 24, 1999

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, in my continuing efforts to 
document and expose racism in America, I submit the following articles 
into the Congressional Record. 

                       [From the Virginian-Pilot]

                 Confederate Group Battles for Its Flag

                           (By Linda McNatt)

       In May 1997, two members of the Sons of Confederate 
     Veterans confronted Ku Klux Klansmen in front of the 
     Pensacola, Fla., judicial building.
       Sworn to conduct themselves as Southern gentlemen, the SCV 
     members asked the hooded Klansmen to put down what they 
     believe is their Confederate battle flag.
       ``There were 20 of them, maybe,'' said Robert A. Young, who 
     belongs to the Sons of Confederate Veterans. ``This group of 
     fellas came over from Louisiana. They were dressed up like 
     ghosts. We didn't want the connection, and we told 'em so.''
       The peaceful confrontation made national news. The Klansmen 
     didn't back down, but the SCV had made its point.
       It wasn't the first time that the Sons of Confederate 
     Veterans have defended the bright red flag with its blue 
     cross and white stars.
       And it's not likely to be the last. The flag, the SCV says, 
     symbolizes the bravery of their ancestors who followed it 
     through the smoke of battle.
       But the same flag has been used by the Klan and other hate 
     groups. For some African Americans, the Confederate flag 
     represents terrorism, prejudice and hate.
       That's why the Virginia General Assembly two weeks ago said 
     ``no flag'' when it voted to allow the group, which has 6,000 
     Virginia members, to have a special state license plate.
       The Sons of Confederate Veterans aren't happy. Members have 
     said they might try to re-introduce the flag image. Bills 
     have been changed before, they say, although they won't say 
     how they plan to do it.
       Or--if the Senate fails to consider anything but the blank 
     plate with the name of the organization on it--the SCV may 
     take the issue to court.
       They're ready for a gentlemanly battle, they say. The Sons 
     of Confederate Veterans was organized in 1896 as an offshoot 
     of the United Confederate Veterans. Today, the mission of the 
     group is to ``preserve the history and the legacy'' of the 
     ``citizen soldiers'' who fought for the Confederacy in the 
     War Between the States, from 1861 to 1865.
       Proof of kinship to a Confederate soldier is required. The 
     SCV allows blacks to join; in fact, they say, race has never 
     been a question on their membership application. And they do 
     claim black members, although no one at the national 
     headquarters--an antebellum mansion in Columbia, Tenn.--can 
     say how many of their 27,000 members worldwide are black.
       Neither can Patrick J. Griffin III, SCV national commander 
     and chief, of Darnestown, Md.
       ``We do not have a block on our application that asks for 
     race,'' Griffin said. ``I've never seen anything in this 
     organization that questions race or religion. You either have 
     an honorable Confederate ancestor or you don't.''
       The SCV, with 700 camps in 36 states, Europe and South 
     America, accepts members as young as 12.
       ``We're trying to preserve an accurate view of Southern 
     American history, to make sure the names of our ancestors are 
     not sullied,'' Griffin said.
       The group dedicates itself to preservation, to marking 
     confederate soldiers' graves, to historical re-enactments. It 
     holds regular meetings to discuss the military and political 
     history of the Civil War. It publishes a bimonthly magazine, 
     and it hands out two scholarships and a medical research 
     grant each year.
       Executive director Maitland Westbrook III said that the SCV 
     is not ``statistically oriented,'' so he can't say how many 
     African Americans have benefited from SCV scholarships.
       The organization has five full-time employees at national 
     headquarters. None of them, currently, are black, Westbrook 
     said, although the SCV has employed blacks in the past.
       The SCV also spends a lot of time defending its heritage--
     including its symbol--the Confederate battle flag.
       Collin Pulley Jr. of Courtland is national chief of 
     heritage defense. In the last several months, he's complained 
     about ``anti-Southern'' TV shows and objected to a rap CD 
     that depicts a burning Confederate flag on its cover.
                                  ____

       Since Wal-Mart quit carrying the flags after some customers 
     complained, he's led a SCV campaign--unsuccessful so far--to 
     persuade the discount chain to re-stock small Confederate 
     flags his group uses on graves.
       ``It has been our position for the last two years not to 
     carry the Confederate flag because, here at Wal-Mart, we do 
     not stand for what that flag represents,'' said Marvin 
     Deshommes, a buyer at the Bentonville, Ark., headquarters.
       What the flag represents, the SVC says, is heritage, not 
     hate. And the group is determined to reclaim its glory.
       It succeeded in Maryland and, more recently, in North 
     Carolina. Both states, and several others, allow SCV members 
     to display the flag on license plates.
       A federal judge ruled in Maryland in February 1997 that 
     ``The Confederate battle flag on special Maryland license 
     plates is protected by the First Amendment and cannot be 
     banned.''
       The SCV got a similar ruling in North Carolina last 
     December. There, the protest was less about the flag and more 
     about whether the organization was actually a ``civic 
     group.'' The SCV took it to court and won.
       In Virginia, said Brag Bowling of Richmond, legislative 
     liaison for the SCV, ``We're exploring all options. We're 
     deeply disappointed they took the flag off the license plate. 
     We got nailed in the House. We want to see how it goes in the 
     Senate.''
       It was likely the impassioned plea of Del. Jerrauld C. 
     Jones, D-Norfolk, that swayed the House. Jones said the flag, 
     often connected with hate and terrorism by many African 
     Americans, had reminded him throughout his life of fear, 
     anger and claims of racial supremacy.
       The special license plate legislation passed, but without 
     the flag. SCV members vow they have never used the flag for 
     such purposes as Jones claimed.
       But the flag is sometimes used as a symbol of ``oppression, 
     violence and brutality,'' said Janis V. Sanchez, professor of 
     psychology at Old Dominion University.
       ``The argument is that the flag was appropriated by the 
     KKK,'' Sanchez said. ``But that doesn't change the fact that 
     it is associated with the Klan and with slavery. The Civil 
     War was about slavery, and that's what the Confederate flag 
     stands for. It has been used by many people to send a signal 
     to African Americans.
       ``I know the Sons of Confederate Veterans are saying that 
     it represents their heritage, but they cannot separate the 
     meanings.''
       The SCV claims that the Civil War wasn't about slavery; 
     rather, it was about states' rights. More than 95 percent of 
     the soldiers who fought for the South weren't even slave 
     owners, they maintain.
       More like 85 percent, said Dr. Harold D. Wilson, an ODU 
     history professor.
       At the time of the Civil War, there were 9 million people 
     in the Southern states, Wilson said; 4 million of those were 
     slaves. Of the remaining 5 million, 330,000--mostly white 
     males--were slave owners. Wilson said he believes about 85 
     percent of the soldiers didn't own slaves.
       Some blacks, he pointed out, did serve with the South. ``In 
     the North, blacks participated fully in the war; in the 
     South, they were mostly servants or laborers,'' Wilson said. 
     ``There were great debates over whether blacks should fight 
     for the Confederacy, and they were conducted mostly in a very 
     private, sensitive manner.''
       What caused the Civil War? ``In the upper Southern states, 
     it probably was states' rights,'' Wilson said. ``In the lower 
     South, with its large plantations, it was more about slavery.
       ``What in the world does the battle flag represent? It was 
     the military flag of the Confederacy. It represented the 
     might of the Confederate government. To that part of the 
     Confederacy where there were few slave owners, it may have 
     represented something entirely different.''
       And that part of the Confederacy may well represent 
     Virginia, Wilson admitted. The Confederate battle flag was 
     first used by the Army of Northern Virginia, where there were 
     few large slave owners compared to the deep South.
       Should the Sons of Confederate Veterans be allowed to use 
     the flag on its license plate?
       The group has an ally it likely doesn't even know about. 
     The Rev. Jeff Berry, national imperial wizard of the Ku Klux 
     Klan, said he believes it is their right.

[[Page E548]]

       Like the SCV, the Klan uses the flag to represent 
     ``heritage, not hate,'' said Berry, whose group was started 
     by Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest.
       Unlike the SCV, non-whites are not allowed in the Klan. The 
     two groups have no connection, Berry said. But the Klan, 
     which says it believes first in the U.S. Constitution, says 
     the SCV ought to be able to display the Confederate flag.
       ``If it isn't OK to fly the Confederate flag in the U.S., 
     why is it OK for blacks to fly the African flag?'' Berry 
     said. ``We would defend the right of the SCV to fly its flag. 
     Nobody should be able to take that right away.''

     

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