Letter
to the Editor: Southern heritage suffered from neglect
Carolina Morning News
March 24, 2003
Jennifer Moore's recent article about Confederate flag protests at two Beaufort
County high schools is humiliating.
The story is humiliating because we, their parents and grandparents, are not
doing the protesting. It is we, their elders, who have allowed others to chip
away at our Southern culture and heritage for over 20 years. It is we, the older
generations, that have allowed the memory of our ancestors to be tarnished. It
is we who have permitted the erosion of our freedoms.
Freedom is an intangible word that has many definitions. In the 1860s many of
our ancestors believed they were fighting for their homes, some even believed
they were defending their freedom.
Today, much of our military is taking part in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Meanwhile, here at home some of us are being deprived of our freedoms.
Freedom to wear clothing that displays Confederate battle flags is really just
one of many issues. In one state, Missouri, the governor will not allow the
battle flag to be flown over a Confederate veterans' cemetery.
During the past year one community was building a monument that would consist of
bricks with the names of local veterans that fought in America's wars from the
Revolution to the present, but no brick was to be allowed if the soldier
happened to be a Confederate.
In other communities, efforts to remove monuments dedicated to Confederate
soldiers have been and are being made. An example is found in nearby Walterboro,
where at least one of my great-grandparents took part in the dedication of the
Confederate monument in 1911.
Anything to do with the Confederacy is not all that hate groups are attacking. A
school that was named after the father of our country had its name changed
because he had been a white Southerner and therefore a white supremacist.
Unfortunately, many do not consider those that vilify our Southern culture as
members of hate groups; however, those of us who attempt to defend our culture
and heritage are labeled racists and bigots.
We have regressed back to the 1870s and Reconstruction.
Reconstruction was a period of occupation of the South by Federal troops. It was
an era in which the rights of white Southerners, scalawags excluded, were
trampled upon.
Reconstruction generated more hate than any other period in our nation's
history. Yet, here in Beaufort County, some people want to add salt to the
wounds and have a national Reconstruction monument created here.
Jennifer Moore closed her article by quoting John Williams, (no relation) the
Beaufort County School District's director of communications, who stated, "
...what are we talking about here in Beaufort County, South Carolina? Something
that happened 150 years ago."
We are not talking about something that took place 150 years ago. We are talking
about having pride in our past. Not just what took place 150 years ago but 200
years ago, 300 years ago and even 400 years ago.
We want to be able to pass our rich heritage on to future generations. We want
them to be able to have a heritage.
In closing, it was a white Southern slaveowner, Thomas Jefferson, who wrote our
nation's greatest document, the Declaration of Independence. What next, erase
that document from our nation's history?
Reinventing history seems to be the proper thing to do these days. Give us our
pride back. Give us our freedom to express ourselves without being labeled.
Robert Williams
Beaufort