Southern Heritage and the Confederacy

As someone who was born and raised in the Midwest, I had no idea how deeply rooted southern heritage was until I moved to North Carolina.  I learned about the Civil War in school but the Confederacy lost---case closed. But no----that is not the case and as I quickly learned, southern heritage means something totally different for Whites born in the South than it does for Blacks.

I've never seen one black person with a confederate flag waving from their pickup truck or from a flag pole at their home, however, the "Stars and Bars," as it's called, can be seen in many rural areas and on  1 in 5 pickup trucks with someone who looks like a redneck (stereotype I know) behind the wheel.

When NASCAR announced, a few weeks ago, that they were banning the confederate flag from ALL of their sporting events, that was a MAJOR move because their biggest supporters seemed to be from redneckville (another stereotype I know), who waved their flags proudly.  But then I thought, that's just the tip of the iceberg.  If real change is going to be made, it's time to get rid of everything connected to the confederacy, including the statues of confederate generals that stand proudly in many southern states and renaming the buildings named for those losers. 

Army Bases:
Ft Lee (VA):  Named after General Robert E. Lee
Ft. Bragg (NC):  Named after General Braxton Bragg, who I understand was one of the absolute WORST!
Ft. Hood (TX):  Named after General John Bill Hood
Ft. Benning (GA):  Named after General Henry Benning (lawyer turned soldier)
Ft. Gordon (GA):  Named after General John Brown Gordon (who went on to be elected to the U.S. Senate in 1872 and reportedly the head of the GA chapter of the KKK)
Ft. Rucker (ALA):  Named after Colonel Edmund Rucker

A side note:  A law passed under former NC Governor Pat McCrory restricts moving confederate statues on government owned property.  An Alabama law makes the removal of confederate monuments illegal.

If you want to know how many colleges and universities are impacted, click here: Schools

 And while we're talking about statues, let's not forget about the one located at the Supreme Court Justice building of Former Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, who was famous for his argument in the Dred Scott vs. Sanford decision in 1857.  In his opinion (as part of the majority) he wrote: Scott was a slave and as such was not a citizen and could not sue in Federal Court.  Taney's further opinion was that Congress had no power to exclude slavery from the territories and that Negros could not become citizens.

Now I am certainly not advocating that all statues be removed and destroyed (even though the South lost) but they can be put in a Museum similar to the artifacts in the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Perhaps it's time for those white southerners, who believe their heritage is tied to the confederacy, to re-think how they view their heritage and what TREASON really means.