By Allan Wall
09/05/2017
The hysteria over anything Confederate related continues. President Donald Trump has made the reasonable suggestion this should be handed at the local level unless a monument is on federal property.[Trump: Taking down Confederate memorials is 'changing history', by Eli Watkins, CNN, August 15, 2017] But this has nothing to do with reason; we’re witnessing a fanatical, totalitarian and revolutionary hysteria.I say this not as a neo-Confederate or a descendant of Confederates. My family, although subsequently long resident in Oklahoma, was in the North during the Civil War. One of my relatives, James Dunlavy of Iowa (known as Uncle Jimmy in the family) won the Congressional Medal of Honor for capturing Confederate general John Sappington Marmaduke at the Battle of Mine Creek, Kansas, in 1864.
But both sides of the Civil War form America’s heritage. The attack on the South is an attack on our identity. The ultimate goal is to deconstruct the Historic American Nation.
As Sam Francis noted years ago, the same rationale used to attack the Confederate flag can, has been and will be used to attack the American flag.
The effort is even picking up steam in here Oklahoma, where several School Board members want to rename four schools named after Confederate officers and are only hesitant about the costs [OKC school district responds to violent racial protests, by Tim Willert, News OK, August 15, 2017]. The four generals are General Robert E. Lee, General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, General “Fighting Joe” Wheeler and
General Stand Watie.
General Watie, a Cherokee Indian, was the last Confederate general to surrender, 75 days after Lee surrendered to Grant.
Oklahoma has a complicated and unique history. White people didn’t settle Oklahoma until after the Civil War. During the Civil War it was Indian Territory, and the Indians themselves were divided.
But many supported the Confederacy. Stand Watie was commissioned a colonel in the Confederate Army in 1861, and led a regiment which became known as the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles. In 1864, he was promoted to Brigadier General, commanding the “First Indian Brigade of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi”, which included Cherokee, Seminole and Osage infantry.
Watie was not only a military man, but a politician. During the war, in 1862, he became the Principal Chief of the Confederate Cherokees.
In 1864, he won two famous victories.
Oklahoma City Public Schools Superintendent Aurora Lora claims she is evaluating public input before making a decision, including from ‘families and people’ who find the names ‘offensive’ and others who believe the names are ‘part of history.’ For now, she simply wants a "conversation with the communities that would be impacted”. [OKC schools leader wants public to decide on name changes by Tim Willert, News OK, August 16, 2017]
Though Oklahoma is a conservative state, it has already proven itself willing to abolish its own history. For example, three years ago, under a different superintendent, the Oklahoma City Public schools banned Land Run re-enactments at the prodding of the Obama Administration.
And it isn’t just Oklahoma which is jettisoning its past and identity.
Consider the following sixteen recent examples (and there are many more):
I. North Carolina — Hundreds protested on the University of North Carolina’s Chapel Hill campus, calling for removal of the Silent Sam Confederate statue [Hundreds protest at UNC-Chapel Hill Silent Sam monument; 3 arrested, WRAL.com, August 23, 2017].
II. Six Flags over Texas has eliminated the Confederate States of America flag (the official one, not the battle flag). As of August 18th all the flags were replaced by the U.S. flag, so now the six flags are American flags. [After 56 years, Six Flags will no longer fly the Confederate flag over its theme parks, by Amy B. Wang, Washington Post, August 19, 2017]
III. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi wants all Confederate statues removed from the Capitol building, even though National Statuary Hall Collection statues are named by the states and not the federal government. [Pelosi wants Confederate statues out of Capitol by Mike Lillis, The Hill, August 17, 2017]
IV. The University of Texas at Austin is removing four Confederate-linked statues. [University of Texas at Austin moving statues of four figures tied to Confederacy, Reuters, August 21, 2017]
V. At Duke University (Durham, North Carolina), a statue of Robert E. Lee in the entrance to the chapel was vandalized, then removed. [Duke University removes contentious Confederate statue after vandalism, by Gina Cherelus, Reuters, August 19, 2017]
VI. Madison, Wisconsin — The mayor has ordered removal of a plaque and a stone in a section of a cemetery where Confederate POWs were buried. [Mayor Orders Removal of Wisconsin Confederate Memorial, by Scott Anderson, Caledonia Patch, August 17, 2017]
VII. Indianapolis, Indiana — A Confederate monument commemorating Confederate POWs who died in a nearby prison camp was vandalized. [Indianapolis man arrested for vandalizing Confederate monument in Garfield Park, Fox 59, August 19, 2017]
VIII. New York City — Tiles which have been in a Manhattan subway station for almost a century have been denounced as resembling the Confederate Battle Flag (although their origin is completely different), and are thus to be modified. [Confederate flag ‘looking’ tiles to be changed in subway, Fox 5 New York, 19, 2017]
IX. New York City — A resident of an apartment has outraged the Main Stream Media by hanging Confederate flags in his apartment windows. [See It: Confederate flag in East Village apartment window enrages neighbors, New York Daily News, August 17, 2017]
X. William Shatner was attacked on Twitter for donating to a statue of John B. Castleman, a Confederate officer who later served in the U.S. Army. In true Captain Kirk fashion, Shatner didn’t cave. [‘Keep up, SUNSHINE.’ William Shatner schools horde of statue-triggered SJWs with HISTORY, by Sam J, Twitchy, August 20, 2017]
XI. A Lincoln bust was set on fire in a black Chicago neighborhood.
XII. Some Black Lives Matter activists have called “for a ban on all Confederate imagery — even in private possession.… All confederate flags & statue, & groups should be illegal.” [Black Lives Matter Activists Float Criminalization of Confederate Imagery,by Edmund Kozak, Lifezette, August 17, 2017]
XIII. Parks in Chicago named after George Washington and Andrew Jackson are under attack. [Pastor Wants Presidents’ Names Removed From Washington, Jackson Parks Over Ties To Slavery Chicago CBS Local, August 16, 2017] It should be noted not all black Chicagoans agree with this minister. [Exclusive Video — Race War Hoax Exposed: Black Chicagoans Say Leave Washington Statue Alone, by Jeremy Segal, Breitbart, August 22, 2017]
XIV. Al Sharpton doesn’t think tax dollars (he owes $4.5 million in back taxes) should support monuments to slaveholders, specifically mentioning the Jefferson Memorial. [Al Sharpton is angry his taxes pay for Jefferson Memorial — then Twitter hits him with brutal fact check by Chris Enloe, The Blaze, August 19, 2017]
XV. VICE magazine tweeted “Let’s blow up Mt. Rushmore”, then deleted it but PJ Media got a screen shot. [VICE Magazine Tweet Calls for Blowing Up Mount Rushmore, by Christopher A. Guzman, PJ media, August 17, 2017].
XVI. In New Orleans, a statue of Joan of Arc was vandalized, with “Tear it Down” spray painted on the base [New Orleans' Joan of Arc Statue Vandalized With 'Take It Down' by Tom Knighton, PJ Media, August 17, 2017].
Joan of Arc? Was she a Confederate general? No — but she was a White Western Woman. Close enough.
If even Oklahoma has caved, it’s likely the states and localities guarding the monuments listed above will as well.
This American version of Mao’s Cultural Revolution will continue to roll on with no end in sight — unless someone in public life calls a halt to it. I nominate Donald J. Trump in a Presidential Address to The Nation.
American citizen Allan Wall (email him) moved back to the U.S.A. in 2008after many years residing in Mexico. Allan’s wife is Mexican, and their two sons are bilingual. In 2005, Allan served a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his Mexidata.info articles are archived here; his News With Views columns are archived here; and his website is here.
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