Today there's this in Georgia news: two Southern heritage groups, The Military Order of the Stars and Bars and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, are upset because Savannah Mayor Otis Johnson (who is black) authorized the removal of two portraits of Confederate army officers from City Hall to make way for television equipment needed to televise council meetings. A lawsuit is threatened.
Despite plans for the paintings of Gen. Robert E. Lee and John Wheaton, a former mayor, to be placed in the Savannah History Museum, leaders of these heritage groups see Johnson's action as another wave in the steady erosion of their history."We feel like the mayor is in violation of the law and we intend to pursue that," Newman said. "Because the portraits were (originally) placed in memorial of the individuals and the statute says that they are not to be disturbed."The statute is a state law that cites memorials and monuments in honor of military service - including from the Civil War - cannot be removed. Heritage groups cling to this law and are using it to sue the Augusta Commission, who removed a Confederate flag from a display at Riverwalk Augusta.
A little over a year ago there was the flap over Howard Dean saying that he wanted to be the candidate of the "guys with confederate flags in their pickup trucks." At the time I agreed with Dean. My experiences since then have changed my mind. Let the Republicans keep them. (More in the extended entry.)
The extent of my knowledge of the South was a viewing of the Ken Burns Civil War documentary series before I ever even thought about moving down here. I thought that series was even handed in portraying the South. I came away sympathetic to what they went through. It's too easy to say now that had I been alive then I'd have been moral enough to be on the right side of history. I don't know that. Even Jefferson was a slave owner. But it's clear as can be now. To some of the people I've met here, that's not the case. To them the war wasn't about slavery, it was about "state's rights." It was the "war of northern aggression."
Over the weekend I read a long thoughtful Diary entry Understanding the South on the Daily Kos about how Democrats can win the South. At the time, I thought this response a bit harsh:
To put it plainly, the South has not worked through or accepted its past. For nearly 140 years, different forms of apologists have fought to alter history: the "Lost Cause" brigade is the archtype, that sought to innoble a war to protect the institution of slavery--a mythology still not fully beaten back; the creation of the Marble Man, Robert E. Lee, as a National Hero, a neat trick for a man who committed treason; the misleading historiography of Reconstruction; Birth of a Nation's mythologyzing ode to the KKK; Gone With Wind; Daughters of the Confederacy; State's Rights; Nascar Dads; the Silent Majority; Law and Order platforms; and yes "values"--are all, in different ways, attempts to deflect and deny the critical issue: race and our disgraceful history.Are White Southerners, as a group, bad folks? Of course not. They are human. As many Southerners here rightly point out, racism is a national problem. I worked for the David Dinkins Reelection campaign in 1993. Both in '93 and in '89 a lot of Democrats didn't vote for Dinkins. Was it conscious racism? Mostly no, but it was racism nonetheless. These Dems were quicker to think Dinkins stupid, lazy, incompetent. But, these are regions we do win in and will win in. We do not and cannot in the South. Not without relinquishing our values.
When I see these Southern heritage groups are still at it and that they've got substantial support here, I begin to agree with those sentiments. Living here, I don't exactly know what to do about that. But I don't think Democrats have to work on winning these people over by moving closer to Republican policies. Republicans are punitive, righteous and moralistic more than moral (protect the unborn but support policies that increase the number of abortions? No moral qualms over the death penalty? Even in the face of overwhelming evidence of its mistaken application? Pre-emptive war? Not a moral question?). Democrats have to stick to our own moral values, recognize that they are fundamentally moral, and win a majority over to our side. We're a 50/50 nation now. We're not losers. We can win.
