The Confederate Battle Flag and the 2012 Presidential Election

The Confederate Battle Flag and the 2012 Presidential Election

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

The South Carolina primary is one of the earliest primaries in the nation.  It will be coming up very early next year.  Sure to be an issue is the Confederate Battle Flag.  See, there are those among us who will make certain it is an issue.  Many, if not most, of those who cannot wait to involve one of South Carolina’s most treasured heritage symbols are members of the mainstream media. With a southerner from one of the most important states of the Confederacy sure to be within the top three leading GOP candidates seeking the Republican nomination for President of the US -- there is simply NO WAY it will not be made an issue.

So, before the liberal media clouds the waters concerning my home and its relationship with and to the Confederate Battle Flag, I thought I would get ahead of the curve, so to speak, and provide a bit of insight on that relationship through the eyes of a born and raised “sandlapper.”  

 As ridiculous as it may seem, there are some people in America who believe that South Carolina should forsake its southern heritage in favor of, well… money, ie:  tourist dollars, dollars from athletic events, and such.   As a proud native South Carolinian I think I can safely say our answer to that is: “KISS MY GRITS!” 

Look, I AM a native South Carolinian, or “sandlapper,” as we affectionately call ourselves. I was born there, and I was raised there, and everything I do, and everything I have done in my life… up to now… has its roots in South Carolina.  I’m a resident of North Carolina, and have been for 50 years, but my heart will always be in my home of South Carolina.

South Carolina is a small state, which thinks it is at least as large as Texas, maybe even Alaska!  It is, as they say:  a state of mind.  Sandlappers are a proud people, black and white… and Native American. 

The state is absolutely beautiful.  The rolling hills of its piedmont are awesome and the northwestern mountains are breathtaking in beauty.  The South Carolina coast is an absolute jewel (Myrtle Beach).  White sands and blue water sparkles all year ‘round.  I guess living amid such beauty has an effect on Sandlappers. 

You cannot live in Paradise and not be affected by it.  You can’t live in Paradise and not defend it -- just the way it is.  The last thing you want is for somebody, anybody, to come into your paradise and attempt to change it by force, or coercion, or any other way. It’s YOUR paradise and you don’t want it changed, period!

My folks sailed into the harbor of a little South Carolina coastal city, by the name of Charles Town, in 1789.   My family is still there. 

The people of South Carolina are nothing if they aren’t “spunky.”  They’ll stick their collective thumbs into the eye of the biggest giant around.  They will defy any entity, which trys to force them into any sort of submissive state.  Take Great Britain and the United States of America, for instance.  (Somewhere Cornwallis is still cussing South Carolina.)  Sandlappers led the way when they broke away from a repressive US government in 1861. So… they won one and lost one.  Both were honorable efforts on the part of South Carolina, and THAT is what matters!  In fact -- it matters a LOT! 

The battle over the Confederate Battle Flag is a battle only in the minds of folks who don’t live in South Carolina, or are misled, misguided, mistaken, and miserably uninformed about the history of the Confederate Battle Flag itself.  . 

The facts on the ground, as they say, are summed up this way: The people of South Carolina have made the decision that the flag will never leave public view, and they simply don’t care what you, or I, or anyone else, thinks about it.  What others may want for the Confederate Battle Flag is of no concern, whatsoever, to the folks of South Carolina.

As I said, no matter what you may think, the CBF (Confederate Battle Flag) is a celebration of South Carolina’s Heritage.  

No people, anywhere, adore and esteem their ancestors more than do the people of my home state.  The quickest way I know of to get a sharp rap across one’s nose is to make a disparaging remark about a sandlapper’s Confederate ancestors.

So, when “outsiders” (that’s anyone not a citizen of South Carolina) take it upon themselves to rail against SC history, of which that flag is an honored part, and go even farther and dictate how South Carolina should behave… then it is sure to backfire and bring a great deal of dismay upon the “outsider”.

In the Iodine State, when you try to equate money with heritage, it can’t be done. Heritage, in South Carolina, is more valuable than money.  One’s heritage is one’s identity. 

It makes no difference whether you believe us when we say the Confederate Battle Flag is a symbol of our heritage, a heritage of which we are proud.  We simply don’t care if you disagree! 

Far from hurting South Carolina’s economy the NAACP boycott has done no measurable harm to the state’s economy. Tourism dollars in the state have continued to rise since its beginning.  The NCAA boycott is just a minor annoyance. Nobody, much, is concerned about it… save for the colleges and universities themselves… and the diehard fans. But, when questioned, SC fans will tell you they would rather contend with the NCAA boycott than take down their ancestor’s flag.

When the battle flag was placed atop the capitol dome, about 100 years after the War of Northern Aggression and Sherman’s burning of Columbia, it was placed there as a visible warning to tyrannical government.  It was saying:  “Hey!  Remember us?  We’re still here -- and we’re still opposed to any move by the government to take, or curtail, our freedom.”  The CBF flies every day as a warning to tyrants everywhere -- even in Washington, DC.

Here’s a little known fact about the current placement of the Confederate Battle Flag in the state’s capitol.  When the South Carolina legislature voted to remove the Confederate Battle Flag from the Capitol Dome, and set it permanently at the most visible point in the entire city, the Confederate Monument, the legislature included the provision that the Confederate Battle Flag could NEVER be moved, by any vote of the State Legislature… except a 2/3rds vote of both houses.  That’s not going to happen… at least for the next 100 years, or so.

The South is known for its hospitality. And South Carolina is certainly a past master at the practice of Southern hospitality. But keep one thing in mind. If the visitor abuses the hospitality of my home state, they will be invited to leave and never return!  And that is as it should be! 

So, to wind this up, the NAACP and the NCAA and the mainstream media might just as well move on to greener pastures, for they are only spinning their wheels, and getting zero traction, in the red clay and sandy loam of my home, South Carolina!

So, after the debates, after the voting in the SC primary – even after the vote on Election Day in November of 2012 -- the Confederate Battle Flag will STILL be flying from the mast at the Confederate Monument near the corner of Gervais and Assembly Streets on the State House grounds in Columbia, South Carolina.  And THAT TOO is as it should be! 

J. D. Longstreet 

NAACP Goes After Dixie’s Battle Flag … Again

NAACP Goes After Dixie’s Battle Flag … Again

SC’s Gov. Haley Won’t Fall For It.

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Wrong Crusade.  Wrong flag.  Wrong state. That about sums up the NAACP’s perennial crusade to have the Confederate Battle Flag removed from the Confederate Memorial on the state capitol grounds in Columbia, South Carolina.  That battle has been fought – and the NAACP lost. They will lose again.

Here’s why:

Every attack by the NAACP on the Confederate Battle Flag only intensifies the determination of my fellow “Sandlappers” to rally ‘round that flag and defend it from all comers.  They feel, and rightly so, the Battle Flag is being unjustly vilified by people, regardless of color, who do not know the history of the flag and/or don’t care about the Battle Flag’s glorious past -- as a battle field emblem -- and have no regard for our confederate great grandfathers who fought, bled, and died beneath it’s beautiful Saint Andrew’s Cross.  That gets the ire of my fellow Sandlappers stoked to a white-hot blaze and, like their ancient Celt ancestors, they ready themselves for war.

You need to know a couple of things.  First:  The Confederate Battle Flag was not the National Flag of the Confederacy.  No.  It was a battlefield emblem … only.  People who think of it as a national flag have, apparently, allowed Hollywood and the mainstream media to create for them an incorrect version of history. 

There were three national flags of the Confederacy.  NONE of them was the Confederate Battle Flag.  The Confederate Battle Flag never flew over slavery – whereas, the flag of the United States of America flew over slavery for 258 years.

The Confederate Battle Flag was moved from the dome of the SC State House in 2000 to the Confederate Memorial where it remains today.  It was a compromise made by the SC legislature.  It was a compromise they didn’t have to make and one I heartily disagreed with -- and still do.  I firmly believe had the question been put to the people of my home state, by way of referendum, that glorious old flag would still be snapping defiantly in the pine-scented breezes sweeping off the sandhills and red clay of the foot hills.

When the Battle Flag was removed to the Confederate Memorial, the NAACP demanded that it be removed from that location.  They apparently wanted the proud ensign banished from public view.

When the SC legislature said “this far and no farther!”  The NAACP began their boycott of the state, which continues today. Even today the National Collegiate Athletic Association continues to enforce a partial boycott of postseason sports events in South Carolina. 

The boycott backfired -- as it was bound to do from day one.  South Carolina’s tourism business has not suffered -- at all. In fact, there have been reports that tourism has grown into a 15 billion dollar industry under that boycott.

The people of South Carolina are a proud bunch.  They take pride in being singled out as the target of a boycott, especially when the reasons for the boycott are based on incorrect assumptions and incorrect, or revised, history.

South Carolina’s governor, Nikki Haley, herself the descendant of East Indians, is about as conservative as they come in one of the most conservative and most republican states in the US.  She is not about to become entangled in a matter that was settled eleven years ago.  In fact, simply by ignoring the NAACP’s continuous demands, concerning the removal of the Battle Flag, her favorable poll numbers will climb.  

In an article in the Post and Courier of Charleston,  “Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, who is black, said the NAACP's comments are fuel for Haley to make a win politically. By standing by her position, the governor stands to be crowned "Miss Conservative," Ford said.

Haley and NAACP leaders need to focus on their work as public servants, Ford said. What's more, Ford said the public wouldn't be so persuaded by political antics if children were better educated about civics.


"The NAACP needs to concentrate on jobs, jobs, jobs and education, education, education and a better standard of living for African-Americans and minorities in this country," Ford said. "The flag is in the right place historically."


Ford played a leading role in brokering the deal to move the battle flag to the monument.”  (You may read the entire article HERE.)

I am the direct descendant of a whole slew of Confederate soldiers. I am immensely proud of that. I am a proud (and active) member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, an organization dedicated to preserving the history and good name of the Confederate soldier.  The Confederate Battle Flag is the center of the SCV logo.  Why?  Because those brave, gallant, Knights of the South served beneath her folds.  Thousands upon thousands made the ultimate sacrifice in her shadow.

The Confederate Battle Flag stands for defiance in the face of tyranny.  Even today, around the world, when tyranny is being confronted, somehow the Confederate Battle Flag seems to magically appear.

Generally speaking, we Americans have forgotten who we are. I contend that if we Americans knew our history, and knew how our government is supposed to work within the constraints of the constitution, America would not be in the mess we find ourselves in today. 

My confederate ancestors knew some things were worth fighting and dying for. Their constitutional rights, state’s rights, were being denied them by an overbearing US government.  When years and years of trying to reason with national leaders failed, and threats to secede and form their own nation, ruled by the voice of the people, also failed -- they had no choice but to separate themselves and go it alone.

The US realized that without the South, they had no money to run their own government, and Lincoln’s troops invaded my ancestor’s new country, the Confederate States of America. Between 600,000 and 700,000 Americans died as a result.  The South was ruined – more by the so-called “Reconstruction” than by the war itself.

The Brave men who served beneath the Confederate Battle Flag deserve every accolade bestowed upon them.  Denigrating their battlefield flag is a disgrace and a deep, deep, insult -- not just to their memory -- but to their descendants, as well.

J. D. Longstreet 
 

US Marines vs Confederate Battle Flag Tattoo ... Part Two

Marines battle back on Confederate flag tattoos The latest on Confederate Flag Tattoos and Marine Recruiting.

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Recruiters had 'unclear understanding of policy' regarding Southern symbol

“A tattoo of a widely regarded Southern symbol of pride and states' rights – a Confederate battle flag – is not an automatic bar to enlistment in the U.S. Marine Corps, according to a Marine Corps spokesman.

However, those seeking to join the Marine Corps must acquire a special waiver from the regional commanding general if they have a Confederate-flag tattoo – or they will be prohibited from enlisting.

Staff Sgt. Andrew Hurt, public affairs representative for Marine Corps Recruiting Station Nashville, told WND, "We're not saying that a Confederate flag tattoo is racist, but it could potentially be. So we call that an 'exception-to-policy' tattoo. 'Exception-to-policy' tattoos have to be reviewed by a general." (From an article by Chelsea Schilling at World Net Daily)

(We urge you to read the entire article HERE. )

U.S. Marines Reject Recruits with Confederate Flag Tattoos!

U.S. Marines Reject Recruits with Confederate Flag Tattoos!
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"A widely regarded Southern symbol of pride and states' rights is standing in the way of would-be Marines in their quest to serve their country – a Confederate battle flag.

Straight out of high school, one 18-year-old Tennessee man was determined to serve his country as a Marine. His friend said he passed the pre-enlistment tests and physical exams and looked forward with excitement to the day he would ship out to boot camp.

Shortly before he was scheduled to leave Nashville for boot camp, the Marine Corps rejected him.
Now, the young man, who wishes to remain unnamed and declined to be interviewed, has chosen to return to school and is no longer an aspiring Marine.

"I think he just wants to let it go," said former Marine 1st Lt. Gene Andrews, a friend of the man and patriotic Southerner who served in Vietnam from 1968 through 1971. Andrews is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a group of male descendents of Confederate soldiers. He counseled the young man when he decided to become a Marine.

"He had been talking to me, and he was all fired up about joining," he told WND. "He asked my opinion of it, and I just tried to tell him the truth, good points and bad points."

When the young recruit didn't go to boot camp, Andrews learned of his rejection based on his tattoo of the Confederate battle flag on his shoulder. "

Read the entire article HERE.
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Below is a statement from former Marine 1st Lt. Gene Andrews, a friend of the man and patriotic Southerner and a member of The Sons of Confederate Veterans:

A Southerner Speaks SOURCE

“I have always been proud of my time spent as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. I served in the Republic of Vietnam in 1969 and, while I was certainly no “John Wayne” type, I tried to do my duty to the best of my ability and I did bring all of my platoon out of Vietnam alive.

This past summer, the son of a friend of mine was very ‘gung ho’ about joining the Marines and asked my opinion, which I tried to give as honestly as possible, warts and all. I don’t know if my discussions had any influence on him, but he enlisted, completed all of the pre-enlistment tests and physical exams, and went to all of the pre-enlistment meetings. To say the least, he was very excited about serving his country in the Corps.

Shortly before he left Nashville for boot camp, he was told he could not serve his country because he had a Confederate Battle Flag tattooed on his shoulder in an area that would be completely covered by a t-shirt, and certainly by his uniform.

When informed of this, I went to the local recruiting station that had processed this young man to see if I were getting the entire story. The recruiter, a staff sergeant, told me, “Yes, sir. The Marine Corps considers the Confederate Flag a ‘hate symbol,’ but if the young man in question had a state or U.S. flag tattoo, that would be acceptable.”

I informed the young sergeant that my family had defended the State of Tennessee (also his home state) against a sadistic invasion under that flag and to call our sacred flag of honor a ‘hate symbol was an insult to ALL southerners, but especially to those southerners who had risked or even given their lives in service to the Marine Corps. Southerners had served at Belleau Woods, at Taraw and Iwo Jima, at Inchon and the Chosin Reservoir, and at Khe Sahn and Hue City, but now we are no longer wanted in the politically-correct don’t-offend-any-minorities military? (This was just prior to the Fort Hood massacre)He was polite, even sympathetic, but said the flag policy was a Marine Corps policy from Headquarters Marine Corps and not a local decision.

After informing the sergeant that it seemed to me that our military was building a mercenary force of illegal aliens while rejecting native-born Americans in order to have a ready force to turn, without question, on American citizens, I asked the sergeant if he had taken out the trash yet. He replied that he hadn’t. I then said, “Please add these to the day’s garbage,” and returned my lieutenant’s bars, my gold and silver Marine Corps emblem from my dress blues, my shooting badges and my Vietnam ribbons.

I, like many of you, have always been told, “Once a Marine, always a Marine,” and “There are no ex-Marines, only former Marines,” but for me that is no longer true.

I was born in the South. I was raised here. I raised my family in the South and some day, God-willing, I hope to be buried in the native soil of our Southern homeland. I have always considered myself a Southerner first, and will remain so, despite any other organization that I may temporarily join.

I will never make a critical remark about a veteran, from any branch of the service, but from now on, I will do everything in my power to discourage any Southern young man, or lady, from becoming a future veteran. I am now an ex-Marine.”

Gene Andrews
ex-Marine,
1st Lieutenant
3rd Marine division
Vietnam

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As a veteran, a member of the American Legion, AND a member of The Sons of Confederate Veterans, I am outraged at this discriminatory policy of the US Marines. All Southerners should be outraged at this treatment of a fine southern young man who had the courage to offer his life in the service of his country in the Marine Corp!.

Look, in my opinion, if America had a “Warrior-Class” it would be, indisputably, the Southern male!

The US military cannot afford to spit in the face of so many southern warriors in its ranks today. Add to this the rescinding of the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy to allow homosexuals to serve OPENLY in the US military, and the recruitment is going to drop like a stone.

What is next? You KNOW what’s next…the return of the draft and a mediocre military.

Oh, well. Maybe we can make a deal with Israel to lease the IDF to defend the USA. Do you suppose?

J. D. Longstreet

Return the Confederate Battle Flag to the Dome of SC's Capital Building

Put the Confederate Battle Flag back atop the Capitol's Dome in South Carolina!

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To catch up on the latest antics of the politically correct crowd and their permanently offended allies you need to read this article titled: Flag fallout: ACC reverses S.C. baseball bid". You will find it HERE.

It would appear the deal to remove the Confederate Battle Flag from the dome of the Capitol Building in Columbia, South Carolina has finally, and irrefutably, fallen through. For anyone who had even the remotest hope the deal was holding, the latest antics of “The Offended” should remove any, and all, doubt. So, what I am advocating is simply tossing the “agreement” (Obviously, it never REALLY existed!) and returning to the way things were before the – ahem -“agreement.” That means - returning the Confederate Battle flag to its place atop the SC Capitol Dome in Columbia, South Carolina!

No, I am NOT kidding. It would be a rare thing, indeed, to find a time in my life when I have been more serious about this subject. Now that the “deal” turns out to be no deal, at all, the Confederate Battle Flag should immediately be run back up the flag pole, on top of the capital dome, and flown daily as a reminder to anyone and everyone that South Carolina will not the cowed and will not bend their knee to those who would dictate how "The Sandlappers" live their lives and how they honor their ancestors.I'm a native South Carolinian- and damned proud of it! My home state was the first state to secede from the union. It was the only Confederate state whose legislature voted unanimously to secede and it was the only Confederate state that did not send recruits to fight in Union forces against their brothers - the Confederates. In other words, South Carolina stood its ground in the face of all adversity. Every few years, it seems, we have to fight the battle all over again. It is not enough that the history of the United States has been re-written multiple times in an attempt to erase all vestiges of the truth behind The War for Southern Independence, or The War of Northern Aggression, whichever you choose... both are correct.

Before we go any further, all Americans need to understand this: The so-called Civil War was not a civil war! It was not a rebellion! The South broke away and formed a new country complete with a constitution, a President and vice-President, a Congress, an Army, a Navy, and a Marine corp, AND it was much larger, in land area, than the original 13 colonies when they broke away from Great Britain. A civil war and/or a rebellion require(s) that one side, or the other, attempt to overthrow the government of the original country. The South never did that. That was not what they were about. They wanted their independence just the same as their grandfathers wanted theirs from Great Britain. All they ever wanted from the United States of America was, in the words of President, Jefferson Davis, was to be "left alone!" That hardly defines a rebellion!)In any event, recent developments, here in the Carolinas, have some Sandlappers and Tarheels blistering mad and others doubled over in laughter at the antics of powerful organizations apparently afraid of a piece of cloth with the Christian symbol, the Saint Andrew's Cross, on it. Of course, I refer to the Confederate Battle flag. OK, so it is not the flag itself they despise. It is us, the Southerner with roots and DNA that runs deep into the past where dwell the most honored soldier ever to walk the face of the earth, the Confederate soldier. That flag, the Confederate Battle Flag, was their emblem, their battlefield ensign. It never flew over the nation of the Confederacy as a national flag, ever, which means: it never flew over slavery. The Confederate Battle Flag as a National flag of the Confederacy is pure Hollywood, pure fiction.

The Confederate Battle Flag was a battlefield standard. On the battlefield, it flew over white and black Confederate troops. The flag that flew over the Union Forces, however, DID fly over slavery, and yet it gets a pass while the Confederate Battle Flag is dishonored by the revisionists of history and the priest, priestesses, and acolytes of Political Correctness who continue to heap lies upon it in an all-out attempt to strike at the people who are the proud descendants of the men who fought, bled, and died beneath the ruffles, snaps, and flourishes of that grand old standard.If it sounds as if I take the slanderous attacks against the Confederate Battle Flag personally, you're damned right I do! I had ancestors who fought, bled, and yes - died beneath it. I carry their genes and their DNA in my wretched old body. They were heroes and people who are not worthy to even stand in their shadow are disgracing them!

Did you know that around three-quarters of a million Confederate troops held off 2 and a half million Union troops for four of the bloodiest years in the history of this continent? Did you know that? A rag tag bunch of southerners almost, almost, gained a resounding victory over the forces of a fledgling world superpower! Yeah, they were, absolutely, heroes. Their battle tactics are still taught in military academies the world over. The First World War reflects the tactics of trench warfare the Confederates introduced in defense of the Confederate capital.

To say that I am angry about the decision to halt plans to hold a conference baseball tournament in Myrtle Beach, SC, and moving that tournament to North Carolina while citing failure to reach an agreement on the Confederate Battle Flag issue – is putting it mildly! In my opinion, it is an insult to every southerner in this country… not just the Carolinas. (And you wonder why this country can’t “come together” and be as one???) These are the kinds of actions that bring back memories of the “Reconstruction Period” in the South that wreaked more pain, devastation, and destruction on the South than the war itself.

Do not tell southerners to put it behind us and move on! We can’t. We live it every day. To us, in our collective memories, the war was just yesterday. All around us are reminders of the destruction and the cost in lives each southern family suffers to this day. This state, North Carolina, lost 40,000 men to that war. In four years, 40,000 men, from North Carolina, alone, gave their lives in a war for Southern Independence! Think about that. In roughly ten years the entire United States of America lost 58,000 men in the Vietnam War. That’s 58,000 dead Americans spread over 50 states. You know the impact that had on the country as a whole. Just think what the loss of 40,000 men, in four years, had on a single state, North Carolina. How do you forget something like that – even if you wanted to?

There are many very angry southerners over this insult. It will not be forgotten.

Today, while America is ripped and torn by a government as inept as any we have ever had in our nation’s history, along comes something as arguably unimportant as a sporting event, which quickly becomes a tool for adding fuel to the fires of dissension and discord in a country which is already dangerously balkanized and at the extreme limits of it’s comity for fellow Americans holding different political opinions.

These are, indeed, times that try men’s souls. Tread lightly, ever so lightly.

J. D. Longstreet
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