Over the past few months, the Sons of Confederate Veterans recently completed and dedicated a new National Museum of the Confederacy at Elm Springs, Tennessee, filling the void left by toppling monuments and closing of other similar museums. Though the opening ceremony was private, the museum is quite a feat and the ultimate brainchild of the SCV. No worthy Confederate museums currently exist. It is nice to have good news for a change.
Despite some relative good news, not is all that it seems. Absolutely nothing can stop the government, both state and federal, from removing monuments on private property through the legal grey area of imminent domain. While various public monuments are being removed by hostile communists, carpetbaggers, and GOP cucks in Southern cities, many SCV groups and other pro-South organizations are still raising more on private property. No indictments will be carried out against the Left for trespassing and destroying these private monuments either.
There is more to Dixie than a failed 4 year old republic which collapsed 155 years ago regardless of the honor its existence bestowed upon the South’s history. Dixie extends from the colonial period, to the War, through the undeservedly maligned Jim Crow Era, to the present day. Focusing on one, single failed aspect is a terrible idea, especially considering that so few of these pro-South organizations refuse to grace the topic of secession. Even the superlative Southern Agrarians did not use the word “secession” a single time in I’ll Take My Stand. The entire Lost Cause Myth accepts the idea of the Union reigning supreme and the idea of Confederates being tacked on as American heroes, more or less a byproduct of the Compromise of 1877.
In the end, and contrary to the title, this is not a hit piece on Baby Boomers but rather an expose on why Southerners so often fail to win cultural battles. They accept too much of what the system demands of them and sacrifice plethora of other great periods of Southern history for the sake of focusing entirely on the Confederacy. Jim Crow was not evil; antebellum slavery was not evil. Both eras produced far superior civilizations and relationships between Caucasians and Negroes than the current society does.
Take for example the Confederate “Rebel” Flag. It was once a proud symbol of a proud people and a staple of mainstream society. Now it is relegated to the fringes due to the lack of organized effort to repel the constant media and education slandering of its image. Instead, the primary mode of defense was to agree with the Left on the evils of Southern society and follow that with “the War was not about slavery.” Meanwhile, children were being indoctrinated constantly in schools about segregationists utilizing the flag throughout the 20th century and hearing tales made up out of thin air by William Lloyd Garrison.
To the pro-South organizations this piece befits: enough with the rear-guard actions. Start building and focusing on Dixie’s future instead of obsessing over the past. The South is more than a place or a failed 4 year venture; it is a people. With all that is going on in the fallout of the 2020 elections, the best time to build for Dixie’s future is now, not tucked away in a museum somewhere or on private land less and less people will visit with each passing generation. Now that the new National Museum of the Confederacy has been established, maybe it is time to build fraternity and even go to the extent of branching outside of glorifying Confederates. Build to old Southerners like Theodore Bilbo, John Bel Williams, Allan Shivers, Strom Thurmond, Leander Perez, and George Wallace, many of whom were war veterans themselves, and even write books on why they were not evil. Maybe discuss more on why slavery was not evil. Possibly even grasp the concept of secession and push it.
The old strategy simply does not work anymore. We must look to the future.
“The White people of the South are the greatest minority in this nation. They deserve consideration and understanding instead of the persecution of twisted propaganda.” –Strom Thurmond
While so many good institutions have done great work in preserving our past and telling the true story of our people, we need groups that are just as energetic when it comes to guiding Dixie’s future. Great work, Joe.
BRAVO!
I spend so much of my time in Southern groups talking about this. We are alive, living and breathing in the here and now, but we act as if we are talking about other people, almost in the third person when talking about our own people, as if they are someone else. Our LIVING people need the help and guidance of the tribe. We don’t educate our own children for God’s sake!
There is so much more we could be doing for each other in the here and now, the living, breathing current manifestation of our people’s spirit, just as they were then and our descendants will be in the future, that is where the majority of our efforts should be focused.
I could write an article on this, thank you for bringing it up and you could not be more right.
First we must name who we are, down to the man and secondly we must organize. Then, we may begin to pour our efforts into them instead of New York and Washington.
Great article, very astute perception.