Let’s talk about discrimination. I don’t mean the kind you hear about on the news or the kind that groups like the ACLU fight. I’m talking about a kind of discrimination that’s almost encouraged by groups like the ACLU. It’s discrimination against the South & Southerners. A lot of you reading this think I’ve lost it, but keep reading and you may just see my point. That statement, in and of itself, may stop some folks from reading any farther. If that’s the case then so be it.
I've seen "
American by Birth…. Southern by the Grace of God". on bumper stickers, coffee mugs, t-shirts, you name it. To me, those words mean pride in being both an American and a Southerner. When I say I’m a proud Southerner, I get the same look from most people, which is usually one of confusion. It's as if others don't understand why, much less how, I can be proud to be a Southerner. If you ask most people what were the causes of the Civil War, they’ll tell you slavery. Nothing else will be cited...just slavery. Because of slavery alone the South seceded from the Union and caused The War, how could I--how dare I, be proud. The answer is simple, it's the same way that anyone else can, and should be proud of their heritage.
I'm from the South, and to the best of my knowledge my family has always been in the South (through the joint research that I and cousins have done, I have documents from as far back as Rowan County, NC in 1790). My ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War and on both sides of the Civil War. My great-great-grandfather moved to what became Tyndall Air Force Base with his family from Alabama, my great grandfather was born here and my family has lived in Panama City since then. That makes me the 5th generation to live, and the 4th to be born here. To me, that's something to be proud of. It galls me to no end that people think, and have the nerve to tell me that I should be ashamed of being Southern.
I'm a mix of Irish, Scottish, and Indian (Native American). What if I were to walk around wearing a kilt (Scottish – and yes, I know, these are generally worn by men), a feathered headdress (Indian/Native American), with a Shamrock and Claddagh (Irish) airbrushed on my kilt and feathers? Yes, it would look strange and it would most certainly be a grievous fashion risk, but all are examples of my ethnic heritage, so no one would complain about being offended. However, if I were to wear a shirt that said "Southern and Proud" or fly The Rebel Flag from my front yard, I would called a bigot, which would be, at best, a bold-faced lie. The Confederate Battle Flag, (a.k.a. Dixie, The Rebel Flag) has been used by White Supremacist/Neo-Nazi groups for ages, as a result, when someone sees it they automatically think that the person displaying it a racist pig. I am not, nor have I ever been a racist. I wasn't raised that way.
Why is it perfectly acceptable for everyone else to be proud of their heritage and why is it so difficult to believe that I feel the same? I would
LOVE for someone to give me a logical explanation for that? Anytime there’s mention of a Confederate History Month or even Confederate Memorial Day (April 26th) you can almost hear the collective “Oh hell no!”. Do you know what you’ll get if you Google Heritage month? You’ll find (through a couple of sites) that February is African-American History Month. March is Irish American Heritage Month. May is both Jewish American and Asian Pacific American Heritage. September is National Hispanic-Latino Heritage Month, October also does double duty as Italian-American Heritage Month and Islamic History Month and November is National American Indian Heritage Month. There’s even a Gay Lesbian Pride Month – it’s June for those who want to celebrate. You can be proud to be African-American, Irish, Asian-Pacific, Jewish, Hispanic, Italian, Islamic, Native American and Gay/Lesbian, but I’m told that I should be ashamed to be Southern because of the Civil War and one of the events leading to it – namely slavery. Now anyone who thinks or says that slavery wasn’t a major issue in the beginning of the Civil War is a fool. Anyone who thinks and says that slavery was
THE ONLY issue that started the Civil War is just as big of a fool...there were many reasons for the Civil War. Remember,"'to the victor belong the spoils" and one of those is to write the history of that victory. Do some research, read more than the history books in school. Because of one issue in a terrible event, I should hang my head in disgrace.
Following that line of thinking; someone from a German background should be ashamed because of Hitler. Someone who is Japanese should be forbidden to show pride in a grand and ancient heritage because of Pearl Harbor. What about someone whose family immigrated to this country from Iraq? What about people who are of the Muslim or Islamic faith? Clearly they should be ashamed of their religion because of the events of 9-11. Americans should be ashamed to be American. Didn’t our forefathers attack, kill, and wrench the land they built this country on from the Native Americans? They were pushed off of their native land and environment and on to reservations where they we at the mercy of the American government for their very survival. Sounds like enslavement to me. Maybe Native Americans should be ashamed because technically, like the Confederacy, they lost? Maybe Southerners should re-name ourselves? How about Southern-American? No? Maybe Confederate-Americans?
The two of the primary issues were State’s rights and the fact that the South was being taxed into oblivion (
any of this sound familiar?). Political issues and disagreements began soon after the American Revolution ended and between 1800 and 1860, disputes between the North and South grew more passionate. One of the dominant issues was taxes, or tariffs, paid on wares shipped into this country. Taxes were placed on Southern merchandise that was shipped to other countries – something that was not always applied to Northern goods of corresponding value. A set-up like this allowed individual states as well as privately owned companies to follow suit. Southern banks and financiers, who paid higher interest rates on loans owed to Northern banks. The situation became critical after several "scares", including one in 1857 that hit Northern banks harder than those in the South. Southern investors who found themselves stuck with sky-high payments to save Northern banks that, because of ghastly investments, suffered serious financial losses.(a
gain...sound familiar)
Prior to the Civil War, the political power in the Federal government was changing. Located in Washington, D.C., Northern and mid-western states were becoming increasingly powerful as the populations increased, and Southern states lost power, and sectionalism began to take hold. Like the original thirteen colonies went to battle for their independence almost a century earlier, the South felt a growing desire for freedom from the Federal authority in Washington. The people of the South believed that state laws carried more weight than Federal laws. This issue was called State's Rights and became a very warm topic in Congress.
Do I think that the institution of slavery was right and should have been preserved? NO, not by any stretch of the imagination...that part of American and Southern history I'm not proud. My point is
not that slavery was right...no one in their right mind believes that. The way the men and boys of the South fought are the reason for my pride. They fought for what they believed was right and what they stood for. They were fighting for their way of life – right or wrong. Did slavery did benefit the South? Yes, but it also greatly benefited the whole country as well. Cotton was a very marketable product that was shipped world wide, which in turn, made money for the entire Union.
This country, both then and now, has convinced itself and most of the people in it into thinking that the South was the only place in the country that used slaves, but it wasn't. There were slaves up North as well, but they called them House Servants. Even those who worked for wages didn’t have anywhere near an easy life. What about the conditions that the factory workers lived and worked in? People – men, women and children – worked in factories as long as 14-16 hours a day earning as much as $3.50 a week. The children worked not out of choice, but necessity and the families lived in what at best could be called shacks in work camps on the lands adjacent to the northern factories.
The South and Southerners are looked down upon, and to a certain extent discriminated against, without a thought given to the Southerners feelings. Anytime there is a character in a movie, TV show, or book that is dimwitted, a man beats his wife, a female character that’s manipulative, or when there's a call for someone that my Granny would call "trashy" chances are they have a Southern accent. Why is it that anytime a bigot, Neo-Nazi or hate monger is needed, the automatically give them a drawl. Are there not racists in the Northwest? What about the wholesome Midwest? California? Surly not in liberal, all accepting Sunny California! What about the Northeast? Never! Fine Yankees would by no means look down on or treat someone differently because of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. In fact, a couple of seasons back when the writers of one of my favorite television shows – Law & Order – SVU—needed a racist figure to be the loudmouth of a Neo-Nazi group, they cast one of my favorite actresses, Marcia Gay Harden, and gave her a Southern accent. She’s in New York! There aren’t racists in New York? Fine, in the last 5 minutes of the show, she revealed herself as an undercover agent, but she had spent the last 55 minutes spouting racist, discriminatory crap. But what do you think the viewers took away with them? Not the fact that she saved the life of one of the main characters from being killed by the real villain or that she apologized to two of the officers who had been the target of her many racially prejudiced rants, or the moment when she stood up in the courtroom, did her best “Heil Hitler” stance and in her finest twang, screamed, “WHITE POWER”. I’ll give you three guesses – and the first two don’t count.
When this type of characterization is placed on Blacks, Orientals, Hispanics, Muslims, or any other fraction of the population, the ACLU is the first one to jump in and scream at the top of their lungs, "Discrimination!!!!!!" but do Southerners get the same kind of consideration? Not a snowballs chance in Miami! Why? Because right or wrong, over a century ago we put our foot down, stood up for our rights, fought for something we believed in. The difference – we lost.
Doesn’t this country preach tolerance? What about a little of the tolerance for those of us who are proud of our Southern ancestry as to those who are proud to be Native American, German, French, Spanish, etc. To those of you who say its offensive, do you want to know what I find offensive? The idea that we as Southerners should be embarrassed and when someone insinuates that anyone who is proud to be Southern is a member of the K.K.K.
THAT I find offensive! I believe that is offensive to be told that I should be ashamed of my ancestral history and that it should be swept under the rug of history and ignored because it’s not politically correct, because it was one of the most, if not
THE most, sorrowful time in our country’s history, and because the discussion of a barbaric practice makes people uncomfortable. Do I think that only the glory and highlights of the South or the Confederacy should be taught, explored and examined? Absolutely not. Throw open the windows of history, brush away the cobwebs of political correctness and let the light shine on the reality and look at it all; the good and the bad, the glorious and the dishonorable, the things we’re proud of right alongside of the parts we’re not so proud. I am proud to be a Southerner, make no mistake of that. To be proud, is not to be a bigot.
Here are a few articles to check out....food for thought (added 4/10/2013):
Causes of the The War Between the States - A Southern Perspective
http://blueandgraytrail.com/features/southerncauses.html
The Pre-Civil War Era (1815–1850)
http://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/precivilwar/summary.html
Causes of the Civil War -- Economic and Sectional differences
http://shs.westport.k12.ct.us/schager/US%202005-06/Civil%20War/economics%20&_civil_war.htm
Genesis of the Civil War
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/civilwar.html
The Southern Side of the Civil War: Facts Your History Teacher May Not Have Mentioned About The War Between the States
http://michaelgriffith1.tripod.com/southernside.htm