A generation which ignores history has no past and no future. Robert Heinlein
The Confederate Flag is part of our history. That history instructs us about many things that are important today. Honor, courage, grace.
When the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered in April of 1865, Ulysses S. Grant appointed Major General Joshua Chamberlain to formerly accept that surrender. Gen. Chamberlain could have conducted the affair quite differently from the way he chose. Since General Grant had already allowed that the men could retain their mounts if personally owned and the officers could keep their swords and sidearms, it was the weapons and the battle-flags of the army that would be surrendered.
In General Chamberlain’s own words:
“Bayonets were affixed to muskets, arms stacked, and cartridge boxes unslung and hung upon the stacks. Then, slowly and with a reluctance that was appealingly pathetic, the torn and tattered battleflags were either leaned against the stacks or laid upon the ground. The emotion of the conquered soldiery was really sad to witness. Some of the men who had carried and followed those ragged standards through the four long years of strife, rushed, regardless of all discipline, from the ranks, bent about their old flags, and pressed them to their lips with burning tears.
The General did something inspired, he had the Union troops that were formed up perform a military salute. It was an act of chivalry that greatly impressed the Confederate officers and men that had not expected courtesy and respect. It was the beginning of the healing of the wounds of war. General Chamberlain separated the men from the cause, the cause was laid down in front of the Union Standards but the men were welcomed with respect. Those battle flags that had contended against those of the Union had been defeated and surrendered, the men and their memories went home. Dixie was played at the White House by Lincoln’s order. No one went into a Gulag.
Without the Confederate flag and the memorials, statues and names of the Confederate heroes, there is no history. Without history we will make the same mistakes again, and again. As we seem to do doing today, the same mistakes. All the reasons that strong states rights were placed in the Constitution are vindicated by the total wreckage of our economy, our privacy, our safety and our sovereignty. How is that (increasingly) central control of the economy doing? Is everyone happy with the Federal Government listening and reading and patting everyone down (and sometimes feeling us up). Do you think that you have broken any of the thousands of contradictory federal statues today, most of which are really only of concern to the law abiding middle-class. Heard any English spoken on the bus, or the train, or on the street today?
Historically speaking, “Do you still feel that America is a Free Country?”. Or is it that you lack a proper frame of reference?
The approaches to Lee Park were surrounded by armed Antifa and those looking to attend the event had to wade through 2-3 city blocks of armed, screaming Communists assaulting people with axe hafts, pepper spray, urine and clubs…while the cops did nothing. Lee park itself was blocked off by some 4′ aluminum fencing that did nothing to block the rocks, urine, and pepper spray being lobbed into the park…while the cops did nothing. Antifa and BLM attempted to murder several people, focusing on the older people, and those they could separate from the crowd. The standard method was to attempt to cripple them by striking their knees or bludgeon them to death in the head with clubs…while the cops did nothing. About an hour after the event was scheduled to start, the cops did something. Who authorized them to do so, I don’t know, but they proceeded to push the event goers single file through the fencing and clear the park. Single file into waiting Antifa and their communist allies. Single file out of the park in violation of a binding legal document stating we had a right to assemble there. Why, you ask? The rally had become violent…because the cops did nothing. In their infinite wisdom, CPD decided since things were violent when the two sides were SEPARATED, the only logical conclusion would be to force them TOGETHER.
As I was leaving the event I saw the Dodge Challenger that struck the protestors speeding down 2nd St. SE and a gentleman get arrested on Monticello Ave. by the cops. I was unaware of the incident at that point but realized the significance of the reasons the vehicle was losing both bumpers and dented afterward. The negligence of CPD in maintaining law and order at any point during the event is to blame for this tragedy. CPD exacerbated an already tense situation and directly inflamed the situation by pushing the opposing groups together in a single street, leading to assaults, attempted murder and mayhem. They subsequently failed to communicate with the event leaders and led to people, many unfamiliar with the city, walking back to their vehicles under the threat of assault from protestors bussed in and left to roam the city unmolested while armed and attacking people.
