Don't Say I Didn't Tell You So – Commentary by Randy Young
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Editors' Note: This is an updated version of a commentary written by Mr. Young four years ago. Some
folks have questioned the need for a Confederate History Month as proposed in
Senate Bill 283 this session. The legislation from the 2003-04
session discussed below by Mr. Young answers that question. Some of the same folks throwing up demands for "slavery apologies" and other
smokescreens in an attempt to derail SB 283 are the same people who proposed
HB-899 in 2003. Draw your own conclusions on that
fact.
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If you have any regard for American history, and more specifically Confederate history, then you need to read this
column very carefully and thoughtfully.
Every time you turn around, it seems something else about something Confederate is in the news. If it's not a
t-shirt design in a school making news, it's a sticker on a tool box that gets a guy fired, or some mayor is tearing down flags and plaques from public
monuments. The list goes on and on. It's the ethnic cleansing of Dixie.
For the last few years, some like me have tried to tell everyone about an unfolding effort on behalf of what
I call the "PC Taliban" (that's politically correct, for those just tuning in) to systematically eradicate all traces of things Confederate
in our nation. Others, including leaders of the very groups responsible for much of the attacking of things Confederate, have scoffed at
such, saying it is merely an effort to keep from - here's that word again - offending anyone.
OK. Fair enough. But you know, talk is very, very cheap.
What if I told you that in the 2003-04 state legislative session
a bill was very quietly introduced that, in essence,
would clear the way for every single Confederate monument or momento in Georgia to be against the law?
Don't believe me? Behold the wording of
such a bill introduced in the 2003-04 session:
GEORGIA HOUSE BILL 899 [2003-04]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA.
SECTION 1.
(a) The United States of American has on several occasions been brutally attacked without Provocation by her
enemies. On April 12, 1861, gunners of what would evolve into the Army of the Confederate States of America bombarded and ultimately forced
the capitulation of a United States garrison at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. The General Assembly is proud of the fact that Georgia was one
of the thirteen states that founded the United States of America and today stands proud in her defense against all enemies. It is the intent
of the General Assembly that no symbol identified with a nation or entity that has ever prosecuted a war against our beloved country ever be
a part of our state image or permitted to be such.
[Bold emphasis is that of the author.]
Read that last sentence again carefully. The words don't say "state flag" anymore, do they? Nope, this bill moves
far past any flag. It is very clear that the intent of this bill is simple: if it is Confederate, it will not only not be welcome here, but it,
whatever "it" might be, will be against the law.
That's crazy, you might say to yourself. No one would support such a state-mandated yet ridiculous outlawing of
what is, after all, at its core merely a vital piece of our state history - would they?
On April 7th, 2003, in the Kingdom of Atlanta, 78 representives did just that. Your eyes aren't failing you -
seventy-eight voted in support of such a measure, just missing enough votes to be engrossed.
Folks, don't say you weren't warned. It is becoming all-too painfully clear that it is just a matter of time before
some power-hungry, ignorant fools will see to it that the Confederate monument down at the courthouse, the carvings on Stone Mountain, and, yes,
even the soldiers headstone on your great-grandfathers grave will in fact be illegal.
The mere thought of it makes me as hot as fire.
You might ask why hasn't anyone heard anything about this? Maybe some - yes, some right here in our own
backyard - don't want you to hear about it, until it's too late. Then again, maybe too many of us don't give a hoot one way or the other.
Maybe folks in the year 2007 just don't care about things like this anymore. Maybe there are too many other
"important" things to worry about. Maybe too many of us are too caught up in our portfolios and shareholdings and "bottom line" to give a
rip if people compare their honorable and God-fearing Confederate ancestors to Nazis (a matter of record in the minutes of the state house),
who held nothing but evil, genocidal contempt for anyone they didn't view as their equal, and for God himself, too, for that matter.
And if that's all you know about what your ancestors were, then your ignorance is a huge part of the problem.
However, maybe, just maybe it isn't too late. Call your local representatives (some of which may have supported
the infamous HB 899 bill [2003]) and demand that our state follow
the path of South Carolina and Kentucky, and that all historical markers of any kind
be protected by law, and that breaking that law will be a felony. Ask that legislation be introduced and supported that will see our state mandate a week of
purely factual Confederate-based education in our schools to coincide with the statewide observance of Confederate Memorial Day at the end of
April. Get involved with the local Sons of Confederate Veterans, or the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
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Editors' Note on 2007 Legislation:
SB 283 proposes to make April "Confederate History & Heritage
Month" in Georgia.
HB 640 proposes protections for monuments and memorials.
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Do something. Anything. The one thing you can't do is nothing - not if it matters one bit to you. To do nothing
is to do exactly what the folks behind HB 899 want - and expect - you to do.
Newt Gingrich was asked some years ago his feelings about all the controversy surrounding things Confederate. His
reply: "Without getting into the present issue of whether the battle flag should be part of the Georgia state flag, I will say that you don't
have to deny people their past or destroy it in order to create a better future."
I couldn't have said it better myself.
Copyright © 2007 by Randy Young
randyyoung@mchsi.com, Thomasville, GA
"A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday does not know where it is today..." --Gen. Robert E. Lee
"People separated from their history are easily persuaded." --Karl Marx
"Historical knowledge is indispensable for those who want to build a better world." --Ludwig von Mises
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