Extensions of Remarks E547 HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Ð Extensions of Remarks E547 in ongoing assistance missions, and over the The Sons of Confederate Veterans aren't A federal judge ruled in Maryland in Feb- last twelve months Hoosier Guard soldiers and happy. Members have said they might try to ruary 1997 that ``The Confederate battle flag airmen have lent a helping hand in Haiti, Hun- re-introduce the flag image. Bills have been on special Maryland license plates is pro- changed before, they say, although they tected by the First Amendment and cannot gary, Kuwait, Slovakia, and South Korea. The won't say how they plan to do it. be banned.'' extraordinary range of military service being OrÐif the Senate fails to consider any- The SCV got a similar ruling in North performed by the men and women of the Indi- thing but the blank plate with the name of Carolina last December. There, the protest ana National Guard is strong testimony to the the organization on itÐthe SCV may take was less about the flag and more about reliance that is placed on them. the issue to court. whether the organization was actually a We should never forget that while the Indi- They're ready for a gentlemanly battle, ``civic group.'' The SCV took it to court and they say. The Sons of Confederate Veterans won. ana National Guard is responsive to its Fed- In Virginia, said Brag Bowling of Rich- eral mission, it also stands ready to respond was organized in 1896 as an offshoot of the United Confederate Veterans. Today, the mond, legislative liaison for the SCV, ``We're to the call of our Governor for service in sup- mission of the group is to ``preserve the his- exploring all options. We're deeply dis- port and protection of the citizens of Indiana. tory and the legacy'' of the ``citizen sol- appointed they took the flag off the license The Indiana Guard was also in the forefront of diers'' who fought for the Confederacy in the plate. We got nailed in the House. We want to see how it goes in the Senate.'' War Between the States, from 1861 to 1865. the special National Guard task force orga- It was likely the impassioned plea of Del. Proof of kinship to a Confederate soldier is nized to help provide security for the Atlanta Jerrauld C. Jones, D-Norfolk, that swayed required. The SCV allows blacks to join; in Olympic Games in 1996. the House. Jones said the flag, often con- The fighting men and women, the soldiers fact, they say, race has never been a ques- nected with hate and terrorism by many Af- and airmen of today's Indiana National Guard, tion on their membership application. And rican Americans, had reminded him through- they do claim black members, although no out his life of fear, anger and claims of racial are worthy of those who, 80 years ago, proud- one at the national headquartersÐan ante- ly returned carrying the honors earned on Eu- supremacy. bellum mansion in Columbia, Tenn.Ðcan say The special license plate legislation ropean battlefields. As President Chirac re- how many of their 27,000 members worldwide passed, but without the flag. SCV members minds us by his public commendations, we are black. vow they have never used the flag for such should take time to remember and honor the Neither can Patrick J. Griffin III, SCV na- purposes as Jones claimed. soldiers of that era. Equally, we should pause tional commander and chief, of Darnestown, But the flag is sometimes used as a symbol as we approach the new millennium, to recog- Md. of ``oppression, violence and brutality,'' said ``We do not have a block on our application nize today's successors to those ``Hoosier Janis V. Sanchez, professor of psychology at that asks for race,'' Griffin said. ``I've never Old Dominion University. Gunners'' who served so bravely and honor- seen anything in this organization that ques- ``The argument is that the flag was appro- ably on the battlefields of France at the begin- tions race or religion. You either have an priated by the KKK,'' Sanchez said. ``But ning of this century. honorable Confederate ancestor or you that doesn't change the fact that it is associ- f don't.'' ated with the Klan and with slavery. The The SCV, with 700 camps in 36 states, Eu- Civil War was about slavery, and that's what EXPOSING RACISM rope and South America, accepts members as the Confederate flag stands for. It has been young as 12. used by many people to send a signal to Afri- ``We're trying to preserve an accurate view can Americans. HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON of Southern American history, to make sure ``I know the Sons of Confederate Veterans OF MISSISSIPPI the names of our ancestors are not sullied,'' are saying that it represents their heritage, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Griffin said. but they cannot separate the meanings.'' The group dedicates itself to preservation, The SCV claims that the Civil War wasn't Wednesday, March 24, 1999 to marking confederate soldiers' graves, to about slavery; rather, it was about states' Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speak- historical re-enactments. It holds regular rights. More than 95 percent of the soldiers er, in my continuing efforts to document and meetings to discuss the military and polit- who fought for the South weren't even slave expose racism in America, I submit the fol- ical history of the Civil War. It publishes a owners, they maintain. bimonthly magazine, and it hands out two More like 85 percent, said Dr. Harold D. lowing articles into the CONGRESSIONAL scholarships and a medical research grant Wilson, an ODU history professor. RECORD. each year. At the time of the Civil War, there were 9 [From the Virginian-Pilot] Executive director Maitland Westbrook III million people in the Southern states, Wilson said; 4 million of those were slaves. Of the re- CONFEDERATE GROUP BATTLES FOR ITS FLAG said that the SCV is not ``statistically ori- ented,'' so he can't say how many African maining 5 million, 330,000Ðmostly white (By Linda McNatt) Americans have benefited from SCV scholar- malesÐwere slave owners. Wilson said he be- In May 1997, two members of the Sons of ships. lieves about 85 percent of the soldiers didn't Confederate Veterans confronted Ku Klux The organization has five full-time em- own slaves. Klansmen in front of the Pensacola, Fla., ju- ployees at national headquarters. None of Some blacks, he pointed out, did serve dicial building. them, currently, are black, Westbrook said, with the South. ``In the North, blacks par- ticipated fully in the war; in the South, they Sworn to conduct themselves as Southern although the SCV has employed blacks in were mostly servants or laborers,'' Wilson gentlemen, the SCV members asked the the past. hooded Klansmen to put down what they be- The SCV also spends a lot of time defend- said. ``There were great debates over whether lieve is their Confederate battle flag. ing its heritageÐincluding its symbolÐthe blacks should fight for the Confederacy, and they were conducted mostly in a very pri- ``There were 20 of them, maybe,'' said Rob- Confederate battle flag. ert A. Young, who belongs to the Sons of Collin Pulley Jr. of Courtland is national vate, sensitive manner.'' What caused the Civil War? ``In the upper Confederate Veterans. ``This group of fellas chief of heritage defense. In the last several Southern states, it probably was states' came over from Louisiana. They were months, he's complained about ``anti-South- rights,'' Wilson said. ``In the lower South, dressed up like ghosts. We didn't want the ern'' TV shows and objected to a rap CD that with its large plantations, it was more about connection, and we told 'em so.'' depicts a burning Confederate flag on its slavery. The peaceful confrontation made national cover. ``What in the world does the battle flag news. The Klansmen didn't back down, but represent? It was the military flag of the the SCV had made its point. Since Wal-Mart quit carrying the flags Confederacy. It represented the might of the It wasn't the first time that the Sons of after some customers complained, he's led a Confederate government. To that part of the Confederate Veterans have defended the SCV campaignÐunsuccessful so farÐto per- Confederacy where there were few slave own- bright red flag with its blue cross and white suade the discount chain to re-stock small ers, it may have represented something en- stars. Confederate flags his group uses on graves. tirely different.'' And it's not likely to be the last. The flag, ``It has been our position for the last two And that part of the Confederacy may well the SCV says, symbolizes the bravery of years not to carry the Confederate flag be- represent Virginia, Wilson admitted. The their ancestors who followed it through the cause, here at Wal-Mart, we do not stand for Confederate battle flag was first used by the smoke of battle. what that flag represents,'' said Marvin Army of Northern Virginia, where there were But the same flag has been used by the Deshommes, a buyer at the Bentonville, few large slave owners compared to the deep Klan and other hate groups. For some Afri- Ark., headquarters. South. can Americans, the Confederate flag rep- What the flag represents, the SVC says, is Should the Sons of Confederate Veterans resents terrorism, prejudice and hate. heritage, not hate. And the group is deter- be allowed to use the flag on its license That's why the Virginia General Assembly mined to reclaim its glory.