Sons of Confederate Veterans Raise Battle Flag
Zach Brake/special to the Herald Courier
The 19th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry fire a volley during Saturday’s flag dedication ceremony in Bristol, Tenn.
BY CLAIRE GALOFARO
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
The Sons of Confederate Veterans raised a confederate battle flag Saturday evening in Bristol, Tenn. The 25-by-15-foot banner was hoisted on a 70-foot pole on a hillside in clear view of Interstate 81 – to serve as a monument and memory to those who fought on behalf of the South.
“You can’t get the real history from a text book,” said David Roberts, who organized Saturday’s event and spearheaded project to install the flag.
“The ones that won got to write the book,” Roberts said. “But we know it’s different and that’s what we’ve got to teach our children. God bless Dixie and may this flag ever
wave.”
About 200 people gathered for the ceremony, semi-circled around the pole on top of a hillside several hundred above the interstate. A dozen or so men dressed as confederate soldiers and among them was a black man named H.K. Edgerton.
“The most discriminated against person in America is the Christian Southern white man,” said Edgerton, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and a former president of the NAACP’s Asheville, N.C. branch.
Edgerton also said he enjoys “whipping Yankees.”
“This place should be full of black folks,” Edgerton said. “I don’t know why [I’m the only one here]. Maybe your newspaper should have told them to come to celebrate and sing Dixie and salute our flag. It’s a shame white folks and black folks make people think this is an evil flag. This is a southern flag. You can’t attack this flag and call yourself a southerner. You can call yourself a traitor.”
Edgerton delivered his comments with the conviction of a preacher, in an impromptu address to the crowd. His adoring fans reciprocated with hoots and thunderous applause.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans is an national organization dedicated to protecting the honor of their ancestors. All are great-great-somethings of a confederate soldier, and they look to the flag as a symbol of that fight.
To many others the Confederate flag is America’s most contentious symbol, likened to a swastika in hateful significance.
“It’s been hijacked by hate groups,” Roberts said. “We are in no way aligned with anyone who uses the flag our ancestors fought and died for, for purposes of hate or intimidation. These groups have also denigrated the U.S. flag and the Christian flag and make it very hard at times for us to honor our relatives without a negative response from the general public who have no idea about our organization.”
The pre-raising ceremony Saturday included opening remarks and many who attended exchanged certificates of appreciation. Among the presenters was Sheila Hunt, director of the Sullivan County Archives and Tourism, who offered the gratitude of the mayor of Sullivan County.
Fittingly, Roberts dedicated the rebel flag to those who resent it: teachers who don’t allow children to wear it on their clothing; politicians who disassociate themselves from it; and a man who removed one from an Alabama cemetery.
Edgerton, flanked by several young boys, unveiled the giant flag, and the onlookers – five rows deep – clapped and chanted as it made its way up the pole. It hung quietly for several seconds, with audible anticipation below. Then the wind blew.
“There she goes!” Digital cameras buzzed open. “Oh, isn’t it beautiful,” one woman cried. “Another great day in Dixie,” shouted a man. “Thank you Jesus,” said another.
Then everyone sang Dixie and caught a ride down the hill.
“I represent four and a half million black folks who’ve been beat down and would love to be here, too,” Edgerton said. “If they tell you they wouldn’t be, the first thing you ask is where they’re from. Then you tell them to go on back.”
John Harrison, the former head of the Kingsport chapter of the NAACP, does not share such enthusiasm for the Confederate flag.
“I am not endeared by that flag,” Harrison said. “Sometimes people do these things to see a knee-jerk reaction. And I really wish they wouldn’t. When I see it, I ignore it the best I can. I don’t challenge, because that’s just what they want.”
A Friday call and an e-mail to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People were not returned. Saturday calls to other local chapters of the NAACP also were not immediately returned.
“I don’t plan to protest or write letters.” Harrison said. “That just moves their agenda to the forefront, like when three or four members of the Klan march they bring a lot of attention. I’m just going to go on past it. I’ve got better things to do. But that’s just me.”
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Oh my God! You mean you saw a black person CUT IN LINE?!? I’m shocked. Really. But seriously, folks, speaking in generalities, here, whenever a white person complains about reverse discrimination, that person usually is dissatisfied with his/her life, and feels that he/she has failed to reach his/her full potential. If you find yourself working in a convenience store, and your life isn’t what you want it to be, it’s probably because you’re stupid and you’ve made dumb decisions, or you just haven’t tried hard enough. Maybe both. It most certainly is not because you can’t find White Entertainment TV on the cable box, and it’s not because there’s no Miss White America pageant.
I’m not saying reverse discrimination doesn’t exist, but life isn’t always fair, and if you didn’t get into the college of your choice because of Affirmative Action, man up and go to another school.
To some (not all) people who have ever posted a comment on Tricities.com…...I was born and raised on a farm in the Tri-Cities which I am very proud of. I could not ask for a better raising. I had to move away to obtain a job to support my family. Since moving back home, I have never seen such negativity in all my life as the comments that are posted in these forums. When reading thru them, not only this one, it seems that alot of people need to go back to school and get the education (whether it be in English or History) that they thought they received.
If all you can do is say negative things about your area, the type of life that people live, or just want to be a regular on this forum to try to stir emotions up…...Guess what?....you need to move somewhere else and find that you are what makes the negativity in this area, or keep your comments to yourself. In major cities where crime is up 45%, murders up 10%, hate crimes up 30% etc. there is not this much hate and negativity as I have seen just since I have been back.
To those people….be thankful for your life. If you are experiencing a bad life only you can change that. Don’t downgrade other people’s opinions, ideas, etc. Be positive and just maybe you will go a little further in life than you are now.
To craevoju: You say you have never been discriminated against. Maybe you just didn’t realize it. I am a white Christian female. I work in a convenience store and have watched my black coworkers beckon black customers to the front of the line, (line cutting?) in front of whites. I have been ignored at Walmart in favor of blacks. You see a person of another race trying to make/keep peace, and you try to stir up more trouble. Rebel Flag = Heritage, not hate.
Dear brown1,
You state “We beat the British and established our freedom… I don’t see anyone flying the British Flag anymore”
I must say that just because you are unaware of such things, that doesn’t make them true. 3 Examples (there are many more) of seeing the British Flag flying over American soil is
1) The Riverwalk in Augusta Georgia
2) Every building and facility located
at Colonial Williamsburg Virginia and
some surrounding subdivisions and
resturants
3) The State Flag of Hawaii
Just exactly WHAT was the REAL reason for the WAR? I mean, is there some written word or resolution or declaration as to why the war was fought?
Some less than intellegent folks with a leftist agenda will be quick to holler “look at what those 3 states (out of the 11 total seceeded states, 2 partial seceeded states of Missouri and Ky, portions of Arizona, New Mexico, and the numerous Indian Tribes) said in thier Articles of Secession”
Guess what? Secession IS NOT WAR !!!
Uh, you mean to tell me that if I leave a civic organization because I disagree with them, that that constitutes a war?
N O T !!!
No, the reason for the war was in fact contained in a resolution passed by both Houses of the United States Congress in late July of 1861:
“Resolved, That the present deplorable civil war has been forced upon the country by the disunionists of the Southern States now in revolt against the constitutional Government and in arms around the capitol; that in this national emergency Congress, banishing all feelings of mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its own duty to the whole country; that this war is not prosecuted upon our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those States; but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and all laws made in pursuance thereof and to preserve the Union, with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired; that as soon as these objects are accomplished the war ought to cease”
Now, please, STOP! That sillyness about slavery being the reason has been killed and buried. READ and LEARN history.
I hope this will help open the eyes of the blind to what the Civil War was really about. It wasn’t Black, it was more about what the Northern part of US was trying to do to the Southern people. Much the same as what Obama is doing now to the US !!!!
I wonder if John Harrison is aware that 96,000 Southern black men volunteered for service in the Confederate Army. They are a fact of history that was written out of the history books and almost forgotten. If you’re reading this, you obviously have access to a computer, so Google “black confederates” and read a little REAL history.
The Rebel Flag is a sign of southern slavery. The flag carried into battle to preserve the southern lifestyle of owning slaves. The south LOST and human slavery was abolished. No need to fly this flag anymore.
We beat the British and established our freedom… I don’t see anyone flying the British Flag anymore even though it is “our past heritage” !!
People need to quit defending the terrible message that the confederate flag sends!
craevoju,
1. What number on your tv is the White Entertainment channel?
2. What chapter of the NAAWP (National Association for the Advancement of WHITE People)?
3. Who did your vote for in the Miss WHITE America contest?
4. When was the last time you applied for a permit to have a White Heritage Parade?
5. How many all white night clubs do you know about?
6. How many WHITE men do you know that shakes down big corporations in the name discrimination as a profession? ie: Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.
7. When was the last time you went to the White House Of The Confederacy in Richmond and looked at the real history of black involvement in the fight for the South?
Here are some things that you can do and not leave your house:
1. Study who Robert E Lee really was and how he prayed for the good of the black people.
2. Do a search on General Joseph R Anderson and how his Tredegar Iron Works played a role in the War Between The States. Tredegar was the only industrial business that was not burned in the burning of Richmond. Read why!
Sir, I believe with just a little real education on all the skeptics of the South’s Cause would serve you all well.
“If you do not know from what you came from, you will never understand your own reasoning”
Mike Graham
It’s great to honor veterans of the Civil War. My Grandfather was a veteran who served in the 63rd Virginia Infantry. The unit was formed in Abingdon, VA.
Thank you Mr.Edgerton.
My brother, Steve Graham, has told me about you. I live in Richmond, Va. I have been blessed to be up front and close here to the real history in the Capital of the Confederacy. We homeschooled our children and I can tell you that this very subject was a catalyst as to why we chose homeschooling. and I cannot
adequately express the appreciation I have for you. Fortunately, my black friends in Richmond share your sentiments. They also know the “real” history of “War Between The States”. Again thank you for your bravery in living the truth that protects and preserves the Southern Cause. Let us continue to pray for the ones that are still living in slavery because they either do not or will not accept histories truths.
Fondly,
Mike Graham
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