Confederate States of America - Bettina Network's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Confederate States of America’

An Open Letter to Our Leaders!

Sunday, August 20th, 2017

From:  Harold E. Doley, Jr.

To:  President Donald J. Trump:

Vice President Michael R. Pence:

U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell:

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan:
Congressman Cedric Richmond:

 
“Robert E. Lee stated that he would not be buried in his Confederate States of America (CSA) uniform because that act would be seditious.  At Lee’s funeral in 1870, no former soldiers or participants marching in his funeral cortege were allowed to wear CSA uniforms. 
 
There is a simple remedy for our present state of affairs regarding monuments to former Confederate generals and the Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, it is to go to the U.S. Constitution. 
 
Section 110 of Article III addresses treason and sedition.  Treason and sedition are federal law/Constitution violations.  To support the Confederacy and its symbols is to be a traitor of the United States in fact and in spirit.  
 
Section 110 of Article III states: “Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open Court. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason.”  Thatpower of punishing the crime of treason is exclusive in Congress; and the trail of the offense belongs exclusively to the Federal tribunals.
 
In 1790, the Congress of the United States enacted that: “If any person or persons, owing allegiance to the United States of America, shall levy war against them, or shall adhere to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States, or elsewhere, and shall be thereof convicted on confession in open Court, or on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act of treason…”
 
Our history books have incorrectly labeled the war between the states as a Civil War, which is a misnomer.  What occurred was a group of states succeeding from the Union and creating the Confederate States of America and attacking the United States of America.  This was a war of secession.  If it were a civil war, which is an attempt to change the government, that would have been a revolution. 
 
We laud Mayor Mitch Landrieu of New Orleans and we thank Wynton Marsalis for initiating the removal of the monuments in New Orleans.  It is ironic that the erection of statues and the naming of boulevards and schools for Confederate soldiers and cabinet members of the CSA is a romantic notion.  There was not one bullet fired or cannonball shot in New Orleans during the Civil War.  In 1862, Admiral Farragut disembarked from the USS Hartford at the Port of New Orleans, walked to City Hall and told Mayor John T. Monroe of New Orleans, either you surrender or we will level the French Quarter.  Confederate General Mansfield Lovell advised Mayor John Monroe that opposing the Union would be futile.  New Orleans, the largest Confederate city, was captured without conflict.  Therefore, the monuments and other namings in New Orleans do not have any historic relevance whatsoever.  Again, just romanticization.  Likewise, members of the white supremacy groups, Neo-Nazis and KKK, are overwhelmingly not descendants of those Southerners that fought in the army of the Confederate States of America.  For those to state that they have a kindred spirit with the Confederacy is a fantasy.  Those Americans aligned with these groups which are not based in historical connections should just be bold enough to state that they are racist, anti-Semites, and white supremacists, rather than attempt to distort that which motivates them.
 
America’s history is complicated.  My great-great-great Aunt Sarah Knox Taylor, was married to Jefferson Davis.  As an American of African ancestry and a descendent of the Mayflower (even though I cannot become a member the Mayflower Society because I fail to have one or two documents that would complete the link) my DNA confirms that lineage.   Last August, when David Duke was running for the U.S. Senate from the State of Louisiana, I challenged him publicly to take a DNA test to which he did respond on his web site.  I do not think, after looking at David Duke’s history, that he is part African-American, but I do think that he may be part Jewish.  
 
We, as Americans and our elected officials, must embrace the Constitution of the United States that was penned by our Founding Fathers, who themselves were flawed just as is our Constitution. However, the document  addresses the issues that are tearing us apart today and it gives us the solution.
 
The President and Congress should focus on the economy, tax reform, the budget, foreign affairs, infrastructure, and running the government for the benefit of all Americans whom they were duly elected to serve.
 
Harold E. Doley, Jr.
U.S. Citizen”
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BREE! – You Go Girl!

Sunday, June 28th, 2015

It was very exciting and joyous to read about Bree’s climbing up the flag pole to take down the Confederate Flag and what a breakfast conversation that generated.

It is clear South Carolina was not going to remove their confederate flag.  When you have been in politics for awhile you understand that when you lose –  there are standard responses to that loss – punt! procrastinate! lie! postpone! acknowledge your loss and talk about how you are going to do the right thing, but tomorrow!  And that is what South Carolina has done and is doing.  No one should have to wait nor should there have to be a fight for that flag to be removed.  It could have been removed years ago, but is still flying.

If they had any intention of taking down the Confederate Flag, it would have been down before Bree went up that flagpole.  The people who need to be arrested are those responsible for continuing the presence of such a racist symbol.  The principles for which the confederate flag stands were the losers and are the losers in present day America.

We talked about how great it was to know that all of that police brutality has not had the affect of putting fear into this young generation fighting racism and sexism.  It was really fantastic to know we are not alone – there are others across the country taking action to make sure our United States changes and follows its own principles and beliefs – and to know there are still United States citizens willing to risk their freedom to secure freedoms for the rest of us.

We talked about those whose constant response is “Sorry, but I can’t be involved”.  Yet, those saying those words have no problems accepting and using the freedoms they can now experience because of the involvement of the rest of us.

It is time for the leaders of these Civil Rights Movements to be those who climbed the flag poles and not those who begged off because of their non-involvement policy.  Those ‘not going to be involved’ folks are standing apart and aside from the activists so they will be ready and free of “taint” to become leaders and take advantage of what the activists have wrought?  We hope that, this time, that ancient way of doing things and allowing for the continuation of racism and sexism as usual is violated.

In South Carolina, we cannot fault those who say the confederate flag is their history and the history of their ancestors.  If that is their claim – it is.  However that is not true of all the folks in South Carolina nor of anyplace else in this United States of America.  Some folks from South Carolina and elsewhere have another history.  They do not honor and hold up the history and ancestor worship of the kkk, nor of the white citizens councils, nor of the survivalists nor of other groups trying to maintain the Jim Crow which was the traditional way life was lived.

To fight to keep the confederate flag, which didn’t fly over the South Carolina capitol until 1962 and which began to fly there as a reminder that South Carolina’s  folks were promoting a way of life which pre-dated the Civil Rights Movement needs to be acknowledged.   To allow the confederate flag to fly over the state capitol to remind South Carolina’s citizens of the fact that the freedoms for which the Civil Rights Movement was fighting and promoting need to be constantly kept at bay was and is wrong, immoral, sinful and evil.  It was an act of defiance against Brown vs the Board of Education and other changes happening.  They wanted life to remain in the place where “White” meant privileges which others didn’t experience and “Blacks” meant you couldn’t vote nor take part in anything other than the menial service to the “Whites” in the state and the maintenance of White Privilege.

If that confederate flag is replaced and flies again after Bree’s action, I think it is clear South Carolina has no intention of taking it down.  They have simply put up mid-August as the date for a vote to remove the flag in the hopes that things would quiet down and they would be able to vote against the removal of the flag and only a few would notice and not take action.

Isn’t that the traditional way those “White Privileges” have been maintained.  Removing the flag means a commitment by South Carolina to end  “White Supremacy”.  It is past the time for that to go and past the time for states to maintain a prominent place on the State Capitol’s grounds for the confederate flag or for anything else that maintains that belief, goal and principle.

Thank you Bree from the bottom of our hearts!

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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

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