The Battle for Southern Civil Rights Remembered

I thought it might be a good idea to remind ourselves of some aspects of the fight for civil rights in the American South, especially the role of violence in attempting to suppress that struggle.

Remember Colfax, Louisiana, in 1873? That’s where some one hundred blacks were slaughtered on April 13 of that year.

And as for the children … remember Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957?

Or Birmingham, Alabama, in September 1963?

Yes, let’s remember the children … four of them … who perished that day:

Cynthia Wesley                                 Carole Robertson

Addie Mae Collins                                Denise McNair

And then there’s Memphis, 1968:

Folks, let’s not confuse this …

… with this …

Thank you.

Risky Business at the Southern Heritage Preservation Group

“The Virginia Flaggers for example risk their lives every single day to advance the cause of our Southern civil rights struggle.”

So says Carl W. Roden at the gift that keeps on giving. He continues:

“Also there are Southern high school and college kids, also white and black ones (and its sad to consider this) high school children who risk being beaten, raped, knifed or shot in their own schools for no better reason than simply wearing a t-shirt.”

Funny … Carl was rather quiet when this story about threatening the lives of schoolchildren broke … so I guess it’s only southern children he cares about.

“Not to mention the fact that every one of us on this page is under the scrutiny of the SPLC, the white supremacist movement, and the Yankee blogosphere on a daily basis….all of whom have more than its share of crazies who could potentially stalk any of us and do who knows what at any given time.”

I thought Carl said that the Yankee bloggers were afraid of him.

What an odd duck.