Deep South 0

Back when I was a young ‘un, growing up in the Jim Crow South, some of the school administrators went to attend some kind of convention in New Orleans. One of them was a close friend of my father (in fact, the first baseball glove I had was contributed by this man).

Remember that this was in the most intense period of the Civil Rights struggle, shortly after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed and after this.

After they came back, my father’s friend told my father that the trip was okay, but, when they got to Mississippi, the atmosphere was so tense that they felt they had to put on fake Southern accents.

And these were white guys with Southern accents from a segregated state, from the state that came up with the idea of Massive Resistance.

They were afraid to be mistaken for Yankees, despite their Virginia accents.

They were also, quite frankly, amazed at what a different world Mississippi was from Virginia.

I did not, at that time, know that Mississippi still had not ratified the 13th amendment to the Constitution, the amendment that abolished slavery.

Mississippi still hasn’t given up.

Afterthought:

I mentioned earlier that one of my ancestors was a General in the CSA. He is also represented in the John Brown Wax Museum at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, in the act of signing John Brown’s death certificate.

My younger son, who was with us on that trip, was ashamed.

Do I disown him (my ancestor, that is; I’m still thinking about my son)? Heavens no. He is part of my history and he was a man of his time.

But that does not require me to honor his cause.

Anyone who cannot figure out why the Confederate Flag, Confederate symbols, Confederate History Month, and the whole Confederate ball of wax are deeply offensive to many persons is either too stupid for words or a racist ideologue.

There really is no middle ground.