Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 15, 1994 TAG: 9410180026
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN T. BRISCOE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
North was speaking in Danville, where Danville City Council had just approved the Heritage Associations' initiative to restore the Third National Confederate flag, and to erect a monument and flagpole at the Sutherlin mansion, the ``last capitol of the Confederacy.''
The mansion was the last meeting place of the Confederate states' Cabinet on its retreat from the advancing Federals at Richmond. This very same flag flew over that mansion in April 1865, forever marking that building's significance in history. Since that time, the Sutherlin mansion has been a museum. One can scarcely imagine a more appropriate place to fly the Confederate national flag than at the last capitol building where it once flew and which now houses a museum. Obviously, Danville City Council agrees with that logic. Beginning in November 1995, the last Confederate flag will fly 24 hours a day, 365 days per year at the last capitol.
The ensuing knee-jerk reaction to North's speech from U.S. Sen. Charles Robb's campaign and opportunists of the liberal left was probably expected, but the zeal with which these folks will attack other people's heritage is utterly amazing. The smoke had hardly cleared when the president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People weighed in to call North a racist. Though this charge is completely baseless, a closer examination of the facts will clearly reveal just who is indulging in racism.
The NAACP was founded in 1909, with the noble goal of bettering the lot of African-Americans, and ultimately to gain what the Constitution guarantees all citizens - equal rights. At the time of the NAACP's founding, this country was segregated by both law and custom. Remember that civil rights leaders met some of their fiercest opposition to desegregation in places like Chicago. Nevertheless, thanks to the efforts of thousands of people - many NAACP members - the last official vestiges of codified segregation were removed in the mid-'70s. What remained then, and still remains today, is the more daunting task of changing people's hearts, a task singularly ill-suited to the organized efforts of an army of 3 million with a sizable war chest.
The NAACP's high-water mark of legislative and judicial victory over segregation was followed by a rapid decline in numbers and funds. To bolster its sagging membership and mobilize the troops, a new enemy had to be found quickly. That enemy had to have no national constituency, had to be largely symbolic, had to be vulnerable and yet resilient enough to offer a protracted resistance - lest a quick victory leave the NAACP again without a common enemy.
The NAACP's national leadership chose symbols, monuments and culture of the South as worthy prey. Beginning in 1986, and continuing to this day, the NAACP has passed continuing resolutions and policy statements at its national convention that call for the destruction of any and all references to the Old South. Consider the following excerpts from the 1991 NAACP National Convention:
WHEREAS, the tyrannical evil symbolized in the Confederate Battle Flag is an abhorrence to all Americans and decent people of this country, and indeed, the world and is an odious blight upon the universe; and,
WHEREAS, African-Americans had no voice, no consultation, no concurrence, no commonality, not in fact nor in philosophy, in the vile conception of the Confederate Battle Flag or State Flags containing the ugly symbol of idiotic white supremacy racism and denigration; and,
WHEREAS, we adamantly reject the notion that African-Americans should accept this flag for any stretch of imagination or approve its presence on the State Flags;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Office of the NAACP and all units commit their legal resources to the removal of the Confederate Flag from all public (sic) properties.
By national resolutions and policy statements, the NAACP has publicly scheduled all flags, songs, monuments, memorials and, ultimately, cemeteries to be wiped away. Any compromise has been quickly seized upon and declared an incremental victory. Every time Southern people submit to cries of ``insensitivity,'' they have been ceaselessly plagued with more outrageous demands.
What an ignoble end to an auspicious beginning. What was once this country's premier civil-rights organization, wracked by sex and money scandals, is now devolving into what can only be described as a hate group. It has chosen to fight a pointless battle that it cannot win against a reluctant enemy who cannot surrender. This is racism, insensitivity and cultural genocide at its very worst. How supremely ironic that the NAACP has chosen to become exactly what it used to be sworn to fight against.
This latest episode clearly demonstrates the depths to which Robb and his supporters will stoop. In a painfully transparent grab for as-yet undecided former Doug Wilder voters, Robb has displayed his usual eagerness to sacrifice Virginia's heritage on the altar of political expediency.
John T. Briscoe of Bedford is president of the Roanoke Chapter, Heritage Preservation Association.
by CNB