Heritage Not Hate

I inherited my love for history from my daddy.  Dad loved antiques and loved to talk of the way things were.  Visiting Perry County Alabama dad would point out old sawmills, gristmills, and whiskey stills in places where grass, bushes, and weeds covered.  We visited Old Cahaba, the first capital of Alabama when there was nothing but old foundations and pieces of brick.  We would visit the Brierfield Iron Works with only remnants of coke and broken-down furnaces.  At one time Brierfield was the third largest city in Alabama.  I had the honor and privilege of pastoring the Historical Brierfield Baptist Church.

I fell in love with Alabama history in the fourth grade.  The Massacre at Fort Mims, Andrew Jackson and the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Daniel Pratt and the cotton mills of Prattville were interesting.  I loved Alabama history under Dr. Jesse Jackson and Dr. Justin Fuller at the University of Montevallo.  When Dr. Jackson described the sawing in the removal of General Stonewall Jackson’s arm sounded as an Angel playing a violin was so vivid, I felt as though I was there.  When Dr. Fuller talked of Montevallo and its role in Wilson’s Raiders and General Nathan B. Forrest and the battles of the Brierfield Ironworks, at Ebenezer Church in Stanton, and Selma it made me proud of the men and women that believed in the Constitution of the United States that they would fight for Alabama in the War of Northern Aggression just as General Robert E. Lee had for the State of Virginia.

Each year Dr. Fuller in his “Introduction to History” class would poll students as to their greatest historical figure, Jesus Christ excluded.  For years the number one answer was General Robert E. Lee.  There is not another general with Lee’s integrity, faith, and character.  It is a shame that those ignorant of history are tearing down General Lee’s monuments along with other monuments that are testimonies to our heritage.

General Lee did not own slaves and turned down Lincoln as commander of the Union Army to stand with Virginia.  Lincoln confiscated Lee's farm at Arlington turning into a cemetery.  Lee suffered defeat with Christian character and it is a disgrace to dishonor him and others who took up the Southern Cross to defend state rights which is part of our Constitution of the United States.

I am proud to be an American and pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and the Republic for which it stands.  I get chills when the National Anthem is played and I stand at attention with my hand over my heart.  The United States is imperfect because it is made of imperfect people, but it is the greatest free nation in the world and if idiots want to protest, it is their right, but remember I have rights also.

I think is ironic that those that are government assisted and do not work are the ones that protest while those that work pay for them to march.  It is also moronic that protests follow at the heels of a perpetrator being arrested and being mistreated.  I often wonder what the "victim" was doing to be arrested in the first place.  As a lawyer friend of mine said of divorce, “There is the husband's story, the wife’s story and what actually happened.”  It is true today in the irresponsible journalism being spewed from liberal media.  There is the arrestees' story, the police’s story, what the irresponsible reporter tells us that happened, and what actually happened.

I am proud to be from Alabama.  I love our state flag.  The is something about St. Andrews Cross, the red X on the white background.  Being from Scot-Irish ancestry I am doubly proud of our flag.  It reminds me that the message of Christ remains the only home for mankind.  Morality cannot be legislated.  There will always remain cultural differences and injustices as long as sin reigns and exists in the heart of humankind.

I am proud of the Confederate Flag and my Southern heritage.  I hate slavery and those that initiated it will suffer the consequences.  The fact is that African tribal lords practiced it, as did societies throughout the history of the world. Every ethos has suffered the sin of slavery.  It exists today in human trafficking, forced labor, sexual exploitation, and sweatshops.  It is estimated that there are 40 million people in some form of slavery, but today the target is something that is history.

I have a Sons of the Confederacy tag on my pickup truck.  I have a Rebel cap. I have several confederate flags and the more people tell me I cannot have one, the more I will buy.  It is part of my heritage and my form of protest and my right.  I love to see the giant Confederate flag on I65 north of Montgomery.

Social issues will remain if every Confederate Monument is removed.  Cultural differences will continue until the Lord returns.  Today it is Southern heritage, tomorrow it may be national monuments.  Will the American Vietnamese protest the Memorial Wall?   Will American Japanese boycott the Pearl Harbor Memorial?  I think you see my direction.  I saw a cartoon of the Statue of Liberty hiding wondering if she were next.

We create monuments to remind us of history.  Those that do not learn from history are destined to repeat it just as the Hebrews did throughout the Old Testament.

Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set. (Proverbs 22:28)

Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days? [Some] remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed [thereof]. They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge. (Job 24:1-3)