THIS EFFORT IS STILL ACTIVE: Letter to President in 2017.

This effort is still active. I decided that a letter to Barack Obama this year would not accomplish much. I have him on record as having continued to send the wreath to the Arlington Confederate Monument.

I will be writing the next president of the United States in 2017 asking that they not send a wreath to the Arlington Confederate Monument on memorial day.

This year I had to finish a paper and give a presentation on M.E. Bradford who campaigned his entire life against civil rights. I also have decided to redirect my campaign more into social media, more in to video and other active media and print will be more focused on publishing.

The side bar will be updated to provide more information about the neo-Confederate movement.

I am thinking of using Change dot Org to do the petition next year.

2011 Letter to Obama mentioned in article in "The Chronicles of Higher Education" article UPDATE:

You can read the article at this link:

http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/bowdoin-ends-confederate-heritage-award-like-many-still-offered-by-u-s-service-academies/106066

I will be writing Obama in 2016 to ask him to not send a wreath to the Arlington Confederate Monument.

UPDATE: I didn't write a letter in 2016. I have been focusing on redesigning my campaign against the neo-Confederate movement. I will be writing again in 2017.

"Atlantic" magazine has article about the Arlington Confederate Monument and its denigration of Abraham Lincoln, also shows how extensively the federal government supports neo-Confederacy.

An extraordinary article at The Atlantic online at this URL:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/07/you-wont-believe-what-the-government-spends-on-confederate-graves/277931/

A quote from the article:

Not far from many Confederate gravestones at Arlington, however, is an actual engraving of a motto with more bite to it. "Victrix causa diis placuit sed victa Catoni," reads an inscription on the Confederate memorial. It's a quote from the epic poem Pharsalia, written by Lucan about the Roman Civil War, and literally translated means, "the victorious cause pleased the gods, but the conquered cause pleased Cato." As Malanowski told me, "You have to know your Latin history to know they're talking about the Roman Civil War, that the dictator Julius Caesar won, and that Cato was pleased with the republicans' sacrifice." With that background in mind the inscription is "a 'fuck you' to the Union. It's that sneaky little Latin phrase essentially saying 'we were right and you were wrong, and we'll always be right and you'll always be wrong.'"

We have tried to let the public know about how the Arlington Confederate Monument has a radical anti-American theme.

The article also documents how extensively the federal government supports neo-Confederacy. The article doesn't include all the ways the federal government supports neo-Confederacy. This blog documents some of the other ways the federal government supports neo-Confederacy.

Also, in the article there is documentation how the "heritage" of the Confederate "heritage" groups contains a lot of racism.

How Hilary Herbert, head of the Arlington Confederate Monument committee previously fought against Civil Rights and aided and abetted those violent against African Americans.

Hilary Herbert headed up the committee that raised the funds and had the Arlington Confederate Monument built. He was also a white supremacist who spoke out against Civil Rights legislation and also aided and abetted those who threaten violence against African Americans.

The account is from the Confederate Veteran magazine, which was the official publication of the United Confederate Veterans, United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the Sons of Confederate Veterans and is online at this link.

http://www.confederatepastpresent.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=142:qconfederate-veteranq-delights-in-civil-rights-being-defied-&catid=37:the-nadir-of-race-relations&back=yes

The Confederate "heritage" is about defending violence against African Americans. In reading the article you can see how thrilled Confederate "heritage" activists about violently suppressing Civil Rights.

An extract from the article:

On March 11, 1875, Wagner’s Minstrels appeared in Mont­gomery. The negroes, backed up by this obnoxious bill, tried to exercise what they claimed were “their rights” by taking seats in theaters and trains alongside the whites. On this occasion they passed the word that they would buy seats in the theater with the whites, when heretofore they had always been excluded to the gallery. Wagner’s agent had instruc­tions not to sell tickets to negroes anywhere but for the gal­lery, but by some chicanery they got tickets in the dress circle among Montgomery’s fairest daughters. The question then was how to remove them without frightening the ladies. When the curtain went up, the company marched in and took their seats for the overture, Wagner sitting on the end with tambourine in hand. Casting his eyes over the audience, he saw the negroes in the dress circle, and knew at once this would never do; so he put down his tambourine, advanced to the footlights, and announced that there were negroes in the dress circle and they would please vacate and go to the gallery, where they would find good seats, and the perform­ance would commence. Well, you could have heard a pin fall; Southern men stood with bated breath ready to back Wagner. The negroes did not move. A game of bluff, but it did not count in that game. Wagner waited patiently; still the negroes made no move to vacate. Wagner left the stage and returned quickly with pistols in hand, saying to the whites: “Ladies and gentlemen, stand aside; I will clear the dress cir­cle of those colored gents.” Pandemonium reigned; men were on their feet instantly, and the negroes went out of that dress circle, kicked and cuffed, and made a hasty retreat to the street. The performance then commenced, and much praise was given “Happy Cal.”

Next day trouble commenced for Wagner, as negroes com­menced swearing out warrants for Wagner before the United States Commissioner. N. S. McAfee, of Talladega, was United States District Attorney and Capt. J. W. Dimmick was United States Commissioner. Wagner and his agent, Brown, were ably defended by Col. H. A. Herbert, Col. Tucker Sayre, Col. Virgil Murphy, judge David Clopton, all volunteering their services, and Colonel Herbert making a telling speech on the unconstitutionality of the civil rights bill. The commissioner held with the attorney, and refused to issue any more warrants. Then the negroes swore out more warrants before another commissioner, Barber by name. This threw Mont­gomery into a state of excitement. Men with stern faces and determination promised to back Wagner and see this thing through; the streets were crowded with both negroes and whites, expecting trouble any moment. Cal Wagner was in Col. Tucker Sayre’s office, which was over Blount Weatherly’s drug store, facing Court Square. He was surrounded by his friends, who were considering how to get him out of the city before the United States marshals could serve other warrants on him. Dr. Walter Jackson, who was in the drug store at the time, was called into the office to consult with them. His buggy and fast horse were standing in front of the drug store. When asked if he could not get Wagner out of the city quick, he replied: “Yes, I can get him away with lightning speed.” [Boldface added.]

The story concludes gleefully how Wagner escaped justice and his threats of violence against

Sons of Confederate Veteran webpage explains the meaning of the Arlington Confederate Monument

The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) has on their web site a series of web pages which explains their understanding of the Arlington Confederate Monument. In reading the web pages you can see how the Arlington Confederate Monument enables neo-Confederacy.

The 1st webpage in the series of webpages is at:

http://www.scv.org/documents/genworks/arlington/index.htm

President Obama unfortunately contributes to neo-Confederacy by endorsing the monument when he sends a wreath to it.

2013 Letter to Obama asking him not to send a wreath to the Arlington Confederate Monument and the Secession Petitions

                                                                                                May 15, 2013

                                                                                                Edward H. Sebesta

                                                                                                esebesta@tx.rr.com

President Barack H. Obama

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Hon. President Obama:

As widely reported in the press, nearly a million people had signed secession petitions at the whitehouse.gov website by December 10, 2012.  By their very definition these petitions are a complete rejection of American ideals and they seek to damage the country.  Why are these petitions not viewed as offensive or odious?

Further secessionism has made inroads to mainstream politics. In Minnesota at the 2010 2^nd Congressional District Republican convention a resolution that a state had a right to secede came within two votes of passage, “but only after Sutton, who was functioning as the convention’s chair, reminded his fellow Republicans that opposition to secession by states was a founding Republican principle in the late 1850s.”[1] However, about two weeks later the Minnesota 5^th Congressional District Republican convention did pass a resolution both supporting nullification and endorsing “secession as options to enforce state sovereignty.”[2]

Perhaps because they had listened too many times to the Charlie Daniels Band song, “The South is Gonna Do It Again,” in 2009 the Georgia State Senate passed resolution SR632, conditionally calling for both nullification and secession by a margin of 43-1.[3] Tennessee Congressional Rep. Zach Wamp brought up secession as a response to health care legislation in 2010.[4] Former Vice-Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin spoke to the Alaska Independence party which wishes that Alaska secede from the Union.[5]

Then there is the now widely known statement of Texas Governor Rick Perry speaking before a Tea party group in Texas in 2009 saying, “When we came into the Union in 1845, one of the issues was that we would be able to leave if we decided to do that,” and “We’ve got a great Union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, who knows what may come of that?”[6]

Ron Paul went to a secession convention in Charleston, South Carolina held by the Ludwig von Mises Institute (www.mises.org) in 1995 where he was a speaker.[7] He has been heavily involved with the pro-secession Ludwig von Mises Institute over the years.

Why is secession not odious?

I think the answer is obvious to even the most casual observer. At the federal, state, and local level Confederate secessionists who sought to destroy the United States of America are honored and glorified with monuments and symbols. This normalizes and makes the idea of secession to break up the United States morally acceptable.

We believe that a president of the United States of America should not send a wreath to the Arlington Confederate monument as it glorifies both a violent rejection of the United States and normalizes secession.

Earlier we have written you about other practices by the federal government that normalize secession: Allowing the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) to get involved with the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps; Allowing the United Daughters of the Confederacy to give awards to cadets at the U.S. Military academies named after treasonous secessionists; and allowing the SCV to be part of the Federal Combined Campaign.

I ask you to stop normalizing secession by ending the Presidential practice of sending a wreath to the Arlington Confederate monument on Memorial Day or any day and to end any federal activities that allow the SCV and UDC to spread their secessionist message to our military.

                                                                                    Regards,

                                                                                    Edward H. Sebesta

---

[1] Lori Sturdevant, “Party of Lincoln flirts with a house-divided resolution,” Star Tribune, March 30, 2010, online.

[2] Lori Sturdevant, “Secession gaining fans in MN GOP,” Star Tribune, April 12, 2010. Online.

[3] Jay Bookman, “Georgia Senate threatens dismantling of USA,” Atlanta Constitution Journal, April 16, 2009, http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2009/04/16/georgia-senate-threatens-dismantling-of-usa/.

[4] Emi Kolawole, “Tennessee Rep. Zach Wamp talks of secession,” Washington Post, July 24, 2010. Online

[5] Jon Swaine, The Telegraph (UK), Sept. 2, 2008, online; Max Blumenthal and David Neiwert, “Meet Sarah Palin’s right-wing pals,” http://news.salon.com/2008/10/10/palin_chryson Online.

[6] James McKinley, jr., “Texas Governor’s Secession Talk Stirs Furor,” New York Times, April 18, 2009, online.

[7] Ludwig von Mises flyer, “Secession!,” Ludwig von Mises Institute, post marked Feb. 27, 1995. 

Obama and the secession petitions

With all these secession petitions that Obama will be responding to, I hope Obama will reconsider the wisdom to sending a wreath to the Arlington Confederate monument dedicated to those who fought for secession.

Obama's sending a wreath to the Arlington Confederate monument helps normalize secession.