The Skeeter Daddle Diaries

We are a band of brothers, and native to the soil
Fighting for our Liberty, with treasure, blood and
Toil;
And when our rights were threaten’d, the cry rose near
And far
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag, that bears a Single
Star! Hurrah! Hurrah! For Southern Rights, hurrah!
Hurrah! For the Bonnie Blue Flag, that bears a Single
Star!

It never really ends, the Civil War. The one a century and a half ago. Not the one now. Although … maybe they’re the same thing. The good Governor of the proud state of Mississippi has named April as Confederate Heritage Month, April being the month that Ft. Sumter was fired on by South Carolina and the southern states seceded from the Union. Why not celebrate it, all you proud Mississippians?

Well, you white Mississips. Not too sure what I might feel as the ancestors of the slaves you folks fought so hard to keep picking your cotton. I had a neighbor tell me recently that racism was a thing of the past. You know, like the Civil War. Black folks have the same rights and the same opportunities as we do, he declared. Racism? Doesn’t exist in 21st century America. I started to argue, then decided nothing I could possibly say, statistics I could supply, nothing would convince him or any others out there that cops pick up more percentage of blacks, banks refuse loans to more percentage of blacks, more black children die in childbirth, blacks die younger than us whiteys. I might as well argue the Jews started World War Two. People believe what their prejudice wants them to.

But declaring April Confederate Heritage Month? Have we been fighting to take down those rebel flags on their courthouses, remove those statues of their traitorous heroes, maybe even teach the history of slavery in their schools … only to have them celebrate a war that killed off one fifth of their male population? Oh no, don’t teach critical race theory, Governor, you don’t need schooling on the subject. But you could use a little common sense. And some decency wouldn’t hurt either.

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