All through American history, brave Southerners have taken up the reins of
leadership when their countrymen needed them most. More than just obscure
footnotes in the pages of a public school textbook, these names have become
synonymous with leadership.
George Washington, perhaps the most famous of all Southern leaders, stood up
to a king and his imperial army. He faced overwhelming odds during the
American Revolution, yet survived to see the birth of a new nation.
Washington's sense of duty throughout the war carried over into his role as
our nation's first president. Unlike most modern politicians, he was a man
of principle, and more than anything he wanted to ensure that America's
desperate struggle for independence had not been in vain.
His death in 1799 brought grief to freedom lovers everywhere. All of America
mourned, but the pain of his loss was felt as far away as Europe. Such was
the extent of his influence as a champion of liberty.
Robert E. Lee, like Washington, rose up as a leader to defend his homeland
against a powerful foe. When he accepted command of the Army of Northern
Virginia, he did so with a gracious spirit, and went on to win the
admiration of thousands on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Even after his surrender on April 9, 1865, Lee remained the epitome of true
leadership. Having witnessed the renewed assaults on the South in the years
following the War Between the States, he wrote:
Despite their fierceness on the battlefield, both men remained humble, never
forgetting that they served their fellow citizens—and they did so with
a passionate loyalty rarely seen today. The South is in need of such leaders
again.
In this age of political correctness, attacks on Southern heritage are being
carried out with increasing frequency and ferocity. Everything has become
fair game for the social fascists seeking to erase from our national
consciousness anything even remotely connected to the Confederacy.
In South Carolina, political pressure resulted in the removal of the
Confederate battle flag from atop the state capitol. Georgia has just
undergone its second flag change in as many years. In Kentucky, people are
demanding that a statue of Jefferson Davis be removed from the grounds of
the state capitol because it is considered "offensive" to a handful of
malcontents with little else to occupy their time.
Naturally, anti-Southern bigotry is not limited to the political arena.
Groups that pretend to promote "tolerance" and "diversity" consistently
threaten economic boycotts of businesses and other organizations that fail
to take decisive action against popular Confederate icons. Most recently,
Boy Scouts in the Richmond area of Virginia were forced to remove Robert E.
Lee's name from their uniforms in order to avoid offending the less
tolerant.
Fortunately, there have been small victories along the way. In 2001, when
presented with the chance to adopt a new state flag or keep the old one,
Mississippi voters—by a margin of 2-to-1—chose to keep the 1894
flag emblazoned with the Southern Cross.
But such victories are few and far between. If its culture of courage and
independence is going to survive, the South needs brave men and women to
stand on the front lines against the onslaught of PC warriors. The South is
once again in need of leaders like George Washington and Robert E. Lee:
loyal, virtuous, strong, principled and uncompromising. I know they are out
there, but enemies of Southern heritage like the NAACP seem to have a
monopoly on name recognition and media coverage.
This is not a battle simply to win the right to wave a Confederate flag
without being called a racist. It is a fight for the very heart and soul of
the South. It is a fight to preserve what's left of a very important part of
our history. After all, the South's heritage is America's heritage as well.
"If I had foreseen the use that those people designed to make of their
victory, there would have been no surrender at Appomattox courthouse. No
sir, not by me. Had I foreseen these results of subjugation, I would have
preferred to die at Appomattox with my men, my sword in my right hand."
For men like Washington and Lee, freedom itself was merely an abstract
concept; it was what that freedom secured that gave them the courage to
fight. They fought not only for liberty and independence, but for everything
they held dear: their homes, their families, their heritage.
--Lee R. Shelton IV
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