Page 32 - aruba today 12aug2017

A32 FEATURE
Saturday 12 auguSt 2017
Rebel yell: Southern nationalists again crying ‘secede’

By JAY REEVES But secession isn’t the sole
Associated Press property of Southern white
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) nationalists.
— As 21st century activists A group that wants Cali-
seek to topple monuments fornia to secede from the
to the 19th century Con- United States is based
federate rebellion, some mainly on liberals wanting
white Southerners are to exit the United States
again advocating for what because of President Don-
the Confederates tried ald Trump’s election. They
and failed to do: secede are collecting signatures
from the Union. to place a secession ballot
It’s not an easy argument initiative on the 2018 ballot.
to win, and it’s not clear The initiative would form
how much support the idea a commission to recom-
has: The leading South- mend avenues for Califor-
ern nationalist group, the nia to pursue its indepen-
Alabama-based League dence and delete part of
of the South, has been the state constitution that
making the same claim for says it’s an inseparable
more than two decades part of the United States.
and still has an address in The “Calexit” initiative also
the U.S.A., not the C.S.A. would instruct the gover-
But the idea of a break- nor and congressional del-
away Southern nation per- This July 8, 2017 photo shows members of the KKK escorted by police past a large group of pro- egation to negotiate more
sists. testers during a KKK rally in Charlottesville, Va. Associated Press autonomy for California.
The League of the South’s Secession also has been
longtime president, retired and 105 Southern counties in several states, and it da in recent years. discussed on and off for
university professor Michael had a black population of even has its own banner — “I think it’s mostly subsumed years by the far right in
Hill of Killen, Alabama, 50 percent or higher. a black and white version into the white nationalist states including Texas,
posted a message in July Hill said they’re not ad- of the familiar Confeder- movement,” said Beirich, particularly when Barack
that began, “Fight or die vocating for a repeat of ate battle flag, minus the director of the Intelligence Obama was president.
white man” and went on a Civil War that claimed stars. Project at the Southern Online, many Southern na-
to say Southern national- 620,000 lives or a return to Secession also finds sup- Poverty Law Center. “There tionalists seem animated
ists seek “nothing less than slavery, the lynchpin of the port on some websites that might be a little Southern by drives to remove Con-
the complete reconquest South’s antebellum econo- support white nationalism, softness to it. But I can’t tell federate memorials, as
and restoration of our pat- my. including Occidental Dis- a whole lot of difference happened in New Orleans
rimony — the whole, entire “We have no interest in go- sent, run by a Hill associ- between the League and and is planned in Charlot-
South.” ing back and recreating ate, and the openly racist, white nationalism.” tesville, Virginia. Not every-
“And that means the Meanwhile, critics are one who supports Confed-
South will once again be erate monuments wants to
in name and in actuality remove the South from the
White Man’s Land. A place United States once again.
where we and our progeny Some supporters of the Old
can enjoy Christian liberty South say they simply want
and the fruits of our own la- to honor ancestors who
bor, unhindered by parasit- wore the gray during the
ical ‘out groups,’” said Hill’s Civil War.
message, posted on the But some want to make a
group’s Facebook page a break. Perhaps the United
day after a rally in support States should just let the
of a statue of Confederate South leave, said author
Gen. Robert E. Lee in Char- Chuck Thompson.
lottesville, Virginia. Thompson’s 2012 book
The group’s website says it “Better Off Without ‘Em:
is “waging a war to win the A Northern Manifesto for
minds and hearts of the Southern Secession” ar-
Southern people,” gued that both the Unit-
While white-controlled ed States and the South
government is its goal, might both be best served
the group says in a state- if Southern nationalists won
ment of beliefs that it offers the argument and suc-
“good will and coopera- ceeded in forming a new
tion to Southern blacks in This July 8, 2017 photo shows members of the KKK escorted by police past a large group of nation. The South has been
protesters during a KKK rally in Charlottesville, Va. S
areas where we can work Associated Press at odds with the rest of the
together as Christians to nation for generations over
make life better for all peo- an un-recreatable past,” anti-Semitic Daily Stormer. howling over the mere idea issues including education,
ple in the South.” Hill said in a telephone in- Extremist watchdog Heidi that HBO is considering a race, politics, shared histo-
According to the U.S. Cen- terview. “We are future ori- Beirich said strict Southern dramatic series based on ry and religion, Thompson
sus, 55 percent of the na- ented.” nationalism seems to have the idea that the South re- said in a telephone inter-
tion’s black population The group has erected bill- been swept up into the ally did secede again and view, and some things just
lived in the South in 2010, boards that said “SECEDE” larger white-power agen- slavery still existed. don’t change.q