Black councilwoman sets precedent - She attends Confederate memorial

[Steve]

Jacksonville City Councilwoman Glorious Johnson admires Abraham Lincoln and the Confederate Flag.
   
On Sunday, the African-American councilwoman joined the Southern side of the Civil War when she lead a local chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans singing I Wish I Was in Dixie in honor of Confederate soldiers.

Her appearance marked the first time an African-American council member has come to the annual memorial event at the Old City Cemetery near downtown.

It wasn't an entirely new venue for Johnson, who is considering a future run for mayor. She also has attended the Jackson-Lee Dinner put on by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The Kirby-Smith Camp of the organization invited Johnson, a former music teacher, to lead I Wish I Was in Dixie at the event Sunday. The song became a favorite anthem of Confederate soldiers during the Civil War.

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/042808/met_272912644.shtml

[stephenc]

Isaiah Rumlin, president of the Jacksonville chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Johnson "is an elected official who can say anything she wants to under freedom of speech. She can do what she wants to do. If she feels like she is doing the right thing, she has to deal with that."

He doesnt sound to happy.

Its nice to see someone who doesnt seem to care about races and understand that first and foremost we are all Americans.

Johnson said in an interview after the ceremony she doesn't view the Confederate flag as a racist symbol. She said by talking with members of the organization, she has learned more about the Civil War.

"This flag is not a flag of hate, but a flag about heritage and history," she said. "The people out here are not about hate, but about heritage."

I never thought a would see someone that is not of southern white ethnicty understand what the flag means.

[Radio Talk Show Host]

I don't think she's going to be universally thanked for it though. 

Its weird (but a positive step) so far the media isn't looking for someone to criticize her about it. It isn't like there is a behavior manual/guidebook for the media to all fall in line with. Even if someone  ever would have wrote a long detailed behavior manual/guidebook, I am sure it wouldn't reference what to do in this situation.

I think those who are not applauding don't want to be seen as dividers. Its all good all the way around.

   

[Coolyfett]

Responding to Stephandare

Interesting....they made them change the flag up here in Georgia.

As a black guy.... That flag never bothered me until the "You wear your X Ill were mine" T shirts came out. It was a lil irritating. Ive read a few books on the Civil War and a lot went into that beef. Its was deeper then just slavery and thats FACT. Seemed more so about control. Some white folks do use that flag as a white power symbol and I think that hurts the cause of the regular southern white folks that value the flag for none racial beliefs. I kinda see it as banner for the attempt to leave the United States. The Southern States lost the beef though, but still have pride in the symbol of their temporary country. Believe it or not the Confederates almost let the blacks fight the Union. But J. Davis feared treason. The South didn't have the resources to win.

I know this lady is going to be attacked by our own kind. Personally I think that is wack. She represents herself and not Coolyfett so I can't judge her. Though I don't think she should have done that move alone. Some other blacks should have supported that move.


Offensive massage alert!!!!

I always say there are certain generations of people that I wish would hurry up and die off so we can move on. I hate turtles.

[Ocklawaha]

Coolyfett, wow what a refreshing post. As a Southern white historian with a traditional view of the war, I couldn't agree with you more. Glorious is a personal friend and a wonderful and open person, she will make a great mayor because she can't be squeezed into a box. BTW, I understand there is research going on within some of the black families and the Sons of Confederate Veterans to discover Confederate Connections. It appears that one of the Phd's at Smithsonian now believes that while blacks couldn't fight in regular Confederate Army units, they went around the rule by fighting with State backed units. Perhaps as many as one hundred thousand. A 1912 Palatka newspaper issue in my possession has the story of Junius Jackson, a black Confederate. Seems some good-ol boys in Tallahassee wanted to know why the state was going to pay a Confederate pension to a "N" word (the headlines). Then the Palatka paper launches on Tallahassee lawmakers and tells them straight up that Mr. Jackson did "REAL and VALUABLE services to his nation". He deserved his pension as much as Robert E Lee. Check out the book "Black Confederates in Grey". LEAD ON GLORIOUS, LEAD ON!

BTW, I love the Avatar you found... is it a hint or a political statement? Perhaps we should go chase trains sometime.

Ocklawaha
DEO VINDICE!

[Coolyfett]

BTW, I love the Avatar you found... is it a hint or a political statement? Perhaps we should go chase trains sometime.

It a political statement motivated by my hatred for turtles.

This site is full of the rabbits. I like rabbits. Ock I hope your friend is a rabbit.

Gas is getting higher.

The air is polluted.

The President hates Amtrak.

Do I buy food or fill the crown vic?

The city where I 10 meets I 95 is controlled by reptiles that have shells.

I had to flee.  ....Im sorry

[Ocklawaha]

Sorry you had to flee, been there, done that. I keep coming back and every time I leave more disappointed then before...go figure. But even in your posts, there seems a love for this place that is hard to finger, I think all of us here suffer the same illness. Love-Hate-Love for Jacksonville? Turtles? More like um, "Reptile Disfunction". One thing that Glorious isn't, she isn't inside ANYONES shell!

Keep um coming.

Ocklawaha

[Charles Hunter]

Well, it is predictable that Tonyaa Weathersbee would blast Councilwoman Johnson for this.
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/050508/new_274788680.shtml

[Jason]

Tonyaa who??

[Ocklawaha]

Tonyaa that failed History 101, 202 and ??

Tonyaa that doesn't know her savior, Abe lincoln was the first to ever hear "DIXIE" and it was HIS favorite song.

Tonyaa that is clueless that the SCV and UDC are "anti-Klan" groups that often protest the Nazi/KKK misuse of the Confederate Flag.

Tonyaa that is oblivious to the black members of the SCV that celebrate the bravery of their own ancestors in a fight to repel invasion which often ended in wholesale rape and beatings or murder of her people.

Tonyaa who has never read "DAVIS" and wouldn't accept the words of the President as anything but revision.

Tonyaa that doesn't know or care that in route to temporary exile in Canada, The late Confederate President said his most touching moment was when an elderly black steward approached him onboard the ship. The man handed him a perfect rose and said, "Mr. President, I just couldn't see you go away without something from US Confederates..."

Tonyaa that is out of contact, living in the Civil Rights struggles of 1950-70... vs Glorious Johnson, a woman that has bridged that gap and is honored for doing so...

LEAD ON GLORIOUS, LEAD ON!

Ocklawaha

[JeffreyS]

It never bothers me that people want to celebrate the brave actions of the common confederate conscript  or the genius of the confederate generals. The confederate flag however has become a symbol of racism, hate and intolerance.  It is just a fact people have tried to somehow make it a symbol of southern heritage but it is just a part of that heritage that symbolizes hate.  Certainly it has been connected to other things but as a symbol to the masses everyone knows what it means.

Civil War short version
The South made a bad decision to fight.

[Ocklawaha]

Tonyaa who? The one that thinks "Dixie" is or was the anthem of the South! NOT! (Glorious is right, it was a YANKEE song). Tonyaa might be the sweetest person on earth, I may even know her, but she is just wrong about some of her "facts" on this one.


Tonyaa and Stephendare, note the "hate" on the faces of these Confederate Veterans... A true band of Brothers forgotten by Alex Haley and television history.

THE FLAG? Well, the flag of racism is certianly still flying... It flew over black slavery from 1776 - to about 1870...(The school books say 1865, but a case can be made for 1901)...

It flew over the "Trail of Tears" and the near extermination of the Native people from 1776 until 1941 (when we suddenly decided we needed them)...

It flew over Oriental sex slavery from the early 1800's until about 1920...Then over the "Camps" for Oriental people during WWII, (God help us if we ever fight China or Mexico). In the 1960's it flew over troops that were licenced to shoot down our own children because they didn't agree with being slaughtered in a war where we couldn't shoot back. Black hate? Hell no, just plain do what ever the hell it takes HATE then lie about subversives, Commies and grand plots to overthrow the government. It still flys over barb wire that keeps undesirable little brown people from jumping over to freedom to survive all along the Mexican/Hispanic border. It flys all over Eastern Europe in bases where we are present to PRESERVE the right of all people to self government...


Just one more of "ALL of the PEOPLE"

ALL PEOPLE THE RIGHT OF SELF GOVERNMENT?

Yeah, all except... Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, Alabama... etc...

Cry me a tear for the Confederate Flag y'all...Here's how they stack up:

USA Flew over "Legal" slavery for about 100 years.
CSA Flew over "Legal" slavery for under 4 years.

USA constitution Slave trade was LEGAL.
CSA constitution Slave trade was ILLEGAL.

USA freed the slaves in 1870 (aprox)
CSA freed the slaves before the war ended in 1865.

USA wanted freedom by force, without compensation then deportation of all "African" people
CSA wanted to free using the English model, compensate and retrain workers of ALL colors.


What did HE KNOW that we have forgotten? He LED the vanguard of N.B. Forrest.

Either way slavery would have died quickly. Just as you can't afford to have 10 kids at home today, you sure a hell can't afford to keep entire families... And why? By 1900 machines would have made most any slave an unwanted liability.

Then I love the next argument... Imagine what we would have done in WWII had the South won it's independence!!!  Oh, did you know the military has books on such? Here's how it plays out:

WWI ... Never happens as far as the USA and CSA are concerned as we stay the hell out of it. In the event the USA went in, the CSA would have stayed out... Germany would more likely reached a peace that allowed WWII to be completely negated.

Had the Japanese attacked the USA base at Pearl Harbor, that radio announcment would have sounded something like this: The US fleet is badly damaged, The Confederate Govenment has dispatched the Battleship's Arizona, Texas, Georgia and Virginia along with the Carrier's Gettysburg, Kennesaw, Pittsburg Landing... to the Pacific base at Pearl Harbor, along with their escort ships. Why does the military think it would have played out like this? Because the Military says the South could NOT HAVE TRUSTED the North and would have become heavily armed, even as a friendly partner.

DIXIE? Humph... Boy this ought to piss someone off! Compatriot River, You still with us?

Ocklawaha
UNRECONSTRUCTED FOREVER!
DEO VINDICE Y'ALL

[JeffreyS]

Ock historical accuracy may not be reflected in the feelings the flag evokes today that does not mean those feelings are not real.  The continued use of that flag does more to harm the south today than any other symbol.(imo)

[Driven1]

Tonyaa might be a nazi.  you never know.     

anyone could be.  for all we know.

[JeffreyS]

I wonder what kind of response she would have gotten had she invited the group to a black historical celebration? I bet it would have gotten applause when she said it but any real attendance? I don't know not trying to be a smart ass with that question.  How well would they have been received at said black historical celebration? Would they have donned the confederate flag?  You know I think she should send an open invitation though the TU.  If she got a good turn out it would be spectacular.