G.O.P. APOLOGIES TO THE SOUTH

Walter D. Kennedy

     Picking up the morning paper, I could hardly believe my eyes. At last the Party of Lincoln was admitting how wrong it had been in its treatment of the South. How wonderful! A Republican apology for a war of aggression against sovereign States; an apology for setting loose the dogs of war, fire, famine, disease, murder and rape against the civilian population of the South; an apology for the rape and destruction of the original Constitution; an apology for the assassination of the once free Union of States as given to us by our founding fathers; an apology for the horrors of Reconstruction; and, an apology for 140 years of lording it over the South as our conquers, thereby, denying to the people of the Southern States the American Right to live under a government by the “consent of the governed.” These and other thoughts raced through my mind as I quickly read the headlines in the newspaper that morning. It was all there, the South, the G.O.P., and the word apology. It looked to good to be true and sure enough, as my once sleeping eyes became focused, I could see that the headline was not favorable to the South.
     For Southern conservative Republicans the headline in the July 15th newspapers should once again point out that the South is at best, the redhead stepchild of the G.O.P. On July the 15th, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman, Ken Mehlman, with hat in hand spoke to the National Convention of the NAACP and apologizes for the Republican Party’s “Southern strategy.” In his apology G.O.P. Chairman Mehlman states he was “proud to be chairman of the party of Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglas.” Continuing with his kow-towing before the NAACP, Mehlman states that he looks forward to “rebuilding the historic relationship between the NAACP and the Republican Party….Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization. I am here today as the Republican Chairman to tell you we were wrong.”
     Demonstrating his sincerity, Mehlman reports that as RNC Chairman he “has more than 100 men and women who serve on our African-American Advisory Committee to develop the message, not just deliver it.” According to RNC Chairman Mehlman, “The NAACP is too important, your mission too urgent,” not to be included in the Republican Party. As I read the words of the RNC Chairman, the warning of my grandfather sounded more applicable this morning than they did back in 1960: “Never trust a Republican!”
     Without Southern electoral votes there would not have been one Republican President in the past 45 years. Without Southern Republican Congressmen and Senators the G.O.P. would be in the minority in both the House and Senate. Without Southern Republican Governors the G.O.P. would not hold a majority of State governorships. Today, more than anyone in the United States, we the people of the South have made the Republican Party the majority party in America. Yet, how is the Republican Party repaying the South? Let us face the issue squarely; the South is a pariah, a black sheep, the redheaded stepchild at best, or more correctly, the bastard spurious issue of the Republican Party. When has the National Republican Party sent a ranking official to speak to the Sons of Confederate Veterans or the United Daughters of the Confederacy? When has the RNC Chairman made glowing remarks about Robert E. Lee as he did for Martin Luther King before the NAACP? When has the Republican Party hired “100 men and women who serve on” the Southern Advisory Committee? When will the Republican Party give the civil rights of Southerners an equal footing with the civil rights of other minorities in America? They will not do so because they do not respect the South. They don’t respect the South because they don’t have to do so. After all they have the illusion that the South is safely held within their grasp. In their minds they reason “what can Southerners do if the G.O.P. courts the liberal Black vote while condemning Southern heritage? Southerners are not going back to Al Sharptons’ Democratic Party.” This is the sad state of affairs the South finds herself in today vis-à-vis the National Republican Party.
     The following facts shockingly demonstrate the depth of the loathing and disregard the Republican Party has for the South. (1) Although state and national leaders from all across the United States were invited to attend the historic and large funeral of the crew of the CSS Hunley, no leader of the Republican Party elected or un-elected, North OR South attended the funeral in Charleston, South Carolina. (2) Vice President Dick Cheney has embraced his lesbian daughter’s life style yet, when asked to attend a friend’s funeral where a Confederate Flag was displayed, he refused to do so unless the “offensive” flag was removed. How much clearer can the Republican Party make the message? According to Vice President Cheney and the Republican Party, Southern heritage is more loathsome than the homosexual lifestyle. (3) When President Nixon was trying to win Southern votes, he spoke out against force busing. Nixon’s speech against force busing enraged the NAACP. Does anyone remember Nixon’s reassuring words to the NAACP at that time? Nixon told the NAACP “Watch what we do, not what we say” and the buses continued to roll. The South got Republican rhetoric while the NAACP got Republican action. (4) When George Bush was governor of Texas, he acquiesced in the removal of historical plaques honoring Texas Confederate soldiers. Sticking it to the South is a long-held Republican tradition. This tradition will not change because we are good loyal Republican voters—that only encourages anti-South Republican bigots.
     Many so-called neo-Confederates have been fighting for Southern Rights for years. How many times have we looked back over the years and been disappointed about voting for those we thought were good loyal men, only to see them turn-coat on the very folks who elected them? This happens not only at the State level but also at the National level: Nixon, Regan, Bush I and Bush II. These four Republican leaders are responsible for numerous ills that have befallen the South such as the destruction of Southern local education by force busing via Nixon; reverse discrimination via Nixon, Regan and Bush I and Bush II; expansion of the South only voting rights act (a punitive act that strips the South of all rights associated with establishing and policing its voting records) via Regan; and a continuation of all the preceding ills by Bush I and Bush II. All of this is being done to the South while she continues to provide the margin of victory to each of the preceding mentioned presidents. With friends like that, who needs enemies?
     The time is fast approaching for the South to challenge the G.O.P. to treat the South with respect or get out of the South! Why should the South endure the Republican Party shunning Southern heroes such as Lee, Jackson, Davis, and Calhoun while the RNC pant, slobbers, and plant wet kisses upon liberal icons such as MLK, Fredrick Douglass and the NAACP? As Southerners we must not allow ourselves to be fooled into thinking that someone within the Republican Party will come to our defense. We must have one of our own carry our banner into the National Republican Convention and demand, not requests, our Rights. Let’s face it, the RNC will never respect us but we can make them fear us. At the next National Republican Convention Southerners could hang the G.O.P. on the horns of a dilemma unlike it has ever faced. If Southerners join together and send pro-South delegates to the National Republican Convention (waving our Flag of course) demanding a return to the type of Federal government given to us by our founding fathers, a new American revolution will have been established. In other words our pro-South delegates should demand a reversal of the deleterious results of Appomattox. By demanding a return to the original Constitutional Republic of Republic, Southerners will be reestablishing the right of the States to nullify un-Constitutional Federal acts and reestablishing the right of secession. What a dilemma for the Party of Lincoln—admit they were wrong and the South was right in 1861 or face these new embolden Southerners in the general election running their third party candidate for president. If the Southern third party movement only garners 10% to 15% of the vote down South in the general election, the G.O.P. will lose the South and the election. Under these circumstances, as long as the G.O.P. continues it’s loathing and disparaging of the South, it will never again capture the presidential office. People of the South, it is past time for us to put fear into the NAACP buttocks kissing party of Lincoln. Once this has been done, we will then be on the road to returning this nation back to the original intentions of the founding fathers. After all is said and done we must remember that liberty is what this is all about. We are heritage warriors but the most important aspect of our heritage is liberty. As Patrick Henry taught us, we must put liberty first, then union. We should never allow Northern inaction to hold our liberty hostage. We must have liberty if not in the Republic as given to us by our founding fathers then we must have liberty in an Independent South—liberty, that highest and most notable principle of American citizenship, is non-negotiable. From what we have been taught by history the National Republican Party is not overly concerned with the liberty of Southerners. It is time to force them to become concerned.