Here I sit, once again, feelin’ the compulsion to write, and havin’ more to say than is reasonable to put into one piece (which my faithful readers can tell you, is a LOT), and not knowin’ what to talk about, let alone how to start talkin’ about it. And, yet again, the top of the page simply says “Title Pending.” Maybe that’s why I’ve decided to let y’all in on this part of the process once again, ’cause it seems to help me focus; that and the fact that it makes the writin’ feel a little more… personal…
The music ain’t helpin’ much tonight; nothin’s playin’ that sparks a flame amongst this mixed-up mess of kindlin’ inside my gourd. There’s a lotta things bouncin’ around in there right now. I can tell you that along with what I’m involved with now, I’ve decided to join the movement for a Convention of States in order to amend the Constitution to limit the number of terms a body may spend in Congress, and have been plannin’ to write a piece about that, but honestly, my thoughts keep returnin’ to a meetin’ me and one of my right hands (I have several; it’s one hell of a sight), Howard Snow, attended in Winston-Salem Wednesday evenin’ (2/6/19). I’m not only rememberin’ some of the things that were said in that meetin’, but also to some of the circumstances that led to it, and the comparable circumstances under which I find myself quite often these days. So let’s talk about that.
It has been two or three weeks since I last broached the subject of getting more people active in protecting our heritage and our monuments; that is because I’ve been busy. My activism, along with that of those who stand with me, has become, to me at least, an almost tangible thing. On 13 January, some of us from Heirs to the Confederacy attended an event to protest the city-ordered removal/relocation of the Confederate monument in downtown Winston-Salem, North Carolina. There was a good turnout in support of the monument staying where it is, and we managed to recruit some new members, members who have already proven their will to stand and be counted. The next day, Monday, 14 January 2019, Carol Folt, then-Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, had the plinth upon which “Silent Sam” The Boy Soldier had stood for one hundred and five years, and then, like a coward, she resigned her position at the university. In response, some of us from Heirs decided to peacefully crash the victory party being thrown in Chapel Hill the following night.
The details of what happened that Tuesday night (1/15/19) aren’t important, nor are they very interesting, and they aren’t very exciting, either. Suffice it to say that three of us made our way into the crowd and handed out a few flyers that told the story of how the nickname “Tar Heel” was a term that came to be a Badge of Honor for North Carolinians in the War of Northern Aggression, and how, although it began as an insult, its meaning was forever changed when it was used in reference to their tenacity in battle by General Robert E. Lee himself. The goal here being to plant the seed of the idea that if Sam has to go because of his connection to the Confederacy, the so must the name “Tar Heels.” Anything less is hypocrisy of the highest caliber. I stand by that logic, and there is no way short of being touched by the hand of God that I shall ever cease to do so.
One week later, at around two o’clock in the morning on Tuesday, 22 January 2019, with the knowledge and permission of the Chapel Hill Police Department (I want to thank those officers; they were good people) four of us went back to McCorkle Plaza at UNC-CH and, at the place where Sam had stood, left a First National Confederate flag and a Bonnie Blue flag draped over, and secured to, the steel barricades that remained on-site (flag poles are restricted in that area). Hanging between the flags, we left a sign that said:
“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Deo Vindice
In the time between the day of the first event in Winston-Salem and the present (2/8/19), some of us have returned to that site at varying times to pay our respects and keep an eye on the monument. The meeting I mentioned previously was about the removal of that monument. As of yesterday (2/7/19), new legal action has been taken by the North Carolina Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, so things are a bit uncertain right now, but it looks as if the monument will indeed be moved. The participants of that meeting were Howard, myself, and four of the leaders of the anti-Monument movement in Winston-Salem (all of them from the city or county; NOT “outsiders” i.e. ANTIFA). Also present were the two Winston-Salem Police Officers in charge of security for anything pertaining to the monument; it was they that arranged the meeting in order to try and establish a rapport, and to find out what we expected or wanted to happen if and when the monument is removed from its present location. Howard and I told them that all we wanted was for it to be done respectfully, and for all concerned to be respectful. The others said they had no problem with that. I even offered them an Olive branch, suggesting that we stand reverently together when the monument is removed to show to the rest of the country that we can at least be civil to one another. Three of them seemed about to agree when the fourth said, in a rather spiteful tone of voice, “I can tell you right now, that’ll NEVER happen.” I tried; no man can say I didn’t, and making that offer was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I can honestly tell you that I came away from that meeting with more clarity than I took to it. So we come to what I have to say…
I am a man who thinks a great deal of the time, and as such, I have come to know myself, my true self, and what I believe. I, and people close to me, have been called racists, Nazis, and all kinds of foul things by people who truly have no idea what we stand for, and don’t seem to want to know. They make their assumptions and wild, unfounded accusations without a care whose reputation they damage, or even ruin. Well, I’m about to set that record straight, at least as far as myself, the Board of Directors of Heirs, and the group in general are concerned.
When I decided to create Heirs to the Confederacy, one of the first things I did was write a Mission Statement for the group. I decided to voice my own beliefs and the reasons for those beliefs in the document, and then place it before the Board of Directors for amendment and ratification. When presented to the Board, it was passed unanimously and as-was; the original document, completely unamended. That statement explains not only my personal beliefs, but, as is its purpose, the official viewpoint of Heirs as a group. Here is the document in its entirety:
(Beginning of Document)
Heirs to the Confederacy Mission Statement
On the nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord seventeen hundred and seventy-five, American Militiamen met the might of the British Army on the field of battle in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, for the first time in defense of their right to live as Free Men. After slightly more than one year of war later, on 4 July 1776, fifty-six men, forty-eight native-born Americans and eight British-born Americans, representatives of the citizens of the thirteen British colonies on the continent of North America, signed a document that not only stated their goal of independence from the British Empire and their reasons for desiring said independence, but was to change the course of history and become the foundation of the greatest symbol of freedom in the world. That “unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America” drowned out the report of the “shot heard ‘round the world” with a resounding cry of “Liberty or Death!”
On 1 March 1781, the Continental Congress’ Articles of Confederation were ratified, creating, and defining the character of, the Union between the American States. A little over six months later, on 19 October 1781, Commanding General Charles Cornwallis surrendered the British Army unconditionally to the Commander-in-Chief of the American Continental Army, General George Washington of Virginia. Nearly two years later, on 3 September 1783, Great Britain and the United States of America signed the Treaty of Paris, officially ending the War for American Independence. Both documents defined the individual States as being free, independent, and sovereign.
The Constitution of those United States was ratified on 21 June 1788, becoming the aforementioned symbol of freedom and the Supreme Living Law of the Land, insuring the God-given natural rights of the States and their citizens by giving the power of self-government to We the People by way of a Constitutional Republic. Then, in the early nineteenth century, the greed of men began to pervert that Constitution as said men used and twisted it for personal and sectional political and financial gain. The tensions caused by these attitudes and actions reached their flashpoint in 1860, leading to a war between American brethren that cost the lives of more than six hundred and twenty thousand American soldiers, and approximately one hundred and eighty thousand civilians. The result of that war redefined not only the character of the Union of the States, but also stripped the individual States of their freedom, sovereignty, and independence, destroying the great Republic that Was. Since that time, the rot of corruption has eaten away at the heart of our government and continued to fester, virtually unchecked and unabated, until our government no longer truly belongs to We the People, and our natural rights as free human beings are being threatened by greedy, dishonorable politicians who can be considered no less than enemies of our Constitution and thereby, our country.
Heirs to the Confederacy is devoted to the return of the governmental power of the United States of America to We the People. We are dedicated to repairing the Constitutional Republic of these United States as was set forth by our Founding Fathers, that Great Republic which has been all-but destroyed by the corruption of dishonorable men; men whose sacred oaths were, and perhaps are, nothing more than conduits to personal financial gain and power. We seek to preserve the Bill of Rights as-is. We are determined to preserve our National history and heritage, Northern and Southern, Eastern and Western alike. Included therein are the traditions of these United States, monuments and memorials to historical groups or figures of all races and eras, and the truths, both good and bad, of Her rich history. We recognize that terrible things have happened in this nation, and we deny none of them, but we also recognize that great things have happened here, too, and we disavow none of them.
We believe in the sovereignty of the individual States and a Federal government with limited powers over said States – i.e., a confederation of sovereign States standing, united by the Constitution of these United States, as one against the World in retaining for each State that sovereignty. We believe that the United States has no right to in any way dictate or direct the destiny of foreign nations, unless those nations should strive to cause harm to the United States or her citizens, in which case we believe in the annihilation of such a nation’s military power with extreme prejudice, and that reparations be made by any such nation to the United States for damage done to Her and/or her citizens. We believe that the Constitution of the United States and the Laws of Nature and the Lord our God are Supreme Law, and as such, supersede any laws of mankind. That being said, we recognize that, as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “God enters by a private door into every individual.” We believe in Honor, and all that it entails. We believe in justice, and, as we also believe that punishment for a crime should be equal to the crime itself, we support capital punishment. We believe in personal freedom and beliefs, so long as that freedom and those beliefs do not infringe upon the rights and freedoms of others. We believe that government should not have the power to dictate the limits of said personal freedom. We believe that all men and women, regardless of race, ability, creed, orientation, or social station, are of equal value as human beings, and should be treated equally until such a time as they may prove themselves unworthy of said treatment. We recognize that Pride in one’s heritage is not racism, nor is it the equivalent to hate. Those of us who are followers of the Christian faith acknowledge that as such we are bound by faith to follow the words of Christ when he said, “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” (John 13:34, KJV) In the words of Mr. Jefferson, “WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness…”
K. Lance Spivey
14 September 2018
Founder and Chairman
Board of Directors
Heirs to the Confederacy
Deo Vindice… [x]
(End of document)
Those are the things that I believe; the things that I and my fellow Heirs to the Confederacy stand for, and why. There are also rules for the group, and a strict Code of Conduct, both of which adhere to the Mission Statement. Call us what you may, the only honest thing you can call us is Patriots. If you see your own feelings and beliefs reflected in the statement, come stand with us. If you don’t see that reflection, well, that’s between you and God, but that doesn’t mean that you aren’t part of the problem… Not trying to be an ass; just something to think about.
K. Lance Spivey
8 February 2019
Deo Vindice… [x]