November 2, 2020

Dear Ms. Lunelle,

I would like, first of all, to thank Ms. Chris Caudell (Dixiememories.com) for making my new flag.

And I want to send a special thanks to the Asheville Tribune and Asheville Daily Planet newspapers for publishing my Open Letter and Open Reports, and their many patrons who have contacted me with thanks.

I have received a lot of praise for mentioning the Honorable President Davis in my report. He was, after all, a true Patriot and, like the Honorable General Robert E. Lee and so many Southern heroes, were many who prayed for the Union to remain intact.

I would tell several groups of people who surrounded me that President Davis and his brother had befriended the African people many, many times to include ensuring that those who worked for them were literate. And, not to forget, Jim Limber, a slave boy being beaten in the streets of Virginia, that the President and his wife took into their home to live as an adopted son.

On this occasion, one elderly black man would retort that he had read that I would vote for Donald Trump, a Yankee who touted Lincoln and was not this a huge contradiction to all my rhetoric about Lincoln and the South. I told him that while President Trump may tout Lincoln, he reminded me of President Davis: “he loved America and all of her people on both sides of the Mason-Dixon, and has proven through his actions as Davis did; to be a friend to the downtrodden, be they red, yellow, brown, black, or white.”

Davis was a defender of the African people and pushed for their upward economic mobility. Even Bloomberg news admits this. Davis ensured the Confederate Constitution allowed all men to obtain a patent for their inventions, while US law prevented it.

Benjaim T. Montgomery, 1850’s inventor of a paddlewheel propellor

My car refused to start the last couple of days, and I had to cancel a planned trip to Sylva, North Carolina.

And, while I am thanking folks, I want to thank the Putnam County Commissioner, the Honorable Jeff Rawls, the lone County Commissioner for not only voting in favor of not removing the Confederate soldier’s Cenotaph in Palatka, Florida, but also, and for reaching out to me to attend a Commission meeting on November 10, 2020, to speak about the fate of the Cenotaph.

Commissioner Rawls would write to me ……

“I feel that your presence at the meeting could help change the direction of the conversation and maybe enlighten the other Commissioners as to the value and its meaning. I would consider it an honor and a privilege to be able to introduce you at the meeting if you’re able to attend.”

I hope with all my heart that I am able to raise the funds to do so.

I shall never forget Terry Lee and I marching in the MLK Peace March after the black citizens of the city extended the invitation to the Sons of Confederate Veterans to do so. And, nor shall I forget the very warm welcome that so many blacks of the city extended to the Dixie Outfitters store at its grand opening. God bless you!

Your brother,

HK

Chairman, Board of Advisors Emeritus, Southern Legal Resource Center
Member, Save Southern Heritage – Florida
Son of former loyal Southern slaves
Recipient, Virginia Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, General Robert E. Lee Award
Recipient, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis Medal
Recipient, Mississippi Division, Sons of Confederate John L. Harrison Award
Recipient, National Sons of Confederate Veterans, H.L. Hunley Award
Honorary Life Member, Zebulon B. Vance Camp 15, Sons of Confederate Veterans
Legion of the Judah P. Benjamin Camp 2210, Sons of Confederate Veterans
Honorary Life Member, Forrest Orphans Camp 1744, Sons of Confederate Veterans
Honorary Life Member, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia Orders of the Confederate Rose
Kentucky Colonel
Honorary Scot of Austin
President, Southern Heritage 411