RE: An Open Letter & Open Report / Lee, Forrest & Hood Streets



From: HK Edgerton [hk.edgerton@gmail.com]
Date: Sun, Jan 15, 2017
Subject: An Open Letter & Open Report / Lee, Forrest & Hood Streets

On Saturday afternoon, January 14, 2017, I would travel to South Carolina to the rural country church that I have been going to annually for the last three years, to
speak to my little Black babies about the place of honor their ancestors earned beside a man they had not only called Master but also family and friend.

I would arrive early, and as I stood at the open window, I would marvel at them and their parents resolve to continue having me come, even after the evil action of
Dylan Roof, and the blame that Nikki Haley had placed on the Southern Cross because of it.

As I contemplated standing there, just what would I say to them on this day, I could not shake the sickening feeling in my gut and the thoughts of the loss of my love,
Alexdra.

I was oblivious to their presence until one of the baby girls would touch my back, and ask of me, “Mr. HK, are you alright? You look so sad.” She would open her arms
to give me a hug when suddenly Chubby, who is not so chubby anymore, would shout out, “Group hug,” and I would find myself in the arms of 22 of my babies.

I would tell them that I was contemplating what I would say, if given the chance, at the City Council of Hollywood near Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, of the name changes
of the streets of Lee, Jackson, and Forrest, and to speak against the perverse act of removing the Confederate soldiers monument in Gainesville, Florida. They always
delighted in the new words I would lay on them.

“Mr. HK,” Chubby would ask, “didn’t you tell us the last time you were here that General Lee, General Jackson and General Forrest were the greatest of friends by
their actions to the African people? Why would Black people now turn against them?” Before I could answer, they all started in on me. “What about General Lee freeing all
the slaves that his wife inherited from the Washington family, and they all refusing to leave? Yea,” they all chided in, “and what about Rev. Mack Lee, his body servant
who educated himself off the funds given to him by General Lee? And, Rev. Mack Lee built the 1st Credit Union in America to help other freed slaves, and he built churches
all over America, both North and South. And told the African people to buy some land, go to school and get an education, put your faith in God, and beyond all else,
place your trust in only the Southern White man!

“What about General Jackson and his wife, who opened up their home and church to teach the African people how to read and write, especially the Christian Bible, and
about Jesus Christ when it was illegal to teach the African to read? Mr. HK, don’t forget to tell them how all the people in Lexington, Virginia would meet the train to
read the letters General Jackson sent home from the battle fronts, expecting him to talk about his great victories, only to find that he had sent a silver dollar to buy
more books for the slaves and only asking how they were doing.

“And Mr. HK, last but not least, you tell them about General Forrest and the forty two Black men who rode with him, and of whom he would say, ‘these boys stayed with me
to the end, and no better Confederates lived than they!'” My babies were now on a roll! “Yea Mr. HK, you tell them how General Forrest would take his own money and buy
back family members for slaves that had been sold, at their asking of him, and how he traveled many miles to do so.

“Yea Mr. HK, and don’t forget to tell them about General Forrest being the only White man to give the Keynote Address at the Pole Bearers Convention. And that he made
a pledge that he would use his influence to help the African people at their asking, and that he was their friend!”

Ms. Lunelle, the only lesson that would be given on this day would be the one given to me, that they had been listening to what I had come to say. I felt ready for
the planned perversion that the Poverty Pimps and White folk liberals have in store when I arrive at their perspective. God bless you!

Your brother,

HK

Member, Save Southern Heritage Florida Association