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March Across Dixie Reunion / Student Interview
The final posting of the Re-Union March Across Dixie Schedule has been delayed until Friday , October 12, 2007 .Yesterday, October 10, 2007, adorned in the uniform of the Southern Soldier, brandishing his glorious flag , at the request of a young man and student, by the name of Guy, I had granted a taped interview in the University of North Carolina Asheville’s Media Center located in Ramsey Library. As I made my way across the campus towards Ramsey Library , a chorus of Rebel Yell ‘ s began to resonate from the site where the construction workers , both Black and White, began to wave and call out of my name as I pass them by. It was but a brief moment. However, the memory of the chills and goose bumps that this display of love for the flag of the South that runs through ones body, lasts for a life time.As I continued on toward Ramsey, I would be joined briefly by a young Black man who proclaimed that he had been a member of the Youth Chapter of the Asheville NAACP under my term as President , and that there were many of his peers who watch with great interest my work, and frequent my web site. Our conversation turned immediately to the Battle Flag , I was somewhat intrigued at just how much attention this young man had paid to present day events surrounding the continued attacks on the flag and Southern culture. He told me that he firmly believed the South had won the day decisively with the compromise that brought the Battle Flag off the State House in South Carolina, and now onto the Capitol grounds. However, he went on to say that the projected loss of the entire State of Virginia , and it’s Capitol in Richmond a second time has been discussed by antagonist of Southern symbols and culture as the final blow against the few who still fight in the Southern ranks. He pointed out that Southern advocates had misjudged the brevity those attacks upon the State of Virginia would have on the Confederate Cause. Clearly , all those in your camp should have understood that allowing the macabre stature of Lincoln and his son to remain at the Tredegar Iron Works with only the miniscule show of protest that has been leveled , would undermine the will of the people to fight in Virginia for Southern culture, and has a rippling effect across the South. We hugged, and he expressed that there were many of his peers who thought that my journey was an honorable and just one, and that he wished me well and God’s speed.Guy and I would finish our interview after spending an hour or more in the station covering as much ground as we could on just what would motivate a Black man from the South and a former NAACP Chapter President to carry and defend the Southern Cross. Even though we spent the hour , the answer was clear and very simple. To be Southern , one with a smile on his face ; what could be more American than walking across a college campus carrying the Confederate Flag ; my response amen!
