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An Open Report / The Apple Festival / Fellowshipping with Powell’s and guests / Blount County
I would like to thank Dixie Outfitters for making it possible for me to attend the historic Apple Festival held in Hendersonville, North Carolina this past Labor Day weekend, where I would march alongside the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Sons of Union Veterans who marched directly behind us. I mention the Sons of Union Veterans with a note of high regard because of the gracious manner that they have always presented themselves on every occasion such as this that I have been privy to. This would include several years back when I delivered the Keynote Address at John Hopkins University for Confederate Memorial Day, where their Commander In Chief who would deliver a Proclamation of support for the Confederate soldier and his glorious flag , to Gettysburg where the Union Sons would stand in support with the Confederate Sons in opposing the hanging of the Southern Cross from an erected gallows at Gettysburg College, to the city of Nashville, Tennessee where we would march alongside them in a Memorial Day Parade. The local television station WLOS channel 13 would report on the Festival Parade and make mention and show pictures of the crowds of people cheering as various military groups would pass. However, they never once showed the throngs of people cheering, and the love that was bestowed upon the Sons every step of the way along the entire parade route.
After the Parade, I would attend and lecture at an event at the lakefront summer home of Florida compatriots Larry & Becki Powell of Florida. I was somewhat amazed at the total lack of knowledge that some of the Northern and Foreign born guests had about not only the unpleasantness that is heaped upon the Southern people in regards to our flag especially our children in the Public School System , and even more so about their comprehension of the causes and events that led an honorable people to war against insurmountable odds against his invading brother from the North. They all seemed somewhat amazed when I pointed out that contrary to most of their beliefs that Southern Blacks had not instituted the actions that now take place across this nation against the Southern Cross ; it had been instituted by White men who hate all things Southern and just like the Reconstruction modus operandi ; used unwitting Black folks and the NAACP , an organization that is perceived , but is not primarily run by Blacks to further an agenda to rid the social scene of a symbol that is one that they have undeniable ownership in. I would further spell out to them that no man who is Southern born or proclaims to be Southern who stands against the Christian Cross of Saint Andrew , Red, Yellow, Black or White ; having ancestors free or indentured is worthy of the proclamation of being Southern and in essence is a traitor to his homeland . Our conversations would carry on into the late evening, and I must say it was the kind of dialogue that should take place all across this nation between an honorable people from both regions of America. It was a dialogue of understanding and they simply loved the historic HK Edgerton shirt designed and commissioned by Dixie Outfitters.
I would be remiss in my duties if I did not mention Blount County and the recent ruling of the Sixth Circuit Court . There are those who await anxiously the new trial of Tommy Defoe vs. the Anderson School District while just chalking the Blount County Case up as another loss for the South as we seek justice in the Federal Judiciary. However, I strongly believe that Defoe and Blount County is appurtenance( something that belongs to or goes with another), and furthermore the opportunity to end the Cold War Between the States rest with a grand opportunity that is afforded Southerners at Blount County High School. It is an excellent venue in which to challenge those who would celebrate the life of a man called King to bring forth the table of brotherhood , place all the facts on the table, and with the duende( the power to attract through personal magnetism and charm) that Knoxville Sons of Confederate Veterans Commander Ron Jones and many witnessed the day I and other Sons donned in the uniform of the Southern soldier marched on to the courthouse grounds of Maryville, Tennessee displayed by Amiee Robinson, a brave young White girl who spoke of the love of her ancestors and of those Black folks ancestors who fought beside him had for each other, and even more so of the acceptance into the communities of Maryville and Blount County Tennessee by the White community of Black folks, their shared love for Jesus Christ , only to have it all pushed asunder by those who would come into their community from a region of our great nation called the North because of their hate of a symbol that is nothing but Southern. I anxiously await the resources that will take me back to Blount County.
