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An Open Letter To The People Of Lakeland And The Mayor And City Commission



From: “SAVE SOUTHERN HERITAGE” [floridasshe@gmail.com]
Date: Nov 26, 2017
Subject: An Open Letter to the People of Lakeland and the Mayor and City Commission
To: “HK Edgerton” [hk.edgerton@gmail.com]

I regret that I cannot be with you in person at your December 4th meeting, but after watching the video of your last Commission meeting, I felt the need to write to you with my thoughts.

First, I am sick and tired of all the whining and complaining by the NAACP about all things Confederate. They’ve complained for years about tee-shirts that my babies wear to school.

They blaspheme against the Southern people – white – black – yellow and brown – by demanding the removal of the Confederate flag – the Christian Cross of St. Andrew is only meant to divide us, not unite us.

And now they are trying to divide up the whole country by going after memorials to Southern veterans.

The MOST appropriate place for a memorial to our Southern veterans is right where it is and has been for over 100 years. It is poppycock to claim that that memorial, put there by those ladies generations ago, was intended to intimidate anyone. No, it was a loving tribute not only for fathers, husbands, brothers and sons who fought and died … of all colors. The soldier on top of that monument isn’t white, he isn’t black, he is gray – that monument is colorblind and it represents Holt Collier, Mac Lee, and the tens of thousands of African-American Southerners, many known only by God who stood shoulder to shoulder with their white families and neighbors when war came against them.

Who is doing the intimidating is the hate groups, like the NAACP that, around Florida, are threatening economic boycotts, violence and worse to take away the honor black Southerners earned in that war.

Slavery is not the issue here – it is the Constitution…the 1st Amendment…free speech.

I saw a poll that showed 80% of African Americans in Lakeland disagree with the poverty pimps of the NAACP and want the memorial to stay. Well, the NAACP doesn’t speak for me, and it doesn’t speak for most of black Americans. It’s mission has been perverted and this anti-Confederate agenda is misguided and an attempt to shut down those who disagree with them.

The decent black citizens of Lakeland should not let the so-called “leaders” of the NAACP get away with the hateful things they are saying about their Southern family. Over in Tampa, Commissioner Les Miller, now that their monument is gone, is whining that race relations are worse than ever. That’s not a surprise because that is exactly what its removal was meant to do, and what will happen in Lakeland if you remove yours.

Rev. Mac Lee had it right when he cautioned his flock to only trust the Southern white man. Some of you may remember that I tried to give a copy of my book and tapes to Yankee Commissioner Don Selvege, but he threw them back in my face. He didn’t want to know about the bonds between blacks and whites in the South before the war that still exists despite the best efforts of the NAACP.

Also, every black descendant of former slaves should get down on their knees every day and thank God that their ancestors got a free ticket to the South. Slavery exists even today, but the Southern version of slavery under the instruction of the disciple Paul was unique in all the world.

Slavery existed long before the War, brought to Florida by the Spanish 300 years before, and it exists today. Blaming it on the South is a lie meant to discredit and dishonor one group of American veterans. Shame on those who do it.

I have enjoyed my visits to Lakeland and Munn Park and hope that with my next one, everyone will come and visit with me at the Monument.

HK Edgerton
President, Southern Heritage 411