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An Open Letter & Open Report / Mississippi / Dolly’s Stampede Parade
May 6, 2019
Mississippi / Dolly’s Stampede Parade
Dear Ms. Lunelle,
For a sitting Governor to rant sacrilege upon the state flag that he governs under, as did the Governor of the great state of Mississippi, he should have the decency to step down from his position.
Terry Lee Edgerton chronicled in his now highly celebrated photo journal and visual presentation of the Historic March Across Dixie that would see me don in the uniform of the Southern soldier and carrying the state flag of Mississippi across its state.
Terry Lee would capture what the people of Mississippi felt about the flag that, in a state referendum, 64% of them voted to leave it as it is with the Southern Cross emblazoned in it. My dear friend, the late and honorably decorated Vietnam War Veteran, Anthony Hervey, whose casket was draped with the state flag, would go door to door in the black community canvassing for support of the Mississippi state flag. They gave it to him for their flag.
When I entered Meridian on the March, Ms. Annie Rue, a black cook in a school we passed by, ran from the cafeteria, telling me stop and let her carry her flag to the mail box she pointed out some hundred yards away. She now dons the pages of Terry Lee’s journal, as would many other black Mississippian supporters of the historic journey. Terry Lee was so impressed with the people of Mississippi for the love and, not to forget, monetary support they would heap upon us, he would don the front cover of his Journal with the Mississippi state flag.
On May 3, 2019, still feeling so chagrin about the aforementioned comments and actions of the Mississippi Governor, I would make my way to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, where alongside Sons of Confederate Veteran camps from the Tennessee Division of the Sons and, not to forget our Southern Belle, in the annual Dolly Pardon Stampede Parade.
I wish that the now infamous governor of Mississippi could have been there to experience the ovation and the love from the throngs of people gathered heaped upon the entourage of those don in the uniform of the Southern soldier, led by his color guard carrying his colors.
Every step along the parade route, the crowd cheered us. Babies ran out with arms wide open to hug us, as would their parents and many other adults and juveniles doing the same. It was not my first rodeo. I had seen the same kind of display as I marched in a Christmas parade in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Our general, Robert E. Lee, was an overly inspiring sight as he waved to the throngs of people calling out his name, as he urged us on with orders to go get the peoples love! And by God we did! It was a great day in Dixie! God bless you!
Your brother,
HK
Chairman, Board of Advisors Emeritus, Southern Legal Resource Center
Member, Save Southern Heritage Florida
Honorary Life Member, Longstreet Zolli Coffer Camp 87, Sons of Confederate Veterans
Honorary Life Member, Bradford Rose Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans
Kentucky Colonel
Honorary Life Member, Tennessee and North Carolina Orders of the Confederate Rose
Honorary Life Member, Jackson Rangers Camp 1917, Sons of Confederate Veterans
President, Southern Heritage 411
