BLACK ACTIVIST APPEARANCE AT ALLEN CENTRAL FORBIDDEN



Friday, February 09, 2007

WILL SPEAK OUT IN LEXINGTON ON FRIDAY FEBRUARY 9TH, 2007 AT 11:00 A.M., THOROUGHBRED
PARK, AGAINST PREJUDICE

LEXINGTON, KY – H. K. Edgerton, a noted social activist and educator
from North Carolina, was scheduled to speak to students at Allen Central High
School in Floyd County, Kentucky on Friday, as part of Black History Month,
but Floyd County School Superintendent Paul Fanning has forbidden his appearance
there.

Allen Central has been the focus of a series of articles by the Associated
Press and other media recently for its use of a Confederate battle flag and
soldier as school symbols. “We thought this was an ideal educational opportunity,”
said Dr. Tom Hiter, Commander of the Kentucky Sons of Confederate Veterans,
which had underwritten the cost of Edgerton’s lecture, “Mr. Edgerton
speaks frequently on the roles of African-Americans in the South during the
War Between the States, and is an expert on modern race relations and Confederate
symbols.”

“Southern blacks and whites need to understand,” said Edgerton,
“that we have a common heritage and the Confederate battle flag is something
we need to unite under rather than divide over. Prejudiced people like Louis
Coleman (who has protested Allen Central) make a living keeping us divided,
and Ned Pillersdorf worsens that prejudice terribly by making up stories that
aren’t true (referring to a story, which indeed proved untrue, run by
the Associated Press where Pillersdorf claimed Allen Central fans taunted a
player on a basketball team he coaches).”

In fact, the Associated Press has run a total of five stories on Allen Central
recently, all of which were biased or even untrue. However, when the Sons of
Confederate Veterans issued statements showing this, and even when two school
board meetings in Floyd County were filled with members of the community successfully
showing support for the school symbols at Allen Central, the Associated Press
ran no corrections or stories at all.

“So this time we’ll make it easy for the media to get the story
right,” Hiter continued, “H. K. Edgerton and officers from the Sons
of Confederate Veterans will hold a press conference and protest across the
street from the Lexington Herald-Leader at 11:00 a.m., at the corner of Main
and Midland (Thoroughbred Park) on Friday.”

The Sons of Confederate Veterans is a genealogical, historical and educational
organization comprised of male descendents of honorably discharged Confederate
soldiers, sailors and marines. Founded in 1896, the SCV has over 32,000 members,
and in Kentucky there are 27 local chapters called camps.