NYT: South gears up to celebrate 150th anniversary of secession

[Newsjock]

Source: New York Times

The Civil War, the most wrenching and bloody episode in American history, may not seem like much of a cause for celebration, especially in the South.

And yet, as the 150th anniversary of the four-year conflict gets under way, some groups in the old Confederacy are planning at least a certain amount of hoopla, chiefly around the glory days of secession, when 11 states declared their sovereignty under a banner of states’ rights and broke from the union.

The events include a “secession ball” in the former slave port of Charleston (“a joyous night of music, dancing, food and drink,” says the invitation), which will be replicated on a smaller scale in other cities. A parade is being planned in Montgomery, Ala., along with a mock swearing-in of Jefferson Davis as president of the Confederacy.

In addition, the Sons of Confederate Veterans and some of its local chapters are preparing various television commercials that they hope to show next year. “All we wanted was to be left alone to govern ourselves,” says one ad from the group’s Georgia Division.

That some — even now — are honoring secession, with barely a nod to the role of slavery, underscores how divisive a topic the war remains, with Americans continuing to debate its causes, its meaning and its legacy.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/us/30confed.html?_r=1&hp

[somone]

1. Calling Rick Perry and Sarah Palin

[TroglodyteScholar]

2. ...

And yet, as the 150th anniversary of the four-year conflict gets under way, some groups in the old Confederacy are planning at least a certain amount of hoopla...

Oh no, not hoopla!
:rofl:

[Tunkamerica]

Haven't heard anything about that here (NC) ...

... and according to a family tree in my granddad's attic we're direct descendants of Stonewall Jackson. So if anybody would know...

[ncrainbowgrrl]

8. Me neither- but then again, I'm in Chapel Hill...

As Jesse Helms said (paraphrasing) "if you want to build a zoo in NC, all we have to do is put a fence around Chapel Hill!"

[Tunkamerica]

3. .

[tularetom]

4. And are they going to celebrate that other day

The one where they were the only Americans to surrender after getting their ass kicked.

I spent the first ten years of my life in one of the states that seceded and I have a lot of relatives there but this obsession with secession is just fucking stupid.

Poor boys fighting a rich man's war.

[JVS]

5. I urge everyone to loudly disrupt these events and celebrate the UNITED States of America

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Soon a few of the tenthers will do this for real

AGAIN... in historic time, we are moving there,

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

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