Bobby Lee Has Left the Building. . . .
The Associated Press asks its readers to be on the lookout for a figure of the general that was stolen — 35 years ago:
A bronze statue of the Confederate general was taken from the grounds of Midland Lee High in 1975, a decade after the class of 1965 gave the statue to the school.
With Midland Lee’s 50th anniversary approaching later this year, an event organizer hopes someone will return the statue. Maridell Fryar told the Odessa American that no one would be prosecuted; the statute of limitations on the theft has run out.
She says the statue swiping may have started a prank. She [is] hoping someone from the West Texas community will offer information that might recover the stolen Lee in time for the anniversary celebrations.
Just a little prank, right? Sure, it’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye a statue.
Fun Fact: The Associated Press was organized in 1846 by five New York dailies to share the cost of reporting on the Mexican War.
“America’s most persecuted minority”
African Americans? Muslims? LGBT folks? Nope, nope and nope.
Confederates.
Seriously.
Kevin Levin over at Civil War Memory highlights North Texas, where the Sons of Confederate Veterans has opened a summer camp for youth ages 12-20.
This summer, you can help turn the tide. For one week, our Southern young men and ladies (ages 12-20) will gather to hear the truths about the War for Southern Independence. This camp (named for the great young Confederate Sam Davis) will combine fun and recreation with thoughtful instruction in Southern history, the War Between the States, the theology of the South during the War, lessons on Southern heroes, examples of great men of the Faith, and for the first year, special programs and sessions for our Southern ladies!
In addition to conventional summer camp activities like riding horses, firing percussion-cap muskets and shooting off field artillery, campers will take classes in “The Theology of the South During the War” and “Lessons on Southern Heroes.” A key theme, according to SCV Texas Division Commander Ray W. James, is the belief that
the Civil War was not about slavery, James said. Too many people have bought into that notion, he said, and wrongly exalt then-President Abraham Lincoln as wanting to end slavery.
Lincoln was “a bigger racist than I ever knew,” James said.
Naturally, one of the instructors is the Odious Kirk Lyons.
The Southern Poverty Law Center describes him as a “darling of the neo-Confederate world,” in part because of his work as an attorney representing white supremacists.
Lyons’ current job is chief trial counsel for the Southern Legal Resource Center. The North Carolina-based group says it exists to preserve the “dwindling rights” of the Confederate community, referring to it as “America’s most persecuted minority.”
One of Lyons’ latest efforts was to urge people to answer the race question on the U.S. Census by writing in that they are “Confederate Southern American.” It was part of a larger push by his center to have Confederate descendants recognized as an ethnic minority.
Lyons is also infamous for his marriage to the daughter of a top Aryan Nations official, [the SPLC’s Heidi] Beirich said. The ceremony was held at an Aryan Nations church and was officiated by its longtime leader.
“I think it’s concerning to have extremists like Kirk Lyons teaching kids the South was right,” Beirich said.
James responded by saying Lyons’ “baggage is a problem” but that it’s unfair to cast him as a racist.
Thanks for clearing up that it’s “unfair” to characterize someone, based on a mere twenty-five years of their public, professional conduct and close personal associations.
For myself, I’m just glad to know that Lyons, with whom I share a vague physical resemblance, is only carrying the ‘stache these days. Looks like I’ll be keeping the beard a while longer.
Update: Nat Turner’s Son provides a link to a camp photo album. This one made me shoot Diet Coke out through my nostrils.
Dead Confederates, A Civil War Era Blog 
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