This will set some tongues wagging, heads shaking, and protesters protesting.
While the nation debates the issue of history and Confederate monuments, Alabama is doing Alabama.
On Sunday, a new Confederate monument was unveiled in Crenshaw County, honoring the Confederate dead, complete with the Confederate emblem.
Here it is: new Confederate monument in Crenshaw County, Alabama has officially been unveiled #onassignment for @reckonalabama / @aldotcom pic.twitter.com/7yQxbEgbEo
— Connor Sheets (@ConnorASheets) August 27, 2017
I can feel the selective outrage rising.
It stands alongside other confederate memorials, flags and replica cannons on private land converted to a memorial park near an RV park.
About 200 people attended the unveiling, with people wearing Confederate gear ranging from t-shirts with the flag to full Confederate war uniforms.
The organizers of Sunday’s event want everyone to know that this monument and the unveiling have been in the works for months. The timing of the event might be more traumatic for the easily triggered than the actual monument.
At least 200 ppl here for unveiling of a new Confederate monument in Crenshaw County, Alabama. #onassignment for @reckonalabama / @aldotcom pic.twitter.com/JgSvTP6HLn
— Connor Sheets (@ConnorASheets) August 27, 2017
They announced the plans for the unveiling event shortly after the nightmare in Charlottesville.
“We have been really scrutinized for the past two weeks,” said Jimmy Hill, commander of the Alabama division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
”This has been in the works for nine months, but because we put it on the website two days after [the Charlottesville clashes], the media put that together,” Hill said.
I’m trying to think of a worse case of timing and I’m drawing a blank.
David Coggins, a Sons of Confederate Veterans member who planned the Confederate memorial park, said that the park is meant to honor the Confederate ancestors of people in the community.
“That’s why I’m in it, that’s what it’s all about,” he told the news outlet. “We should all be proud of our Confederate ancestors.”
As a granddaughter of Confederate soldiers in the war against Northern aggression (*snerk*), I get that.
You should be allowed to find pride in family, heritage, or accomplishments.
This monument is in a memorial park. That should make a difference.
It may not, so the people of Crenshaw County should brace themselves.
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