[Ads-l] “Confederate cleansing”

[Martin Kaminer]

Interesting formulation given this article --
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/magazine/how-phobic-became-a-weapon-in-the-identity-wars.html

_‘Confederate cleansing': Lawmaker vows to stop ‘cultural terrorism’ in Georgia_
By Sarah Larimer January 30 at 7:01 AM

A Republican lawmaker who says he’s grown weary of what he calls
“Confederate cleansing” is working to preserve the famous carving of
Robert E. Lee and other Confederate leaders on Georgia’s Stone
Mountain.

“I’m tired of the anti-Confederate rhetoric toward Stone Mountain and
any other Confederate monument that’s out there,” state Rep. Tommy
Bentontold the Morris News Service. “We’re entitled to our heritage
just like other people are entitled to theirs, and there seems to be
an attempt to do Confederate cleansing.”

He continued: “I refer to that more as cultural terrorism than
anything. They’re attacking us for no reason at all. We’ve not done
anything to provoke them or anything else. They’re very similar to
what’s going on in the Middle East with ISIS that’s destroying all
those mosques and temples and everything because they don’t agree with
that history over there, so they’re just destroying it and doing away
with it.”

Benton, a retired history teacher, is sponsoring a resolution that
proposes an amendment to Georgia’s constitution, one that would force
the state to “maintain an appropriate and suitable memorial for the
Confederacy at and on Stone Mountain.”

“In addition, the memorial to the heroes of the Confederate States of
America graven upon the face of Stone Mountain shall never be altered,
removed, concealed, or obscured in any fashion and shall be preserved
and protected for all time as a tribute to the bravery and heroism of
the citizens of this state who suffered and died in their cause,”
House Resolution 1179 states.

What’s more: Benton is also sponsoring a bill that would formally
recognize Confederate Memorial Day and Robert E. Lee’s birthday as
state holidays.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Benton’s bills “are a
direct response to Senate Bill 294, which would forbid the state from
formally recognizing holidays in honor of the Confederacy or its
leaders.”

According to the newspaper: "Benton described the bill’s sponsor, Sen.
Vincent Fort, as 'a fanatic' and the bill’s intent as 'cultural
terrorism.'”

Confederate symbols and monuments like Stone Mountain, which depicts
Lee, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and Jefferson Davis, became the
subject of intense debate last year, following the slaying of nine
black parishioners by a white man at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston,
S.C.

The Confederate flag on the South Carolina statehouse grounds was
removed in July, and officials in New Orleans voted to remove four
monuments in the city.

Bill Stephens, chief executive officer for the Stone Mountain Memorial
Association, told The Post in October that officials want to add a
tribute to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at the site, although that
plan still needed to be formally approved.

“I feel very strongly about this,” Benton told the
Journal-Constitution. “I think it has gone far enough. There is some
idea out there that certain parts of history out there don’t matter
anymore and that’s a bunch of bunk.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/01/30/lawmaker-lashes-out-against-cultural-terrorism-looks-to-protect-confederate-carving/

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