Really? "Confederate Memorial Day"?

[sheshe2]

Schools across the South are closed today for Confederate Memorial Day. That means that black children have a day off to commemorate people who fought to keep their ancestors in bondage.

This is, well, mad. There is a large section of this Republic which sees nothing wrong with the Confederate cause. They'll say it was a cause of freedom, of self-determination, of resistance to tyranny. It was none of those things. It was, simply, a cause to enslave other people. All the rhetoric boils down to that.

That a black student in the South has to, in any way, pay homage to the Confederacy is as ludicrous as if Germany had a Nazi Memorial Day, and Jewish children were let off of school for it.

And these memorials are not opportunities for debate and honest discussions. No. Like the Orange marches in Northern Ireland, they're a way for the dominant group to exert its cultural power.

Read More:http://www.thepeoplesview.net/main/2018/4/23/really-confederate-memorial-day

....................................

That means that black children have a day off to commemorate people who fought to keep their ancestors in bondage.


WTF!

[Kirk Lover]

1. There is something seriously wrong in the south.

[Laffy Kat]

2. That's why I left.

Raised in Tennessee. I do miss the food, though.

[Roy Rolling]

22. "Schools across the South"?

Maybe somewhere in Alabama. But many southern cities have recently removed Confederate monuments. The broad assertion is inaccurate and unnecessarily polarizing. I'm sure that is not your intention.

[John Fante]

28. Yes, they were recently removed, a mere +100 years

after they were erected as a big "fuck you" to African-Americans.

There's something seriously wrong with a lot of people in the South.

[misanthrope]

34. You can't say that loud enough or long enough

Yet again, I have to recommend Colin Woodard's "American Nations" for some insight.

[Amimnoch]

3. Saw that crap.

In one article I had some of them frothing at the mouth, and threatening me just because I said: “Very historically astute of you to bestow so much honor onto some of the worst the Democratic Party has ever offered up. Personally, I’d rather love the US more than those that rose up against it in open and armed rebellion.”

[Hoyt]

4. What gets me about southerners who love the confederacy and say the war was not about slavery

Is that they can never explain this --

The short quote below are the first five sentences of the DECLARATION OF THE IMMEDIATE CAUSES WHICH INDUCE AND JUSTIFY THE SECESSION OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI FROM THE FEDERAL UNION:

"In the momentous step which our State has taken of dissolving its connection with the government of which we so long formed a part, it is but just that we should declare the prominent reasons which have induced our course.

"Our position is thoroughly identified with the INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY—the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of the commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, NONE BUT THE BLACK RACE CAN BEAR THE EXPOSURE TO THE TROPICAL SUN. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin."


Hard to believe that junk, well maybe not.


I remember a response by Randi Rhodes on the old Air America when some rube was saying that most of those who fought for the confederacy did not own slaves. Randi said something like -- "Two dirt farmers were trying to decide whether to join the confederate army. One said, 'if we don't fight, Old General Beauregard ain't gonna pick his own cotton.'"


Screw confederate memorial day and those that think it is justified.

[Stallion]

5. 5 States Referencing Slavery in their Declarations

"Find on this Page" lists 38 mentions of the word "slavery" in these Declarations-probably more with "slave" or "servitude"

a small slice of the Texas Declaration:-the first declaration:

We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial or tolerable.

That in this free government *all white men are and of right ought to be entitled to equal civil and political rights* [emphasis in the original]; that the servitude of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator, as recognized by all Christian nations; while the destruction of the existing relations between the two races, as advocated by our sectional enemies, would bring inevitable calamities upon both and desolation upon the fifteen slave-holding states.


https://www.civilwar.org/learn/primary-sources/declaration-causes-seceding-states#Texas

[Hoyt]

12. It is hard to believe people felt like that then. But, Jeeeeze, it is 2018. N/t

Last edited Tue Apr 24, 2018, 12:39 AM - Edit history (1)

[marybourg]

51. Felt like that THEN?

Haven't you ever read a book, or seen a movie, about the struggle for civil rights in the 1960's?

[Hoyt]

52. Then, was 1800s. And despite the advancements in 1960s, there is still racism and hatred toward

minorities.

I've read a lot of books. In fact, graduated from high school during the civil rights era of the 1960s.

Not sure what your point is, but I think you totally missed my point -- I can't imagine the hatred during slave years where people could be owned, raped, beaten, all within the law, and I still can't imagine the hatred today.

[bullwinkle428]

7. Just throw the "Cornerstone Speech" at them! (Assuming they can read.)

[treestar]

10. Was in a debate group

where one guy went to look up that for every Confederate state, and every one mentioned slavery at the beginning just like that. It is BS on their part.

[appalachiablue]

6. Never heard of this crap in Deep Fried Dixie. Scourge,,,,

https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/24/us/confederate-memorial-day-2017/index.html

[struggle4progress]

8. ... State government offices are closed today in Mississippi and Alabama

for Confederate Memorial Day. In Georgia the day has been called "State Holiday" since 2015, when Confederate Memorial Day and Robert E. Lee's birthday were struck from the state calendar. The state holiday list says the official holiday is April 26, but this year it is being observed today ...

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/23/us/confederate-memorial-day-trnd/index.html

[guillaumeb]

9. Recommended.

One time, many years ago, I met a person while living in the Jacksonville Florida area. This person was talking about the South and the war of Northern aggression. I had never heard that term, so I asked and he explained it. I asked why anyone would defend slavery and he explained about heritage.

I said that in my view it is a heritage of hate, and that the war was over 100 plus years ago.

We never spoke about it again.

[ProfessorGAC]

48. "The War Of Northern Aggression"

I've heard it. I want someone who thinks that to rationalize how the north was the aggressor when the first shots fired were by the confederacy.

[guillaumeb]

57. "The North made us do it!!"

One possibility.

[ProfessorGAC]

58. My Family Was In Sicily

And they were for another 65 years. So not all the north made them do it!

[guillaumeb]

59. Mine was in Canada until I was 15.

We had nothing to do with it.

[ProfessorGAC]

60. Yeah, But There's That Tory Thing!

Kidding! Have a good night!

[guillaumeb]

61. And you also. We are Quebeckers, so the Tory thing does not apply either.

[struggle4progress]

11. Is Robert E. Lees birthday a legal holiday in North Carolina?

Technically, yes. According to Section 103-4 of the North Carolina General Statutes, Robert E. Lee’s birthday is recognized as a legal holiday in the state on Jan. 19. So is Confederate Memorial Day, which in North Carolina falls on May 10 ... All of these state holidays have been on the books for a while. (Lee’s birthday was formally adopted sometime around 1881.) In practice, however, they’re meaningless. According to the N.C. Office of State Personnel, the State Personnel Commission authorizes only the following holidays for state employees: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King’s birthday, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. (Employees, however, get two days off for Thanksgiving and three for Christmas.) ...

http://www.myreporter.com/2012/01/is-robert-e-lees-birthday-a-legal-holiday-in-north-carolina/

[Blue_Tires]

53. In grade school we had "Lee-Jackson-King Day" in Virginia...

[Takket]

13. maybe the north should have a VJ Day equivalent to celebrate defeating the Confederacy?

let all the kids out of school for a day so they can commemorate whopping the racist slave owners?

[smirkymonkey]

14. What the ever loving fuck?

I just can't believe what is happening in this country. It is absolute madness.

[ProudLib72]

15. Best clip ever

Do you know how much slaves cost back then? Kind of says it all. No need to "reach out" to these people.

[sheshe2]

23. Oh. My. God.

[ProudLib72]

25. I don't think that was just a "momentary" lapse of judgement

[oasis]

16. Traitors need love too!

[dalton99a]

17. Both sides. Both sides.

[kskiska]

18. When I first moved here (don't ask)

I was stunned that they didn't celebrate Memorial Day - schools were in session. They did celebrate Confederate Memorial Day, though.

[packman]

19. The North should have-

Victory Over The Treasonous Confederate Memorial Day

[ProfessorGAC]

49. Just Call It . . .

. . .Victory Over Treason day. And make it the same day that Grant and Lee were at Appomattox.

That'll boil their noodles.

[jalan48]

20. Why would anyone want to memorialize getting their ass kicked?

[BobTheSubgenius]

21. I was wondering if this was a very late and tasteless April Fools's Day gag.

It isn't. Well, it is tasteless, but it's true. I can scarcely believe this is happening in 2018.

[peggysue2]

24. I was equally stunned after . . .

being transferred south that there was such a thing as a Confederate Memorial Day while the national Memorial Day is largely ignored. Except by the local stores, that is. Memorial Day sales are still a thing.

But then, my husband and I were in NOLA. Before visiting the WWII museum we stopped into the Museum of the Confederacy. Say what??? It is/was a shrine for the 'Noble, Lost Cause.'

Of course, the problem is there was nothing noble in slavery or pretending the war was fought over states' rights. I had a high school history teacher in N.J. who argued this point to a red-faced tirade. He insisted it was a states' right issue. Great teacher, dead wrong on this point. The Civil War was all about preserving the economic advantage of human bondage, abundant free labor, using a people that whites believed were absolutely inferior in every way.

I read a book several months ago, a dystopian novel American War. A line that struck me was something to the effect that:

war is won through blood and death; peacetime is won through storytelling.

As long as the delusion persists that the Civil War was a noble cause, a war of Northern Aggression or a states' rights battle, this divide will endure because there's generational memory involved. These stories, fabulist in nature. are carried from one generation to the next and people will argue--like my history teacher--into a red-faced tirade that they're right and you're wrong. It's the reason why removing Confederate monuments--shrines that basically honor slaveholders, those who fought for the continuation of slavery and were willing to dissolve the Union--is not simply an exercise in political correctness as some would argue.

It's a way to change a false narrative, one that's survived way too long. It's time to put the storytelling right.

[RainCaster]

26. Very well said. This belongs in the hall of DNC fame

Yes, I'm one of those Yankees who never understood how a person could own another. Not today, or back then.

[peggysue2]

38. Thanks for that, RainCaster

Yeah, it's hard to fathom. But back in the day, people struggled with the issue of slavery. Our Founding Fathers struggled with it. Lincoln struggled with it. The fact that we finally ended the practice is to the country's credit. It took 600,000+ lives to halt the institution of slavery, yet the legacy of those years are still very present in our body politic and individual lives. It's a wound that won't heal, can't heal until at the very least we set the record straight and stop perpetuating false narratives.

I've gotta say, moving south was a true eyeopener.

[misanthrope]

35. The biggest mistake this nation ever made

was not finding a way to either eradicate or passively overcome Southern culture. It has been our bane since.

[peggysue2]

39. My reaction to that museum in NOLA was . . .

Are you kidding me??? I was truly gobsmacked. One of the first things I recall moving south was the prevalence of Confederate flags--decorating homes, trucks, graves--and bumper stickers: The South Will Rise Again. Born and raised in the North, the Civil War was a history lesson. Down here it's ever present.

Eye-opener, indeed!

[misanthrope]

42. To paraphrase William Faulkner

"In the South, the past isn't dead. It isn't even past."

EDIT TO ADD: Also, the South has risen again. Look at the influence of that region on national politics and policy over the last 60 years. Without it, Trump wouldn't be in the White House now.

[dawg day]

27. I went to high school in the south, and we didn't celebrate "President's Day"

Though one of the two presidents honored on that day was a Virginian (Washington), the other was Abraham Lincoln, so we couldn't celebrate that.

Instead, we had Lee-Jackson day (Robt E Lee and Stonewall Jackson, confederate generals).

I have to admit, I made myself very obnoxious. I kept saying, "You do realize they LOST? They're big losers, unlike Washington and Lincoln!"

It's just insane that the southern white establishment still wants to celebrate the treasonous acts of racist traitors.

[Mister Ed]

29. K & R for visibity. n/t

[Honeycombe8]

30. The states "celebrate" it on different days, and call it different names.

I'd never heard of this so looked it up. In Louisiana, where I am, it's "celebrated" on June 3rd, and they call it Confederate Decoration Day. La. apparently got together with Tennessee, because that's what TN calls it, too.

Oh, God. I had no idea. I've not heard anyone refer to this, since I moved here last year. And this, in a state with a high black population. I need to move away from here. This is an alternate reality world.

[sheshe2]

31. I feel your pain.

[Silver Gaia]

36. OK. That explains why I've never heard of it!

I spent 20 years in Tennessee as an adult (with school-age kids), and lived in Arkansas for 12 years as a child. I had never heard of this, so was baffled to read about this, but evidently, both these states don't participate in this "holiday" [surprisingly... but thank goodness!]. Apparently, it's not just "the South," but particular southern states, most of those in the Deep South. I'm just glad I didn't somehow miss this horrific "holiday" when I lived in the South. I honestly don't remember hearing about it by ANY name. Wow... this is so horrible. I'm sorry. And I am sooooo glad I don't live in the South any more.

[Honeycombe8]

40. Well, La & TN participate. They just call it something different, still using "Confederate" in name.

In La., it's June. Maybe that date means something to Louisiana. I think TN is in June, too, but not sure.

It's called "Confederate Decoration Day," which is an excuse to hang the Confederate Flag, though. Don't know if kids get off school. I'm going to try to check into that.

La. wasn't even that big in the Civil War...meaning, I don't think it was as big a deal here. I need to read up on that, I guess.

[Silver Gaia]

41. I seriously never heard any mention of it when

I lived in those states. I can't find it listed as a state holiday in either state, so it wasn't/isn't a holiday when kids don't go to school or adults don't go to work. I am thinking it must not have been popular in the areas where I lived, or with people I knew.

It was (or is) probably popular with civil war reenactor groups (and KKK) and the like, but I didn't know anyone like that (that I knew of anyway!). Therefore, I never heard anything about it, nor did my kids (I asked them).

I'm sure it exists in some form with some people in both states, but I am glad I cannot find any evidence that it is an officially state-sanctioned holiday in either state.

I can see what you are saying about why it might not exist in Louisiana, but there are Civil War battlegrounds all over Tennessee, so it seems odd that it isn't an official holiday there. I can't find any evidence that it is, anyway, nor do I remember it.

[Honeycombe8]

44. Here's the Louisiana law. It's there, all right.

§55. Days of public rest, legal holidays, and half-holidays

A. The following shall be days of public rest and legal holidays and half-holidays:

(1) The following shall be days of public rest and legal holidays: Sundays; January 1, New Year's Day; January 8, Battle of New Orleans; the third Monday in January, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday; January 19, Robert E. Lee Day; third Monday in February, Washington's Birthday; Good Friday; the last Monday in May, National Memorial Day; June 3, Confederate Memorial Day; July 4, Independence Day; August 30, Huey P. Long Day; the first Monday in September, Labor Day; the second Monday in October, Christopher Columbus Day; November 1, All Saints' Day; November 11, Veterans' Day; the fourth Thursday in November, Thanksgiving Day; December 25, Christmas Day; Inauguration Day ....

https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=74097

[Silver Gaia]

45. Interesting. And I'm sorry. Well, I found this.

2017 Tennessee Code
Title 15 - Holidays
Chapter 1 - Holidays
§ 15-1-101. Legal holidays.

January 1; the third Monday in January, "Martin Luther King, Jr. Day"; the third Monday in February, known as "Washington Day"; the last Monday in May, known as "Memorial" or "Decoration Day"; July 4; the first Monday in September, known as "Labor Day"; the second Monday in October, known as "Columbus Day"; November 11, known as "Veterans' Day"; the fourth Thursday in November, known as "Thanksgiving Day"; December 25; and Good Friday...

and...

2017 Tennessee Code
Title 15 - Holidays
Chapter 2 - Days of Special Observance

§ 15-2-101. Additional special observance days.
§ 15-2-102. Mothers' Day.
§ 15-2-103. Statehood Day.
§ 15-2-104. Family Day.
§ 15-2-105. Franklin D. Roosevelt Day.
§ 15-2-106. American Indian Day.
§ 15-2-107. Tennessee P.O.W.-M.I.A. Recognition Week.
§ 15-2-108. Scottish, Scots-Irish Heritage Day.
§ 15-2-109. Workers' Memorial Day.
§ 15-2-110. John Sevier Day.
§ 15-2-111. Harriet Tubman Day. <---???!!!
§ 15-2-112. Bluegrass Day.
§ 15-2-113. Emancipation Day. <---???!!!
§ 15-2-114. Patriots' Day.
§ 15-2-115. Wilma Rudolph Day.
§ 15-2-116. Vietnam Veterans Day.
§ 15-2-117. Towing and Recovery Week.
§ 15-2-118. Tennessee and United States Constitutions Day.
§ 15-2-119. Firefighters' Memorial Day.
§ 15-2-120. Gold Star Mother's Day.
§ 15-2-121. Volunteer Firefighters Week -- Rescue Squad Week.
§ 15-2-122. Tennessee National Guard Day.
§ 15-2-123. Lymphedema Awareness Week.
§ 15-2-124. Transverse Myelitis Awareness Day.
§ 15-2-125. Police Memorial Day.
§ 15-2-126. Agriculture Literacy Week.
§ 15-2-127. Tennessee Missing Children's Day.
§ 15-2-128. Tennessee Rural Mayor's Day.

https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/2017/title-15/

I didn't look for Arkansas law, but I don't remember it there as a kid. Weird that I lived in, evidently, the only two Southern states that do not have this particular "holiday" encoded in law. I wonder why....? Those two states have produced some prominent Democrats (Clinton and Gore), so maybe that is a factor. Beyond that, I don't know.

[Silver Gaia]

46. All that aside... I am merely curious as to why I had never heard of this.

Both Arkansas and Tennessee have their share of racists, and that I DO remember. When I first moved from a Michigan city to a small, rural Tennessee town in 1976, the local KKK chapter was doing a bit of fund raising. They would actually come up to your car at the one stop light in town wearing full hooded regalia to hold out a cup for donations. Needless to say, I was appalled!

[Honeycombe8]

47. I think TN celebrates it. It's a "special observance day" that must be declared each year.

Tenn. Code Ann. § 15-2-101

15-2-101. Additional special observance days.

Each year it is the duty of the governor of this state to proclaim the following as days of special observance: January 19, "Robert E. Lee Day"; February 12, "Abraham Lincoln Day"; March 15, "Andrew Jackson Day"; June 3, "Memorial Day" or "Confederate Decoration Day"; July 13, "Nathan Bedford Forrest Day"; and November 11, "Veterans' Day." The governor shall invite the people of this state to observe the days in schools, churches, and other suitable places with appropriate ceremonies expressive of the public sentiment befitting the anniversary of such dates.

https://advance.lexis.com/documentpage/?pdmfid=1000516&crid=c2a5d35c-2283-4be1-8ba8-c473f333c4d2&nodeid=AAPAACAAB&nodepath=%2FROOT%2FAAP%2FAAPAAC%2FAAPAACAAB&title=15-2-101.+Additional+special+observance+days.&config=025054JABlOTJjNmIyNi0wYjI0LTRjZGEtYWE5ZC0zNGFhOWNhMjFlNDgKAFBvZENhdGFsb2cDFQ14bX2GfyBTaI9WcPX5&pddocfullpath=%2Fshared%2Fdocument%2Fstatutes-legislation%2Furn%3AcontentItem%3A4X8K-WGD0-R03N-5039-00008-00&ecomp=g37_kkk&prid=99fc2bcb-f717-42bf-9f07-5cfa04fcdd28

I thought it did, because I ran across too many lists that had that in it, too many pics of it, etc., for TN.


ARKANSAS:

A.C.A. § 1-5-107

1-5-107. Confederate Flag Day.

The Saturday immediately preceding Easter Sunday of each year is designated as "Confederate Flag Day" in this state.

Also, part of the Arkansas State Flag: The blue star above the word "ARKANSAS" is to commemorate the Confederate States of America."

http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/michie/

[Silver Gaia]

50. I am amazed to have spent half my life in these states and

NEVER hear of it. The list of special observance days that you link is different from the one I found, but as you wish. My recollection differs, though.

As for Arkansas, that is not a memorial day. I am well aware of their love for the Confederate flag and the iconography in the state flag, but the holiday you list is a different thing from a memorial day. This is idiots waving a flag. The other is going to graveyards. Both are about a war they lost, but that's it. My family never gave a crap about that flag, nor did anyone I knew as a kid. We thought the flag wavers were kooks. I never knew they had a special flag holiday, either.

So, my original point was primarily that not all white Southerners are evil racists. The South is, without a doubt, a difficult place to live in many ways due to ingrained racism. It is woven into the culture in many ways, some blatantly overt, but others so subtle that people don't notice unless it is pointed out to them. I could not deal with it, so I left. (That was not the only reason, but it was one.)

I've lived many places, both South and North, and now West, where I like it best. But I am compelled to speak when I see anyone using a broad brush, and this felt that way. I maintain that there is merit in the fact that I have lived in these places for many years and have never even heard of this holiday. That said, I am done here. Think as you wish. I will do the same. Thanks for an interesting discussion.

[Honeycombe8]

54. I think you misunderstand.

I have not expressed thoughts about "celebrating" the holiday. Indeed, I have never seen it celebrated.

I think it's bad enough that it was added to the state laws and has not been removed.

The cites I posted are not just "fair enough." I posted the state laws. The holidays or celebration days are as described in their state laws. Whether a state openly celebrates it may vary, since I didn't see it celebrated in La. last year. But I don't have kids and wouldn't know if school is closed on Confederate Decoration Day. And I was buying a house last year and not aware of things going on generally. I was very busy.

A Confederate holiday shouldn't be recognized, IMO. Altho I understand how southerners view it, since I was born & raised there. But times have changed, and now they know how hurtful it is those whose ancestors were enslaved in those states. Sort of like having a "Salem Witch Trial Celebration Day," since we now know those trials and executions were wrong, even though we thought our cause was right at the time, and the people who conducted the trial did so honorably and within the law.

But people in La view the Civil War as ...the guys went and fought to serve their state and country (the Confederate State), and many were drafted with no choice. They suffered much, did their best. So people now revere the effort to serve and the loss of life and suffering endured by the soldiers and their families. It's not about the reason for the war. I think that's how most people view it.

I understand why you left. I moved here sort of by mistake after I retired & left Dallas. I'm still here because I bought this stupid house, and for family. My father really wanted me here. I HATE it here, but am trying to make the best of it. I plan on moving away as soon as I can do it. I call where I am BubbaLand. And it is. Very nice people, though. But Bubbas...I don't have much in common with them.

[Silver Gaia]

55. And perhaps you misunderstood me as well.

My intention was not to argue about anything. I was merely expressing my consternation at having lived in these places for many years and never having heard of these holidays. I found that to be odd. I did not care for the broad brush aspect of some posts here (not yours) as well.

In regard to the state laws, I also posted what was said to be actual legal code. I found it difficult to locate without an account at one or another website for attorneys, etc., but I posted what I found, and linked it.

I have no beef with you. I was just baffled by this whole thing. Should such laws be on the books? Hell no! But if this is such a big deal all over the South, why have I never heard of it? It must not be hugely popular. Under such circumstances, perhaps someone should campaign to remove it. I can't. I don't live there any more.

As for your current circumstances, I feel for you. But you are doing the right thing, so take comfort in that. I could not bear the thought of returning to Arkansas to care for my mother, so I did my best to convince her to come live with me instead. She finally agreed, then passed away--all alone--while I was making arrangements to come get her. I will regret that to my own dying day. So, have no regrets. You are doing what I wish I had done.

Have a good rest of your day.

[Honeycombe8]

56. Oh, I'm sorry about your mother. How sad. You must've felt horrible about that.

But we do only what we can do.

Even though I'm near family, and they wanted me here, I still may leave. I'll decide that later.

Oh...the cites I gave...I gave them in a couple of posts I think. That website is findlaw. I'm retired, but used to be a litigation paralegal and used that site a bit. It's free and has all the U S and state laws, as I recall.

[jes06c]

32. if the rebels wanted a memorial day

Then they should have won their war.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

33. I am old enough to recall when there were several Memorial Days celebrated in this

country. It seems to have started in the South as a Decoration Day, a day to put flags and flowers on the graves of soldiers of the Civil War. It was in 1968 that a national Memorial Day came about. I was already a working adult at that point, and I worked for at least one southern based company that celebrated a different day, although that's some fifty years ago now, and I can't recall specifics.

I am genuinely horrified to learn that at least in some parts of the South a different date or a different meaning of Memorial Day is being celebrated.

The South lost the Civil War. It's time they understood that. It's long past time that the Confederate flag be outlawed.

[misanthrope]

43. Too late now

The damage has been done.

[Codeine]

37. This is why every single political leader

and high-ranking military officer in the Confederacy should have been executed at war’s end. Sometimes you need to emphasize to an aggressor that they’ve been beaten.