No Confederate Memorial Month for S.C.

Under threat of tying up the Senate for the much of the remainder of the session, a committee voted today to essentially kill a bill seeking to establish a Confederate Memorial Month.

Sen. Kevin Bryant, R-Anderson, asked the Senate Judiciary Committee for a vote on the controversial issue, which the committee had put off for weeks.

Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Richland, told the committee he was prepared to offer an amendment asking the state for an apology for slavery if Bryant's bill was approved.

Comments

[RL]

I will offer an apology. I am sorry we every brought black people to America from africa. They always want something for free.

[Jeff]

Denying most South Carolinians' respect for their heritage only hurts the race issue, instead of helping anything.

[Robert]

Another sad day for Race relations in SC. If the blacks ever want things to get better then they need to learn it's not all about them. I let them honor their heritage now let me honor MINE!!!!!

[Ashley Sutton]

There is no heritage about people, who believed in enslavement, only embarassment!!! I refuse to go into deep discussion with any of your comments, because they are all of IGNORANCE, and once again you are left looking IGNORANT and STUPID!

[Micah]

The Germans and the American South both tried to create societies based on the superiority of whites. Why do they see it as a shameful mistake, while the tobacco-spitting NASCAR-watching hordes down here see it as something to yee-haw about? Things that make you go "hmmmm".

[Jeff]

Funny how the above two comments are more prejudiced and ignorant than anything pro-Confederate I've ever heard.

Slavery existed for 89 years under the Stars and Stripes, but only 4 under the Stars and Bars. The White House was built with slave labor. Why are not those two things associated with slavery then? Should we tear down the White House? Or perhaps dig up the graves of the Confederate soldiers and hold a big bonfire?

The Confederate Flag means different things to different people, just as black leaders like Malcolm X mean different things to different people. I have no problem with anyone celebrating Martin Luther King; he was a great Southerner and a great American. I am a person too (perhaps surprisingly); why is my history shunned whilst others are celebrated.

[Bubba]

Small wonder South Carolina is last in everything good, and first in about everything bad. They're still fighting over something that happened almost 150 years ago. I guess it could be worse; muslims are still fighting each other over issues from centuries ago.

[Yikes]

Confederate month? Force women to view ultrasound? Are you kidding me? What the hell is going on in the state house. These elected officials are moronic and so are the people that vote for them. There is already a confederate holiday and that is more than enough. The confederacy lost, now move on. Why should we celebrate something that was extremely unethical. You don't see the Nazi's celebrating their history. This state will continue to lag.

[Jeff]

The view that the Confederacy was unethical is just that- an opinion. Believe it or not, some people have different opinions! It seems that everyone is allowed to be proud of their history, except Southerners. If one group gets a month for remembrance, give the other group a month too. If people would simply be fair there wouldn't be a controversy and South Carolinians could move on to more important things, such as improving our state.

[Yikes]

Enslavement is not unethical???? I guess that's just my opinion. What I don't understand is just because there is one black history month, which is recognized across the US, to teach the african-american perspective (black HISTORY month, not black MEMORIAL month) that is not really taught in history books, there also needs to be a confederate month. You can cebrate your history, there is already a holiday for that (May 10th). It's also in plenty of history books, museums, re-enactments, war sites, etc. I think that's enough rememberance, especially for such an embarrassing time in our history. So the blacks have one measly month to celebrate their history and you can't stand it. Move on, get over it.

[Jeff]

Please. "Enslavement" was not the end-all be-all of Confederate existance. It existed under the Stars and Stripes too. The Klan? Hell, it flew the Stars and Stripes EXCLUSIVELY until the 1960's. The Confederate Flag (as it's known today) was what the SOLDIERS of the Confederacy fought under, and it would be a stretch according to any scholar to call their motivations unethical.
And you can't possibly believe that Confederate history is taught or emphasized more than black history. I'm glad that we have a black history month, because black history needs to be recognized. The government has no right to play favorites and give one group priority over another. Period.

[Ann Harmon]

The War Between The States was not about slavery, it was for states rights to govern themselves. When people take the time to learn the history of this war they will learn that the North owned 96% of slaves and that Abe Lincoln himself did not free his slaves until way after the proclamation.
Ole Abe stated this ""My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union."

To apoligize for something that black people created by bringing the slaves here is crazy. The South didn't start the war, the North did to protect the "Union", the "Union" being the North's right to keep the South in submission to their governing rules.
I don't need permission to honor my Confederate ancestors for only one month of the year, I honor them each and every day in my heart and in my actions.