Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

The War Over Robert E. Lee Never Ends

—

by

James A. Bacon
in ,

by James A. Bacon

First they came for the equestrian statues of Robert E. Lee.

Then they removed his name from Lee Chapel at Washington & Lee University, where he is buried.

Then they came for the memorial to his horse Traveller.

Now they want to remove him from Virginia license plates.

A bill introduced by Del. Candi King, D-Woodbridge would direct the Department of Motor Vehicles to prohibit the issuance of license plates that make reference to the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, or any other prominent Confederate leader.

The Department of Motor Vehicles allows extensive personalization of the letters and digits in license plates for a modest surcharge. Motorists also can select from some 200 “special” license plates bearing names and icons of universities, charities, hobbies, and causes. The most recognizable is the “Don’t Tread on Me” plate, a favorite of conservatives and libertarians.

But there is also a “United We Stand” plate and a “Peace” plate favored by liberals and lefties. More akin to the Lee plate honoring Southern heritage, there is a Richmond Planet plate, honoring African-American heritage. The Richmond Planet newspaper championed African-American resistance to post-Civil War racism and segregation.

The people who honor Robert E. Lee do so not because he fought for the slave-holding Confederate States of America. They honor him as one of the greatest military leaders in American history, a man who epitomized the virtues of duty, integrity, sacrifice, and humility in his personal conduct, and as a leader of the reconciliation between North and South.

I understand why King, who is African-American, would not share the respect that many Virginians have for the man. I wouldn’t expect otherwise. But her personal feelings should not trump the ability of others to honor those whom they please. Her action, sadly, is typical of modern-day liberalism which fights the battle of symbols and ideas not with debate but by the suppression of discomfiting views.

Why not counter with something positive? Why not champion a license plate for, say, Booker T. Washington, a Virginia-born hero of African-Americans, or any other number of home-grown Civil Rights leaders?

Why can’t we celebrate the diversity of our heritage? Or are “diversity” and “inclusion” to be striven for only when lefties get to define what kind of diversity counts and who it’s important to include?

A side note: The bill restricts the use of Confederate names and iconography in the Personalized License Plate Issuance Guidelines. It does not reference “special plates,” even though the DMV website refers to the Robert E. Lee plate as a “special” plate. According to a precise reading of the bill, the Lee specialty plate would not be affected. Here are the current restrictions included in the personalized-plate guidelines:

  • Profane, obscene, or vulgar in nature
  • Sexually explicit or graphic
  • Excretory-related
  • Used to describe intimate body parts or genitals
  • Used to condone or encourage violence
  • Used to describe illegal activities or illegal substances

A personal note:

My “personalized” license plate of the past 20 or so years is “Usuthu.” One hundred brownie points to anyone who can identify the meaning.

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Comments

78 responses to “The War Over Robert E. Lee Never Ends”

  1. walter smith Avatar
    walter smith

    Can we have a “Virginia is for killing babies” plate? Would that satisfy the baby-killing party? A trade?

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Make it brown babies and try for bipartisanship.

      1. walter smith Avatar
        walter smith

        Killing brown babies is a Dem specialty, so not surprised you suggested that.

        1. Not Today Avatar
          Not Today

          Not so, says Texas, whose maternity deserts are killing women and babies with equal zeal.

          1. walter smith Avatar
            walter smith

            A “maternity desert?” You mean a lack of places to kill babies? Is this like the mythical food deserts? How many women are dying in Texas because they can’T kill their babies?

          2. Not Today Avatar
            Not Today

            No. I mean the counties in which not a single OBGYN practices and there are no medical facilities qualified to safely deliver babies. I’m not sure which is more apparent, your ignorance or misogyny. https://www.npr.org/2022/10/12/1128335563/maternity-care-deserts-march-of-dimes-report https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/01/15/abortion-high-risk-pregnancy-yeni-glick

          3. walter smith Avatar
            walter smith

            Wow. I guess I should run to Mommy and complain about how mean you are, calling me names. You know, people somehow delivered babies for a really long time without OBGYNs. Where I grew up, there was no OBGYN. You had to drive 60 miles to Richmond. I don’t know how we made it. But I think you really cite that only because the “maternity desert” makes it harder to kill babies, which Va Democrats think is the single most important thing in the world – SAVE OUR DEMOCRACY (by killing babies)!
            You know there is a medical shortage everywhere, right? I wonder if the 10 million illegals is part of the problem… I wonder if all the doctors and nurses who quit instead of getting the jabjabjab is part of the problem. I wonder if the woke med schools concentrating on DEI instead of producing capable doctors could be a problem… Woke air traffic control has led to many many near misses, but there is a pilot shortage, too…Hmm…what could be the cause…
            Everybody with brains and eyes and the ability to admit the truth knows…except for the willfully ignorant “party of science” people.

          4. Not Today Avatar
            Not Today

            Once upon a time, people thought the world was flat too. When you know better, you do better…or not.

          5. Not Today Avatar
            Not Today

            I will pray for you.

          6. walter smith Avatar
            walter smith

            To Gaia or Molech?

          7. Not Today Avatar
            Not Today

            You are completely out of pocket and in need of moderation.

          8. walter smith Avatar
            walter smith

            Forgive my cynicism at your professed desire to pray for me…

          9. Not Today Avatar
            Not Today

            I encourage you to grow and learn. Expand your horizons, beyond hackery and medieval notions of medicine. You have time. You’re not dead yet.

            There is a shortage of medical training slots in the U.S., not a shortage of people willing and able to learn the trade. There’s also an unwillingness on the part of already trained pros to practice in Republican-controlled states.

            Surprisingly? People who choose helping professions do not enjoy watching women suffer and die when modern medicine can provide relief.

          10. walter smith Avatar
            walter smith

            Wow. Women suffer and die? Where? Ethiopia? Guyana? Do any men die there? How about kids? Do they die? Why haven’t you saved the world?
            Why would there be a shortage of medical training slots? Evil Republicans? Or medical trade associations? Or the medical schools and licensing bureaus? Or the inept schools that don’t teach people?
            Is this all because you want to make sure baby killing can continue unimpeded?

          11. Not Today Avatar
            Not Today

            I’m sure there’s a medication for this kind of diarrhea.

  2. William O'Keefe Avatar
    William O’Keefe

    This proposed legislation is either a political stunt or it reflects ignorance.
    You do not have to be a Lost Cause junkie to respect your souther heritage or Robert E Lee whose memory and life have been unfairly disparaged in recent years. As I have observed in the past, even President Eisenhower was a defender of Lee’s virtues.
    Those who want to erase his memory and life simply have not studied his life well enough to have an informed judgment in my opinion.
    We have too many current and future problems staring us in the face to waste energy on rewriting history and focusing on the past.

  3. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead

    “Usuthu.” Pat I would like to solve the puzzle. But you will have to up the prize from brownies to 100 strips of crispy bacon.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b59a62c3c69d0da6a85c352e4e97e9bff69fc81a8dbb4459ee7e0a138f07e664.jpg

    1. Rafaelo Avatar
      Rafaelo

      “The uSuthu were the royalist faction in Zululand, more specifically they were the followers of Cetshwayo. The young Zulu warriors who clustered around prince Cetshwayo in 1856 during the Second Zulu Civil War formed the core of the uSuthu. Their name came from the Zulu war cry usuthu.” But the points, or bacon, go to Wikipedia.

  4. JonathanSwifter Avatar
    JonathanSwifter

    Related

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/41ae506545c7f88bb735ded916e88dcbc12d75c5b0cb0470ef1a0ea65e99fcf3.jpg While his statues are removed….

    How Thomas Jefferson ended slavery in Indiana

    “William Henry Harrison’s pro-slavery position made him unpopular with the Indiana Territory’s abolitionists, as he tried in vain to encourage slavery in the territory. In 1803, he had lobbied Congress to temporarily suspend for ten years Article VI of the Northwest Ordinance prohibiting slavery in the Indiana Territory. The Jefferson Proviso of the Ordinance banned slavery from the Ohio territories through the Minnesota territories. Though Harrison asserted that the suspension was necessary to promote settlement and make the territory economically viable and ready for statehood, the proposal failed. Lacking the suspension of Article VI, in 1807 the territorial legislature, with Harrison’s support, enacted laws that authorized indentured servitude and gave masters authority to determine the length of service.

    President Jefferson, primary author of the Northwest Ordinance, made a secret compact with James Lemen to defeat the nascent pro-slavery movement supported by Harrison. He donated $100 to encourage Lemen with abolition and other good works, and later (in 1808) another $20 ($366.00 in 2022) to help fund the church known as Bethel Baptist Church. In Indiana the planting of the anti-slavery church led to citizens signing a petition and organizing politically to defeat Harrison’s efforts to legalize slavery in the territory…Lemen, as Jefferson’s agent in Illinois, founded the anti-slavery churches, which in Abraham Lincoln’s view, “set in motion the forces which finally made Illinois a free state…

    The Indiana Territory held elections to the legislature’s upper and lower houses for the first time in 1809. Harrison found himself at odds with the legislature after the abolitionists came to power, and the eastern portion of the Indiana Territory grew to include a large anti-slavery population. The Territory’s general assembly convened in 1810, and its anti-slavery faction immediately repealed the indenturing laws previously enacted…”

    https://www.loc.gov/item/15027579/

  5. UVAPast Avatar
    UVAPast

    When the Lee statue in Charlottesville came down I hoped poverty and crime rates in Charlottesville would go down and SOLs to go up. While this did not immediately happen, I did sense that friction between citizens did go up.

    1. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      Right. And which party is winning elections on this issue? Who is it working for, working to distract from their failures overall? How’d it work out for Corey Stewart? Call race baiting race baiting and focus on the issues voters are moved by — taxes, educational quality, energy cost.

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        Fish rots from the head, Steve. Tough being the last living cell in the tail fin, ain’t it?

      2. Not Today Avatar
        Not Today

        OOOHH…OOOH….I KNOW! The people who insist upon race baiting by raising this (losing) issue, time and again, are erstwhile Republican Conservatives and Republicans who think it…helps? THEY are losing! BIGLY! LOL.

  6. energyNOW_Fan Avatar
    energyNOW_Fan

    …hmm, we have Lee Chapel Road in Ffx, it has an undulating unsafe portion, I call it Breakneck Rd because that’s what we called a similar road in South Jersey. They are supposed to re-grade the road to fix it.

    1. how_it_works Avatar
      how_it_works

      Again? I thought they “fixed” it several years ago.

  7. WayneS Avatar
    WayneS

    A South African tribal war cry?

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Zulu! Great movie!

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        oh the big battle…but what led to that battle? British Colonization?

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          The Brits were well known for avoiding armies that worn shoes.

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            funny, most narratives about the movie are with regard to the big battle … and
            not what the root cause of the battle was… which gets us back to things like slavery
            and colonization and memorials to.

          2. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            The character in the movie that was portrayed as a drunken malingerer actually wasn’t as portrayed. His sisters sued, and IIRC won, for defamation. Yes, his sisters were still alive.

  8. Stephen Haner Avatar
    Stephen Haner

    It is clear the 2020 and 2021 sessions, when Democrats last held majorities in both houses of the Assembly, were merely warm up. The bill list piling up this year is going to prove far more leftist, far more nutty and infected with virtue signaling. The presence of a Democratic governor then was ironically a brake on some of the potential madness, since they didn’t want to pin him in any dilemmas. But now the Dems would love to put these bills on a Republican’s desk and dare him to veto them.

    Pissing on Dead White Confederates and those who continue to admire them is just a form of playing the race card, waving the bloody shirt. Classic, ugly racial politics. You are giving them the response they want, Bacon. Your very public outrage allows them to tell black voters, see? Jim Crow lives. What Republicans and conservatives need to do is to seek inroads with black voters on issues that truly matter, not cheap symbolism. When you pick this hill to stand and fight on, you do exactly what Delegate King hopes you will do. Which is fine. It has been clear for a while that Virginia Republicans don’t actually want to win elections, and refuse to actually understand the electorate as it exists today.

    1. James Kiser Avatar
      James Kiser

      Interesting that VA is now in the top ten of most taxed states. Thanks democrats. And Tim Kaine has been using his office to move friends of his wife into fed jobs.

      1. how_it_works Avatar
        how_it_works

        Even more interesting is that you look around here and it’s not obvious where that tax money is being spent.

        Although I haven’t checked the driveways of state employees for boats, ATVs, motorcycles, and Hemi Dodge Challengers…

      2. how_it_works Avatar
        how_it_works

        Even more interesting is that you look around here and it’s not obvious where that tax money is being spent.

        Although I haven’t checked the driveways of state employees for boats, ATVs, motorcycles, and Hemi Dodge Challengers…

    2. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
      James Wyatt Whitehead

      This one has to be next on the hit list.
      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e83638b8c0410d4d27480624bc5d618761d094b1686f83e5eba374577cd8101d.jpg

    3. Donald Smith Avatar
      Donald Smith

      “You are giving them the response they want, Bacon.”

      And you are rolling over for them, Haner.

      At some point, enough is enough. For some of us, Virginia is a lot more than a mailing address. It is our home, and we are proud of it, and of its heroes. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson are bona fide heroes and role models. (Did they have flaws? You betcha—but what human doesn’t?) They deserve license plates, and statues, and much more. If that upsets the Politico-worshipping crowd, then they can sod off.

      As for elections—on the week of the 2021 gubenetorial election, Bill Maher remarked on his show that, in 2020, only four Virginia counties voted 70% or more for the GOP candidate. In 2021, when Youngkin ran, 45 did, and that’s what elected him. Maher showed a map of the election results by county: the reddest areas were also the places where support for Confederate heritage—or resistance to wokeism—is strongest.

      If Virginia Republicans—who appear to value greatly what Politico and National Review think about them—want to win statewide again (like in this year’s Senate election, or next year’s gubenetorial race), they may want to think twice about alienating the voters they need. Even if that makes Politico unhappy.

      1. Chip Gibson Avatar
        Chip Gibson

        My abundant compliments on your positions and words, Sir.

    4. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Ha! So you do understand the fine art of angling, and the wile carp who rise to the bait.

    5. Not Today Avatar
      Not Today

      Something tells me black voters are plenty capable of seeing confederate apologists for who they are but it’s always nice for conservatives to make it extra obvious for the people in the back.

  9. Joe Jeeva Abbate Avatar
    Joe Jeeva Abbate

    I support Gen. Lee’s position on not having Civil War Monuments, or something that continues to feature “heroes” of the horrific and devasting war. I believe he would not be in favor of license plates or plaques or memorials that advertise or attempt to “honor” him or the war.

    This article in Nation notes Lee’s opposition to Confederate Monuments:

    Robert E. Lee opposed Confederate monuments
    Nation Aug 15, 2017 1:55 PM EST

    At the center of the “Unite the Right” rally that turned deadly in Charlottesville last weekend was a protest of the city’s plan to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee. White supremacists, neo-Nazis and others have made monuments to the Confederate commanding general a flashpoint — at times marching to keep them standing.

    But Lee himself never wanted such monuments built.

    “I think it wiser,” the retired military leader wrote about a proposed Gettysburg memorial in 1869, “…not to keep open the sores of war but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, to commit to oblivion the feelings engendered.”

    Lee died in 1870, just five years after the Civil War ended, contributing to his rise as a romantic symbol of the “lost cause” for some white southerners.

    But while he was alive, Lee stressed his belief that the country should move past the war. He swore allegiance to the Union and publicly decried southern separatism, whether militant or symbolic.

    “It’s often forgotten that Lee himself, after the Civil War, opposed monuments, specifically Confederate war monuments,” said Jonathan Horn, the author of the Lee biography, “The Man Who Would Not Be Washington.”

    In his writings, Lee cited multiple reasons for opposing such monuments, questioning the cost of a potential Stonewall Jackson monument, for example. But underlying it all was one rationale: That the war had ended, and the South needed to move on and avoid more upheaval.

    “As regards the erection of such a monument as is contemplated,” Lee wrote of an 1866 proposal, “my conviction is, that however grateful it would be to the feelings of the South, the attempt in the present condition of the Country, would have the effect of retarding, instead of accelerating its accomplishment; [and] of continuing, if not adding to, the difficulties under which the Southern people labour.”

    The retired Confederate leader, a West Point graduate, was influenced by his knowledge of history.

    “Lee believed countries that erased visible signs of civil war recovered from conflicts quicker,” Horn said. “He was worried that by keeping these symbols alive, it would keep the divisions alive.”

    Construction crews prepare a monument of Robert E. Lee, who was a general in the Confederate Army, for removal in New Orleans, Louisiana on May 19, 2017. Photo by REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman
    Lee himself was conflicted about the core issues of his day. He was a slave owner who some say was cruel and a general who fought to preserve the institution. But he personally described slavery as a “moral and political evil” that should end. Before the war, Lee opposed secession, but once his native Virginia voted to leave the Union he declared he was honor-bound to fight for the Confederacy.

    Academics and writers vigorously debate his sentiments and strengths, but historians seem to agree on Lee’s views about memorials.

    “He said he was not interested in any monuments to him or – as I recollect – to the Confederacy,” explained James Cobb, history professor emeritus at the University of Georgia, who has written about Lee’s rise as an icon.

    “I don’t think that means he would have felt good about the people who fought for the Confederacy being completely forgotten,” Cobb added. “But he didn’t want a cult of personality for the South.”

    Lee advocated protection of just one form of memorial: headstones in cemeteries.

    “All I think that can now be done,” he wrote in 1866, “is … to protect the graves [and] mark the last resting places of those who have fallen…”

    Would Lee have opposed his own monument today? Horn leaned toward yes, though he noted that it’s impossible to compare Lee’s views in the 1860s with the situation today.

    “You think he’d come down in the camp that would say ‘remove the monuments,’” Horn posited. “But you have to ask why [he would remove them]. He might just want to hide the history, to move on, rather than face these issues.”

    1. Donald Smith Avatar
      Donald Smith

      If individual Virginians want to honor Robert E. Lee or Stonewall Jackson by buying a license plate, they should be able to do it.

      You seem to be ignoring the real motivation behind the proposed legislation: to send an official message that Lee, Jackson and others who served in the Confederate Army are unworthy of respect.

      You can have all sorts of personalized license plates in Virginia—why not ones of Lee and Jackson, bona fide heroes and role models? Why single them out, and deny them a license plate?

      Those of us who oppose this bill are doing so to defend our heritage and culture, and fight wokeism. Surely you’re not saying that Lee and Jackson, if they were here today, would be on your side of this argument, instead of ours?

      1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
        Eric the half a troll

        “If individual Virginians want to honor Robert E. Lee or Stonewall Jackson by buying a license plate, they should be able to do it”

        I imagine that there are Virginians who would wish to honor communism on their vehicles. Does this mean the state must offer them a Marx plate? Personally, I could care less if you want to type out a secret pro-Confederacy message in your selected 6-8 individual plate numbers. Have at it – 1st amendment guarantees that right as long as the option is open to others. Plus, I consider them brain teasers for the highway. But the state does not need to make an honorary plate just because you want one.

        1. Donald Smith Avatar
          Donald Smith

          “But the state does not need to make an honorary plate just because you want one.”

          A golf clap for you, for stating the obvious. During this General Assembly session, we Confederate heritage supporters will make the case for these license plates, both to our legislators and on these and other pages. Care to step out of the comment section, just this one time, and rebut us?

        2. Donald Smith Avatar
          Donald Smith

          “But the state does not need to make an honorary plate just because you want one.”

          A golf clap for you, for stating the obvious. During this General Assembly session, we Confederate heritage supporters will make the case for these license plates, both to our legislators and on these and other pages. Care to step out of the comment section, just this one time, and rebut us?

          1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
            Eric the half a troll

            If it is obvious then where do you get off trying to force it down our throats…?

            “Care to step out of the comment section, just this one time, and rebut us?”

            Perhaps… but I’ve got bigger fish to fry. I wouldn’t be too concerned, you all have played the victim loud enough that a sufficient number of Dems will be reticent to make this the primary issue this session… as I said, bigger fish to fry…

      2. Joe Jeeva Abbate Avatar
        Joe Jeeva Abbate

        You are incorrect. I don’t care if you have a license w Gen. Lee or his horse on it. I simply agree with Gen. Lee. You don’t seem to understand what he was saying.

  10. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Apparently, there’s a lot of people named Sample.

    In that vein, a girl I knew when vanity tags were first introduced in Virginia came back from the DMV sorely disappointed.

    In keeping with the story, a good-bye to bad rubbish.

    1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
      James Wyatt Whitehead

      I thought about getting that plate when it first came out. I declined. Lousy picture of Lee. You can barely see Lee on Traveller in the background. And then who wants to have their car keyed, tires slashed, or windows punched out?

    2. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      A friend of mine had “FTATF” on his license plate for about six years before someone at DMV figured out what it meant and revoked it.

      But,

      “EatThe” on the ‘Kids First’ specialty plate is still my all-time favorite, though.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f7228efd11c4f4f2aadd437a419cd979753b58103482b9c2276decd2046a8e4b.jpg

    3. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      A friend of mine had “FTATF” on his license plate for about six years before someone at DMV figured out what it meant and revoked it.

      But,

      “EatThe” on the ‘Kids First’ specialty plate is still my all-time favorite, though.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f7228efd11c4f4f2aadd437a419cd979753b58103482b9c2276decd2046a8e4b.jpg

    4. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      A friend of mine had “FTATF” on his license plate for about six years before someone at DMV figured out what it meant and revoked it.

      But,

      “EatThe” on the ‘Kids First’ specialty plate is still my all-time favorite, though.

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f7228efd11c4f4f2aadd437a419cd979753b58103482b9c2276decd2046a8e4b.jpg

      1. how_it_works Avatar
        how_it_works

        One of my neighors had H8 I66 or something similar on their vanity plate.

      2. Jeanine Martin Avatar
        Jeanine Martin

        I saw that car when I first moved to Loudoun in 2009.
        My old Z3 has a license plate saying 2Frais. Any guesses? Hint: It’s french.

      3. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        My favorite was on a Mazda Miata that came up behind me, “3M TA3”

        1. Lefty665 Avatar
          Lefty665

          Big talk from a sporty car with no balls in the rear view mirror.

          I saw one in Ashland long ago RKMKSK that took a minute before it jumped out at me. It was a Virginia plate so it must have been an admirer.

          Bacon’s tag has stumped me. You have any ideas?

          1. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            I don’t know Bacon’s tag, but I can guess there’s a T and a J in it somewhere.

            RKMKSK? I don’t know that many words beginning with a K. Are the 3 Ks significant?

            Rimsky-Korsakov?

          2. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            Very. Robert M Shelton KKK.

          3. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            Ah. There’s always one.

          4. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            I would not have expected them to be that creative.

  11. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Now THIS is important…
    https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/103618284

    Figures it’d be in Charlottesville.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      Ever watch ALONE?

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        No. What do they do? Aside from fly 3000 miles?

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          dropped off in Wilderness… last man/woman standing wins… bananna slugs are delicacies.

          1. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            Pass. Grubs maybe.

          2. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            mice?

          3. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            Absolutely! You’ve never heard of a mouse deer?

      2. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        No. What do they do? Aside from fly 3000 miles?

  12. Eric the half a troll Avatar
    Eric the half a troll

    I have no hoots to give… alas…

  13. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    The uSuthu were the royalist faction in Zululand, more specifically they were the followers of Cetshwayo. The young Zulu warriors who clustered around prince in 1856 during the Second Zulu Civil War formed the core of the uSuthu. Their name came from the Zulu war cry usuthu.

    You did once say that you were into African studies.

    More importantly, do you think you get brownie points.

  14. Donald Smith Avatar
    Donald Smith

    Bravo Zulu, Jim. Good article, and good initiative.

  15. James A. Bacon Avatar
    James A. Bacon

    Yes, indeed, Usuthu was a Zulu battle cry. Here’s the story.

    The Brits decided to invade Zululand in 1879. A column of nearly 1,000 soldiers equipped with modern arms like repeating rifles marched into Zulu territory thinking they would make quick work of the Zulus who were armed mostly with rawhide shields and stabbing spears. They clashed with the main Zulu army at Islandhlwana and were annihilated. Only a handful of survivors were able to get away. The only thing then standing between the Zulu impis and the British colony of Natal was a small bastion at Roarke’s Drift with about 150 men.

    The 1960 movie “Zulu” shows how the Zulu warriors stood just beyond rifle range, rythmically beating their shields with their spears and chanting, “Usuthu… Usuthu…” It was chilling. If I were one of the soldiers at Rorke’s Drift, I would have been peeing in my pants.

    Truly one of the great scenes from an age in which Hollywood was willing to glorify western imperialism. Other great movies were Khartoum and 66 Days in Peking.

    P.S. The soldiers at Rorke’s Drift held off the Zulus. Great movie!

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Of course, they left out the best part… bayoneting the survivors. Probably would have tarnished any possibility of award nominations anyway.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        and the reason why the Brits were there in the first place?

  16. Bob X from Texas Avatar
    Bob X from Texas

    Now that the Robert E. Lee plate has been discontinued there is room for the “Hamas Rapist and Terrorist Club” plate

  17. Not Today Avatar
    Not Today

    Can I just say, for the record, that Booker T. Is a hero to White Americans and part of an ongoing discussion about tactics and respectability to educated Black Americans. Bacon’s invocation of his perspective while ignoring Frederick Douglass’ counterpoint is duly noted.

  18. Chip Gibson Avatar
    Chip Gibson

    Excellent article.

    The paragraph which sums it all up: “The people who honor Robert E. Lee do so not because he fought for the slave-holding Confederate States of America. They honor him as one of the greatest military leaders in American history, a man who epitomized the virtues of duty, integrity, sacrifice, and humility in his personal conduct, and as a leader of the reconciliation between North and South.”

    The people who do so have an inalienable right to do so. Tearing down monuments to that belief and right is a clear act of physical aggression, something which only drives division, violence, and war. Careful, as you continue to tread upon the rights of the right, liberals. Instead, kindly consider following the good guidance provided here in this article – attempt to be constructive. Build your own heritage and monuments, from which you and your descendants may draw a connection and purpose.

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