Asking Questions
I will admit to still being torn between fighting for the soul of the SCV, just as our ancestors fought for their nation in 1861-1865, or starting a new organization made up of loyal Southerners who still love their country and who still love their ancestral heritage.
I want to ask everyone who is still questioning their stand on the crisis in the SCV, and those who have already taken sides, some questions:
The current SCV membership at 35,000 nationwide represents no more than one/one thousandth of the probable membership population of the South alone (approximately 30 million males) that could request membership as a descendant of a Confederate soldier. Why do we represent so few people? I think it is because those prospects are afraid of being labeled "racist". Electing people to visible office who have absolutely no taint of being called "racist" by the press or public is essential to our cause to totally divorce ourselves from the idea that the Confederacy and its fight was based on race and slavery. Staying away from the "racist" label is the only way, THE ONLY WAY, the SCV will ever build membership and respect.
Since when did a second secession become the noble thing for all Southerners- and SCV members- to support? I would rather convince the rest of the nation that solid conservative, Southern values are what THEY should adopt rather than take my region out of the Union and follow some self-appointed "leader" for who I have never voted. I have no more faith in the governmental abilities of the leaders of any modern day secessionist movement than I have in Jessie Jackson, Al Gore, and Bill Clinton - all Southerners.
One of the beauties of the SCV used to be that we could attract all sorts of people to membership based solely on their ancestors' service. Now that duly elected SCV officers can be removed from office on the whim of politics, the standard has become: "The SCV wants members who are modern day secessionists who keep their mouths shut and don't think or speak for themselves and who pay no attention to those men behind the curtain." What ever happened to open debate about the goals of the organization?
Clint Johnson
1st Lieutenant Commander
Stokes County Confederate Troops Camp #1540