August 1, 2000

Mr. Kweisi Mfume
NAACP
4805 Mount Hope Drive 
Baltimore, Maryland 21215 

Dear Mr. Mfume:

Perhaps you have noticed something lately.  The rest of the country is certainly noticing it, but in case you haven't, I'm writing to tell you about it.

Did you notice, during the South Carolina Confederate flag debate, that virtually all the defenders of the flag were not the virulent racists and crossburners you would have everyone believe?

There is a movement rising in the South -- a movement of proud hereditary Southerners and likeminded supporters who are tired of having their region slandered by the federal government, the rest of the country, and leftist special interest groups like yours.

I am one of that number.  I am extremely proud of my heritage and my region.  I do not support, condone or applaud the oppression of African Americans in the past, but unlike you, I do not define that oppression as the sole characteristic of the South or its people.  There's a lot more to Southerners and their heritage than that, and you know it. 

You and your group are deeply immersed in a campaign to evilize my Confederate ancestors and heritage.  You are attempting to define the whole by a mere part, the worst part -- and you're shading it to be even worse than it actually is and was.

The truth is that there are many honorable and admirable characteristics of the Southern people -- white and black, past and present -- which I therefore honor and admire, and as long as you continue the evilization campaign, we will fight it, and our numbers will grow.

Understand something, Mr. Mfume.  The protesters outside the NAACP national convention, whom you called racists, were not racists.  As far away as Pensacola, people who normally support your work and positions were very turned off by your mischaracterization of the protesters, and said so publicly.  Even the neosocialist American press -- no friend of the traditional South -- recognized that they were not racists and klansmen, and characterized them as "a conservative group."

You see, ever since your organization's boycott began on January 1, proSoutherners from across Dixie and America have been meeting, planning, and organizing.  In many places, we have gathered very publicly to protest the attempted eradication of our heritage.  Because these events were out in the open for all to see, the public has seen us in growing numbers.  They can see for themselves that we are not what you claim we are.

And we are just getting started, at a time when your organization is in decline, perhaps permanently.  You have lifted the NAACP from debt and humiliation only to plunge it into a lack of credibility and irrelevancy.

Stop the evilization of Confederate heritage and the war against our symbols; start doing something that will genuinely help minorities, and maybe your organization will remain relevant for a while longer.

Sincerely,

Connie Ward