| Nathan Bedford Forrest & The Jubilee of Pole Bearers |
When I arrived in Newton, North Carolina on Saturday morning, August 13, 2016, the replica of the CSA Hunley submarine sat at the front of the courthouse, a Confederate encampment on the grounds, the Southern Cross flying proudly, very warm greetings from the lady Captain of the Newton Police Department being given to all, and who deserved every accolade they received, and in my estimation more for making everyone feel safe and comfortable the entire day. God bless them!
By the time I reached the podium to deliver my Address to the audience that packed the Chambers in the courthouse, a Black gentleman from the Newton community whose name escapes my memory, the Honorable Ms.Teresa Teroane (an African American Curator from the Museum of the Confederacy), and the Honorable Reverend & Commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans of Rutherfordton, N.C., Craig Lovelace, had so adequately defended the the Confederate soldiers good name, and the place of honor of those Africans and their families had earned before, after and during the War for Southern Independence beside a man that they not only called Master, but family and friend; there wasn't much left for me to say.
The Table of Brotherhood that King dreamed and spoke of had been set; absent was the invited NAACP and the decent Black community implored by the NAACP not to attend.
I left the community with words of the Black community of the past who spoke about the duped Southern Africans during the period of Reconstruction that placed asunder God's love between Black and White folks of the South in lieu of the economic institution of slavery: The Presidents of the various Colored societies of this city have organized a society called the Knight's of Brotherhood and Monumental Association, the object of which are set forth in a lengthy address to the Colored People, published this morning. These are to discard all old political ties and cultivate and maintain permanent peace with the White people of the South in accordance with the dying words of Thomas Swan, late President of the Pole Bearers.
In their Preamble and Resolution, they say: We are are fully aroused to the consciousness that we have been for years the dupes of crafty, designing, unprincipled men, whose object was their own personal aggrandizement, irrespective of means or results to our injury. They have shorn us of our pecuniary accumulations, the results of weary years of toils; even pennies accumulated by our youth and little fledglings. All this we could bear, but they have left us despised by our only true friends, through their knavish representations and unmitigated falsehoods.Macon Telegraph and Messenger
Our experience in this direction for which we have amply paid invites a change on our part. Therefore, inviting the sheltering regis of Almighty God, in whose goodness, mercy and wisdom we trust for our future guidance, we resolve that, embracing the honest and truthful advice of our late friend Thomas Swan, we now and forever shake off those unwarranted fears that have been created and preyed as bug bearers upon the minds of our simple people. We are at last convinced they were fictions of political incendiaries who have sacrificed and led us into our present trouble, and now we pledge ourselves as representatives of our societies, henceforth to serve all affinity and past relations with all men whose only value resulted in plunder and strife.
We regret the blindness of the past, that has alienated the kind feelings of our true friends, and in our efforts to improve in the future we pledge our faith mutually to each other, and to all who it may concern, that thereafter we will sustain no man for office unless he be thoroughly identified with the people of the soil and in full, truthful accord with our earnest desire to cultivate peace, harmony and industry among races.
December 13, 1874 page 2
God bless you!
Your brother,
HK
Recipient of the United Daughters of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis Medal
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