Confederate image in the hands of African Americans

You've heard the phrase "only Nixon could go to China". Well, maybe only African Americans can really take the lead in changing attitudes towards things Confederate. For example...

The Alfalfa Club is an exclusive Washington, D.C. social club founded in 1913 and its function was to celebrate the birthday of Confederate Civil War General Robert E. Lee. The club didn't admit blacks until the 1970s, and women until 1994.

On January 31st 2009, President Barack Obama spoke at the club's annual dinner saying "this dinner began almost one hundred years ago as a way to celebrate the birthday of General Robert E. Lee. If he were here with us tonight, the General would be 202 years old. And very confused." Read the story here...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/01/alfalfa.obama/index.html?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail

A Southern historian posted a story on his blog about a Black chaplain in the Confederate forces that brought 1) Yankee and Southern soldiers together, and 2) "seasons of revival". The historian interviewed the chaplain's descendant, who is an African American and member in the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Read the entire post here on the Old Virginia blog:

http://oldvirginiablog.blogspot.com/2009/02/i-try-to-get-my-information-first-hand.html

ATLAH World Ministries, a predominantly African American church (pastored by the controversial James David Manning) is in the process of organizing the The Gettysburg Project. The purpose of the event is to give thanks for the deliverance from slavery, honor their ancestors that suffered and died due to slavery, and at the same time take a leadership role in racial reconciliation by holding the prayer event at the very place where thousands of Confederate soldiers died.


Project webpage: http://atlah.org/about/gettysburg.html

Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCKcddFacqg

South Carolina Sen. Robert Ford, an African American, wants to require local governments to observe both Confederate Memorial Day and Martin Luther King Day. The idea was for people in black and white communities to understand each other's history, to maybe understand each other a little better.

"I'm tired of all the bickering and the hatred and the fighting we do in South Carolina... We need to know what made Southern whites do what they did, secede from the Union and fight a four-year, bloody war."

Story here:
http://www.charleston.net/news/2009/feb/04/sen_ford_wants_holidays_observed70536/

Finally, this is really cool- the old Haunted Tank comic is back. The ghost of Confederate General JEB Stuart still haunts the tank, but this time the action takes place in Iraq, and the tank driver is African American. Thanks to Cenantua for bringing this to my attention.

http://cenantua.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/the-curious-evolution-of-the-haunted-tank/

Also, thanks to Campbell at the CSA Heritage blog for the pin graphic at the top
http://csaheritage.blogspot.com/