Secession: We Fought A War Over This

Secessionist billboard campaign by League of the South, as seen in Montgomery, Alabama

Hate, or Heritage?

Recent news reports indicate that a billboard campaign through Lamar Advertising by League of the South in the Southeastern United States of Florida, Alabama and Georgia, has met with opposition. The billboards prominently displayed one word – SECEDE – which almost completely filled the area, listed their group name, and a URL. The campaign billboard locations were in Montgomery, Alabama, Tallahassee, Florida with another one planned for Atlanta, Georgia in the summer. More specifically, League of the South and their 15,000 members have been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “a neo-Confederate group that advocates for a second Southern secession and a society dominated by “European Americans,” and since 2000, “the SPLC began listing the league as a hate group.”

Dr. J. Michael Hill, PhD, President, League of the South, a racist white supremacist neo-Confederate group headquartered in Killen, Alabama

It is a description to which the group president & founder, Dr. Michael Hill objects, and denies.

Separatist Intent

The Killen, Alabama headquartered group’s website – DixieNet.org – states the following about themselves: “The League of the South is a Southern Nationalist organization whose ultimate goal is a free and independent Southern republic. The League is more concerned with resurrecting our cultural base than with entering into the political arena. Once our Southern culture is re-established, then the political issues will begin to take care of themselves. Good leaders flow naturally out of a healthy culture; however, power-hungry, self-seeking politicians are all we can expect from the debased cultural climate we have today.” To achieve those aims, the group endorses “…withdrawing our support of and allegiance to a the corrupt government in Washington that through its greed, corruption and lack of Christian values has destroyed your children’s and grand children’s future.”  The group’s focus upon membership growth is evidenced by their statement that, “We intend to form active chapters in every county in every Southern State, and as many chapters as possible in non-Southern States.” They further identify their segregationist secessionist ideals by stating, “We must create our own parallel institutions to which our people can attach their loyalties. A good example of this is the move out of the “public” schools and into home schooling or the establishment of our own private academies. Also, the League sponsors weekend Hedge Schools and week-long summer institutes to educate our people.”

Xenophobic Ethnocentric Hypocrisy

On the LOTS website, the opening paragraph of an essay entitled “The Poison Of Multiculturalism” by LOTS founder & president, Michael Hill, reads: “Eventually, amnesty for millions of non-white illegal aliens will become reality. Many think this is the beginning of the end of Western Christian civilization in North America. Why have the elites sold us out? Why are they committed to the destruction of the West by the promotion of multiculturalism? And why is multiculturalism the poison that will ultimately prove fatal to Western Christian civilization unless an antidote is quickly administered? Unless we understand exactly what we are dealing with when we bring up the subject of multiculturalism, The League of the South and our allies can never hope to successful combat the enemies who are sworn to our – white Southerners–destruction as a people.”

In the FAQ portion of the LOTS website, the following two items appear: Q: What is the LS position regarding blacks in the South? A: The LS disavows a spirit of malice and extends an offer of good will and cooperation to Southern blacks in areas where we can work together as Christians to make life better for all people in the South. We affirm that, while historically the interests of Southern blacks and whites have been in part antagonistic, true Constitutional government would provide protection to all law-abiding citizens – not just to government-sponsored victim groups. Q: Why does the LS seek to protect the Anglo-Celtic core population and culture of the historic South? A: The Anglo-Celtic peoples settled the South and gave it its dominate culture and civilisation. We believe that the advancement of Anglo-Celtic culture and civilisation is vital in order to preserve our region as we know it. Should this core be destroyed or displaced the South would be made over in an alien image – unfamiliar and inhospitable to our children and grandchildren. We, as Anglo-Celtic Southerners, have a duty to protect that which our ancestors bequeathed to us. If we do not promote our interests then no one will do it for us.

Secessionist billboard campaign by League of the South

It should be evident to even the casual observer, that if their secessionist objectives occurred (and I do not think they will), then as an independent nation, they would be free to make any laws as they so choose… which could include slavery, child labor, etc. Further, by ignoring that blacks have had a significant historical and cultural contribution to the South, they contradict themselves again, and further demonstrate segregationist perspectives. And THAT, my friends, is pure logic. It can be plainly seen that the group has a degree of inconsistencies and contradictions (and therefore, a degree of incoherence and nonsense), based upon the statement made by their founder that “the League is more concerned with resurrecting our cultural base than with entering into the political arena.” Their efforts are purely political. Further, because they seek to separate, they are anti-American, and anti-Constitutional. Other words for that are traitor, subversive, insurrectionist, mutinous, rebellious, seditious, and anarchist. To offer or suggest that political secession is not political is pure hyperbole and utter tomfoolery. And yet, that is precisely what they have done. Perhaps they take their members or prospects for fools? Or, is Michael Hill more stupid than imagined? After all, it is his writing.

They Walk Among Us

Mark Thomey, League of the South Board member and Vice-Chairman of the Southern National Congress

Who are their members? The LOTS website clues us in. On the page for their “20th Annual LS National Conference,” which was held Friday & Saturday, 21-22 June 2013 at “Alabama LS Headquarters and Cultural Center, 12814 U.S. Hwy 231, Wetumpka, AL 36092 (just north of Montgomery in Elmore County)” one of their listed speakers is Mark Thomey, whom they identify as a “League Board member and Vice-Chairman Southern National Congress.” Their biography of him is as follows: “Mark is a native Arkansan who was born and raised in the small town of Morrilton, located in the Arkansas River Valley between Ouachita and Ozark Mountain ranges. He was an avid hunter and fisherman and a successful athlete, quarterbacking his high school football team to a State Runner-Up title and earning All Conference honours in his senior year. His interests and talents include singing and playing guitar. “In addition to serving as an LS Board Member, Mark lends his talents to the Southern Cause as both an Alabama delegate and Vice Chairman of the Southern National Congress. “Mark earned his B.S. degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and embarked upon a career as a structural engineer. He worked in the metal building industry before forming his own consulting firm, Structural Engineering, in 1996. Mark has successfully run the firm since that time, and is currently licensed to practice in eighteen States. “Mark is married to the former Marguerite Rivoire, and they live in Arab, Alabama. Mark and Marguerite have three sons and two granddaughters.”

Froot Loops

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, it’s said. And one needn’t venture far from links on the site to find bigoted, racist, hate-filled diatribes, which – strangely enough – are not only purely venomous, but queerly “conservative,” and white Republican. It is wholly disconcerting that practically the entire group identifies themselves as “Republican” or “conservative” and supports the same type candidates. And yet, it does not surprise me at all.

Why?

The GOP was warned about the “Southern Strategy” years ago – specifically in July, 1964 at the GOP National Convention at Cow Palace in San Francisco, California – when then-NY Governor Nelson Rockefeller was granted five minutes to address the delegates. He warned that:

“The Republican party is in real danger of subversion by a radical, well-financed and highly disciplined minority.”

The complete text of his remarks may be found in an earlier entry on this blog, under the title “These extremists feed on fear, hate and terror.”