Confederates Fail Again in Greene County.

The previous post has a follow-up, and it's actually good news.

20 of 21 Greene County Commissioners rejected completely a proposal from one commissioner, Jame Randolph, to install a Confederate flag on the county's courthouse. Just like the way residents rejected secession during the Civil War 150 years ago.

Previously, as I said, this is idiotic on many levels, especially Randolph's ludicrous claim he was motivated by some fealty to history. But we all know what history that flag represents.

Randolph says he knew the resolution would fail and that he won't try to introduce it again - so the question remains: What was the point of his effort? Was it merely to attract and agitate a specific part of the population, to organize them and alert them to .... what?

The Greene County press should ask that question but they won't.

Confederate Ignorance in Greene County

It's pretty clear the Greene County Commissioners who think flying a Confederate flag is historically vital have zero knowledge of the history of their own county and of East Tennessee.

Here's a report on what Greene County elected officials want --

Here's the facts, from an 1899 account, of how the vast majority of Tennessee and Greene County residents utterly rejected the Confederates and embraced instead the American flag and the American government.

Since History proves these officials utterly wrong - then what is the real reason behind their desire to fly a flag of the county's enemies?

UPDATE: The outcome was a Big Fat NO.

Beyond A Battle Flag

It has been startling to see how quickly politicians in Southern states, including Tennessee, have stepped forward to announce that now is the time to finally remove a symbol of the failed Confederate states from government buildings. Quickly, that is, if you jump past the events of the last 150 years since the Civil War ended.

Growing up here in Tennessee, the battle flag was everywhere you looked. It perplexed me that is was so popular - especially when I'd see the image to the right, which was on beach towels, license plates, dinner plates, and on just about anything for sale. That creepy, angry old man defiantly refusing to move past the days of slavery and war and instead holding on to ideas steeped in horror was beyond my understanding. As I got older, I realized that racial hatreds were something a person had to learn from someone - and like many others, I hoped such vile teachers were disappearing. But still they hang on.

Tragically, too many Southerners carry today a wounded pride - and confused a pride in being Southern with a grim notion we should revere a society built on slavery. We should not erase the history of the cause and affects of the Civil War nor should we dismiss the reality that our nation endured beyond that war because we accepted a vital truth - no one has the right to own another human being, and that yes, we strive to create equality for each and every person. This struggle continues around the globe.

Removing governmentally endorsed symbols is a beginning point – but what is urgently needed is a long-overdue re-evaluation of beliefs. Increasing education, decreasing poverty, reforming prison and sentencing policies are just a few of the areas our society must address. 

For Southerners especially, we do have a rich and varied heritage worth celebration, but the legacy we offer needs to be much, much more than a history steeped in slavery.

Us versus Them is no legacy worth leaving future generations

You Can Help Finish the Documentary on The Farm Commune in Tennessee

Two filmmakers are hoping the last few days of fundraising via their Kickstarter page will bring success so their documentary on the largest commune ever in the U.S., known as The Farm and located in Summertown, Tennessee.

The film "American Commune" was made by two sisters who were born on The Farm, then their family relocated to California, and they decided to document their return to their origins:

"When we left The Farm as kids and moved to Los Angeles, we were catapulted into another world.  We had never smelled perfume, eaten meat, seen women with makeup or men without beards, and we’d hardly watched TV. We were taunted for being “hippie kids” and did everything we could to blend in.

"The impetus for making AMERICAN COMMUNE was born out of our simple desire to understand where we came from.  As luck would have it, working in the heart of commercialism in New York City compelled us back to our roots. Suddenly, we needed to learn about what our parents were doing in the backwoods of Tennessee and how they, along with hundreds of others, managed to create a massive alternative society out of no more than passion and an empty spot of land. As we interviewed The Farm’s founders, our parents, and our childhood friends, we developed a greater respect for how hard everyone worked to realize their dream."

Learn more about The Farm at their website:

"The 150 present-day residents of The Farm have not rested on their laurels, but continue to create and demonstrate low-consumption, high-fulfillment lifestyles within a caring, socially active community; to conceive, finance and launch daring business enterprises that revolutionize the fields they compete in; to reduce the burden of external government; to mitigate the negative environmental, health and economic impacts of unsustainable global patterns; to demonstrate and export a variety of integrated social development strategies which can encourage diverse cultures worldwide to bypass unhealthy transitions; and to become a living example of the healthy and fulfilling interdependence of human and natural communities."

Push To Rewrite History: Comedy or Tragedy?

I look forward to the day when news about politics in Tennessee is not simply easy material  for comedy shows. But that day is not today.

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Some background on how the state 'tea party' wants to improve/re-write history.

TN Tea Party Supports More Stupidering of History for Students

Those damn dirty history books has just done plain ruint Amurica and TeaNessee and hit all needs a good cleanin' 'n white-warshin'!

"The material calls for lawmakers to amend state laws governing school curriculums, and for textbook selection criteria to say that “No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership.”

Fayette County attorney Hal Rounds, the group’s lead spokesman during the news conference, said the group wants to address “an awful lot of made-up criticism about, for instance, the founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites in one way or another."

Will the Tennessee Legislature adopt these ideas? I'll bet the answer is going to be "Youbetcha!"

Tennessee Has An Official Rap Song?

This week at Speak To Power, writer T. Sharp commented on the legislative creation of the 8th state song for Tennessee.

But as I said on her post - can we ever hope to top the real 8th state song (it was part of a state history education program and is usually not counted among the "official canon"), which is titled "The Tennessee Bicentennial Rap: 1796-1996".

The full lyrics are below, but my favorite is:
Dollywood and Walking Horse Show!
Opryland and the Opry Show!
Whisky, whisky - sipping smooth -
Moon, Moon Pies and Goo Goo Goos!

---------

TENNE-, TENNE-, TENNES-SEE!
Oh, how proud we are of thee!
Volunteer State since 1812 -
Glad our fathers picked here to dwell!

Presidents, Presidents - proud are we!
Jackson, Polk, and Johnson - three!
Crockett, Forrest, and John Sevier;
Alvin York and Hull lived here!

Baker, Gores, and Kefauver,
Served our country with honor!
U.T., Memphis and Vandy U.,
Tennessee Tech and Sewanee, too!

Appalachian Mountains, mountains high -
Reaching up in the smoky sky!
Tennessee River, flowing through -
We will cross near the Choo Choo!

Dollywood and Walking Horse Show!
Opryland and the Opry Show!
Whisky, whisky - sipping smooth -
Moon, Moon Pies and Goo Goo Goos!

Reelfoot Lake and cotton fields,
Natchez Trace and Civil War fields!
Mocking birds and raccoons grow,
And tulip poplars and iris show!

Bessie Smith and Memphis blues -
W.C. Handy and Elvis, too!
Eastman, Oak Ridge, and TVA -
Nissan, Saturn, and Country Music pay!

Chickasaw, Sequoyah, and Cherokee -
Cumberland Plateau and Mississippi!
BIRTHDAY WISHES ON 200 YEARS -
GIVE TENNESSEE A BIG, BIG CHEER!

Tennessee's Official Rockabilly Highway

Tennessee now has an official Rockabilly Highway, thanks to efforts of those in the state legislature.

On Friday, officials unveiled the signs which will now mark a 55-mile stretch of Highway 45, from Mississippi to Interstate 40. State Representative Jimmy Eldridge of Jackson is here in the photo showing off the new sign along with Rock-A-Billy Hall of Fame representative Henry Harrison in this photo from the Jackson Sun. Their story on the event is here.

A few years ago I was doing business in that part of TN and MS, and recalled stories I had heard of how in the late 1940s and through the 1950s the area was full of honky tonks and clubs where legendary musicians made history - folks like Elvis and Carl Perkins, Buddy Holly and Johnny Cash, and many others whose names faded into the past. Today, the music is so popular, our state has dueling Hall of Fames (one is the International, mentioned above, and the other is the non-hyphenated, non-international version which is based in Nashville).

One of the performers who found fame on the road and the radio back in the day was Janis Martin, also known at the time as the Female Elvis. She passed away last September, but was performing right up until the end and the following clip is from 2006 as she offers a little rock history and wails on her guitar.