Gov. Haley and Cultural Genocide

Gov. Nikki Haley has been selected by Donald Trump to be ambassador to the United Nations. Whatever else this may mean, it should be a cause for concern for those who are interested in preserving the world’s cultural heritage from those who would erase it in favor of empty Western liberalism, rule by the Islamic State, or some other destructive force. For when she was governor of South Carolina she helped lead the effort to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of the South Carolina State Capitol. In announcing that action, she tried to couch it in words that sounded respectful of South Carolina’s Confederate past, but her statements at the end of this excerpt make it clear that her sympathies lie with those who want to erase the past:

That brings me to the subject of the Confederate flag that flies on the State house grounds. For many people in our state, the flag stands for traditions that are noble. Traditions of history, of heritage, and of ancestry.

The hate filled murderer who massacred our brothers and sisters in Charleston has a sick and twisted view of the flag. In no way does he reflect the people in our state who respect and, in many ways, revere it. Those South Carolinians view the flag as a symbol of respect, integrity, and duty. They also see it as a memorial, a way to honor ancestors who came to the service of their state during time of conflict. That is not hate, nor is it racism.

At the same time, for many others in South Carolina, the flag is a deeply offensive symbol of a brutally oppressive past. As a state we can survive, as we have done, while still being home to both of those viewpoints. We do not need to declare a winner and a loser here. We respect freedom of expression, and that for those who wish to show their respect for the flag on their private property, no one will stand in your way.

But the statehouse is different and the events of this past week call upon us to look at this in a different way. Fifteen years ago, after much contentious debate, South Carolina came together in a bipartisan way to move the flag from atop the Capitol dome. Today, we are here in a moment of unity in our state without ill will, to say it’s time to move the flag from the Capitol grounds.

A hundred and fifty years after the end of the Civil War, the time has come.

There will be some in our state who see this as a sad moment. I respect that. But know this: For good and for bad, whether it is on the statehouse grounds or in a museum, the flag will always be a part of the soil of South Carolina.

But this is a moment in which we can say that that flag, while an integral part of our past, does not represent the future of our great state. . . 

She tried to justify herself by conjuring up an image of the Confederate flag as a racist symbol, but that is not the case. Listen to Pastor John Weaver:

You see the Confederate Battle Flag is not a racist symbol and it never has been. One of my favorite stories is about a black representative, John F. Harris, who was a legislator in Washington County, Mississippi. And he had the opportunity to vote for Senate Bill #25, which was a bill to erect a Confederate Monument on the Capitol Square in Jackson, Mississippi. Now the bill did pass and Mr. Harris, who was sick and got out of his bed to give his speech before the Senate, did so and, on February 23, 1890, the Daily Clarion Ledger of Jackson, Mississippi printed his speech in full. Let me read a portion of it to you. He says, ”Mr. Speaker, I have arisen here in my place to offer a few words on the bill. I have come from a sick bed. Perhaps it was not prudent for me to come, but Sir I could not rest quietly in my room without contributing a few remarks of my own. I was sorry to hear the speech of the young gentlemen from Marshall County. I am sorry that any son of a soldier should go on record as opposed to the erection of a monument in honor of their brave dead. And Sir, I am convinced that had he seen what I saw at Seven Pines and in the seven days fighting around Richmond, the battle field covered with the mangled forms of those who fought for their country and for their countries honor, he would not have made that speech. When the news came that the South had been invaded, those men went forth to fight for what they believed. And they made no requests for monuments. But they died and their virtues should be remembered. Sir, I went with them. I too wore the Grey. The same color my master wore. We stayed four long years and if that war had gone on until now, I would have been there yet. I want to honor those brave men who died for their convictions. When my mother died I was a boy. Who Sir, then acted the part of a mother to the orphaned slave boy but my old misses. Was she living now or could speak to me from those high realms where gathered the sainted dead, she would tell me to vote for this bill and, Sir, I shall vote for it. I want it known to all the world that my vote is given in favor of a bill to erect a monument in honor of the Confederate dead.” Here was a man, a black man, who wore the Confederate gray and he understood the War was not a racist War. Now, let me tell you, the Confederate Flag is not a racist flag.

So what does the Confederate flag stand for? He said elsewhere in the same talk,

Did you know that in the 1800's about 75% of the South were either Scotch or Scotch-Irish? The Confederate Battle Flag is based upon the national flag of Scotland. The national flag of Scotland is the cross of Saint Andrew and the cross of Saint Andrew is a symbol of the Christian faith and the heritage of the Celtic race. In fact, another name for the Confederate Battle Flag is the Southern Cross. It was adopted consciously, purposefully, deliberately and premeditatedly in order to display faith in the sovereign God of heaven and earth, faith in the providence of that God, the God of history and the God of salvation. . . .

So why would Gov. Haley try to remove the Confederate flag from public view at the State Capitol? Pastor Weaver has an answer:

Now let me try to answer a question for you. Why attack the Confederate Battle Flag? Why attack Confederate symbols? Let me tell you something. Whenever the Confederate Battle Flag is attacked, and the attacks are so vicious and so ferocious, it is because it is an attack on the truth. Because the South was not fighting as a racist nation or as a slave holding nation, they were fighting for constitutional rights. They were fighting for State's rights. Did you know that there were many in the South when it came to adopting a flag, that said, “Let's take the Stars and Stripes”? Why? Because we are the ones that are remaining true to the Constitution. Let them adopt another flag because they are untrue! To attack the flag is a attack on political incorrectness. The flag represents those who are opposed to unlimited federal government. The flag represents a limited Constitutional republic. A view of government opposed to the powers that be. Let me tell you something folks, all one has to do is to look at present day Washington, D.C., to know exactly what our forefathers fought against. Two hundred and fifty thousand Confederate soldiers gave their lives to prevent from having what we have today! The extension of government into every area of our lives is a result of the fact that the South lost the war. To attack the flag is to attack the truth, which the flag represented. The Confederate Flag not only represents a limited view of government, but it also represents freedom from tyranny. It represents freedom from tyrannical governments. I don't know how many of you will remember this, I know many of you saw it on TV, when the Berlin Wall was being torn down. Do you remember what was flying over the Berlin Wall? The Confederate Battle Flag waved as the wall was being torn down. Did you know that the Confederate Battle Flag has been adopted and used by the people of Poland, Hungry, the Ukraine, Lithuania, and East Germany, as they were victorious over the Union of the Soviets? Even Quebec in more recent years used the battle flag as a symbol of its independence in trying to secede from Canada. Historically, everyone understands that the Confederate Battle Flag represents liberty and freedom and independence from tyranny. The Confederate Flag represents truth against error, freedom against tyranny, light against darkness and the Kingdom of Christ against the Kingdom of Governance. You see, we have forgotten the fact that the War of Northern Aggression was a cultural war. It was a religious war and the North was predominantly Unitarian and humanist, while the South was predominantly Christian. And in reality, the War was an attempt to crush Christianity and Christian culture.

Now, why must the flag be attacked? Why must the flag be destroyed? Why must Confederate symbols and monuments and heritage be defamed, destroyed and derided? I'll tell you why. Because if we are allowed to keep our symbols, we might just one day begin to inquire into the origin and meaning of those symbols. And in so doing, begin to questions the myths and the propaganda of the political correctness that's in our country today and as we see the truth, we might actually begin to stand for the principles for which our forefathers stood and fought. And my, would that cause problems for the present day administration and the present day Socialist program. Now listen to me folks, in order to keep a people enslaved and content in the present, you must destroy their past. A people, who have no past, will have no future. The attacks today, are attacks against the truth. What you and I need to do is this: we need to study our history. We need to study our heritage. We need to come back to the basics. We need to come back to our Christian roots. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Jeremiah 6. Let me close with this verse. Jeremiah Chapter 6:16, “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way and walk therein and you shall find rest for your souls, but they (the wicked people) said, We will not walk (therein.)” What did God say? God said, “Stand in the ways and see and ask for the old paths, wherein is the good way.” Let me tell you something folks, I would trade the culture we have today in a heartbeat for the culture that the South had before the War of Northern Aggression. I would trade the character that men have today for the character that men had before the War of Northern Aggression in a heartbeat. I would trade the morality today for the morality that was in the South before the War of Northern Aggression. We better stand in the way and soon ask for the old ways, which is the good way. We not only need to keep our symbols, we need to defend their principles and apply those principles in our present day life.

Ibid.

While it may seem like an obscure, insignificant bit of American history, those who mourn the loss of cultural artifacts and monuments in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and so on should question Gov. Haley forthrightly about how aggressively she would act to preserve other countries’ precious cultural heritage as U. N. ambassador when she so quickly rejected her own Southern heritage for the vague promises of Progress as Governor of South Carolina.