H.K. Edgerton Protested by Ku Klux Klan

edgerton
Update: Edgerton continues his march through Florida.

H.K. Edgerton is currently walking across the state of Florida in support of Confederate heritage and the battle flag. Yesterday, while paying his respects at the Hemming Park Confederate Monument in Jacksonville, H.K. was approached by a couple members of a local KKK chapter, who took issue with his embrace of the Confederate flag. Fortunately, the situation was quickly defused.

The brief article at Raw Story includes this wonderful quote:

“Mr. H.K. and the other true Southerners in Florida can handle these ignoramuses,” said Facebook user Robin Foster Osorio-Pedraza. “I’m glad they’re all looking out for each other. We don’t like it when white supremists (sic) use our Confederate battle flag. It belongs to us, the descendants of those who served under it in the War of North Agression (sic).”

You can’t make this stuff up. Usually the debate about the Confederate battle flag is framed around the question of whether it ought to be embraced and/or displayed at all, but in this case we have a situation where both parties have come to embrace the symbol.

So, who has a better claim to the meaning of the Confederate battle flag over the course of its history stretching back to November 1861? Is it the KKK with its commitment to white supremacy or an African-American male, who believes that the Confederacy was an experiment in racial equality?

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21 comments… add one
  • Andy Hall May 15, 2016 @ 10:23

    Edgerton’s antipathy toward the Klan and people associated with it is conditional. The Klan and its fellow travelers in “the movement” have not been a problem for Edgerton when they’re offering him their patronage.

  • RUDOLPH YOUNG May 12, 2016 @ 18:40

    Stephen in the movie Django

  • Tyrin Wallace May 11, 2016 @ 15:40

    Uncle rukus does exist!! Oh bless his heart lmao

  • bob carey May 11, 2016 @ 9:34

    I think that since the Confederate flags were part of the public property which was surrendered in the agreements which ended the war that flag is the legitimate property of the armed forces of the United States. Therefore any profits made from the sale and distribution of any flags should go to the US Treasury. Kevin, I know that this is a ridiculous argument, but look at the crowd were dealing with, the Klan and the SCV. LOL

  • SB May 11, 2016 @ 6:12

    1 person does not constitute an opposition. It’s funny how we take only 1 (deranged) person to build an argument. How about we do this, take into consideration all the millions on the opposing side. As usual, we report what has the largest opportunity to make a splash. Yes, he made a complete idiot of himself.

  • Gayle Johnson May 11, 2016 @ 3:46

    LOL,beat them at their own game.

  • Patrick Jennings May 11, 2016 @ 3:08

    There is just enough fuel for a movie here. A really good comedy along the lines of the 1969 comedy “Viva Max!”

  • TFSmith May 10, 2016 @ 12:50

    THAT’s a flattering photo… the individual to the far right, especially. Something less than a lean and hungry look.

    • Kevin Levin May 10, 2016 @ 12:53

      The image is certainly not representative of what the Confederate army looked like. 🙂

      • Margaret D. Blough May 10, 2016 @ 15:48

        He is still a string bean compared to the infamous “Sergeant Santa” in the early scenes of the movie “Gettysburg”

        • HankC May 11, 2016 @ 5:02

          I’d like a ragged, dirty confederate uniform, please in XXXL

          • TFSmith May 11, 2016 @ 18:26

            Now we know why the black confederate soldiers (officers and enlisted) all disappeared at the end of the war; they gallantly gave themselves to their white comrades as rations…

            Best,

      • HankC May 12, 2016 @ 6:16

        these laughable images of old men in their (confederate and Union) halloween costumes tend to deflect the fact that 3/4 of the actual soldiers were 21 and under and 40% were 18 and younger.

        • Mark Snell May 12, 2016 @ 18:46

          HankC,
          You are correct in that the majority of soldiers on both sides were young (as is the case with just about any army), but I believe that your percentages/ratios are incorrect. The average soldier was not a teenager, although there were many that served who had not yet reached the age of 20. I would be interested to know the sources of your numbers.

          • HankC Jul 16, 2016 @ 14:28

            interestingly, i could find no internet sources to back my claim.

            Last weekend, thumbing through a booklet I found something similar.

            See http://civilwarmissouri.blogspot.com/2016/07/earlier-this-year-i-commented-on.html .

            • Erick Hare Jul 18, 2016 @ 6:24

              A good source for information about the demographics of at least the Army of Northern Virginia is ” General Lee’s Army: From Victory to Collapse” by Joseph T. Glatthaar. Glatthaar does an excellent job of breaking down and analyzing all of the different demographics within the ANV and interprets what those demographics tell us about the soldiers who fought for Lee and the Confederacy.

        • Bryan Cheeseboro May 14, 2016 @ 3:30

          I know plenty of people who reenact who are older and heavier than the soldiers and civilians they portray. But I try to focus on their love and devotion of history and a desire to share it with other people. Just my thought.

          • Kevin Levin May 14, 2016 @ 3:32

            No doubt, but it is also evidence of the reenacting community’s shrinking numbers.

            • Bryan Cheeseboro May 14, 2016 @ 13:32

              “…it is also evidence of the reenacting community’s shrinking numbers.”

              Probably so. But I’m encouraged by things like what happened last month at an event I put together for my unit (54th Massachusetts).

              I helped organized a day-long Camp of Instruction event at Fort Stevens in Washington, DC April 9 of this year. It was only to be a handful of us, but we wanted to spend the day drilling and talking to visitors about USCT soldiers. The forecast called for some pretty crappy weather in the morning- rain and even some snow flurries because it was so cold. I kept saying, “I’ll just go down there and see how things look.” Though no visitors came by, the reenactors who planned to show up did. One of them is dealing with severe back and leg pain but on a cold, wet, snowing Saturday morning, he came out anyway.

              Perhaps reenacting will die off in a few more years, who knows. But that man’s dedication and determination to keep history alive was absolutely encouraging.

              • Kevin Levin May 14, 2016 @ 14:26

                I certainly don’t mean to suggest that meaningful living history cannot be achieved. Your dedication is evidence enough.

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