Just when I thought I was persona non grata with the Sons of Confederate Veterans, this morning I awoke to an invitation from the Stonewall Brigade chapter in Lexington, Virginia to speak at their upcoming Lee-Jackson Day symposium. The invitation came from their Lt. Commander.
Here is my response:
Thank you for the invitation to speak at this gathering. I would love to talk about the role that the Sons of Confederate Veterans have played in perpetuating the myth of the black Confederate soldier. Do you think this would be an appropriate topic?
About an hour later I got my answer:
I thought I was inviting Ervin Jordan who is closer to us. We have little funds for travel and speaker fees , so I don’t think we could afford you. I am in the middle of the black confederate debate. I believe there was more than historians say ,but way less than pro south confederates claim. Sorry for the confusion.
Professor Jordan and I are easy to mistake for one another. It goes without saying that I was never serious about speaking to this or any chapter of the SCV as a matter of principle. I just wanted to see how they would respond.
Thought you would get a kick out of this. Now back to work.
(Pssst: Everyone, please don’t tell Ed Sebesta about this invitation)
That’s right. It will confirm that I am really a closet neo-Confederate. 🙂
I understand his confusion. After all, it’s difficult to tell you guys apart. Every time I see you I have to remind myself you’re Kevin, not Ervin. 😉
Well, your first and last names both end with “n.” It’s an easy mistake.
And they both have “v” in their first name!
“Alex, I’ll take-My Spell Check Is Broken-for $200.
How do you confuse “Kevin Levin” with “Ervin Jordan”? How does that happen?
And I wasn’t even invited specifically to speak about black Confederates. LOL
My first thought was, ‘It’s a trap!’
🙂
LOL. “Sorry for the confusion”, indeed.