�����I saw something on TV the other day that almost brought tears to my eyes. Here in North Carolina the local TV news carried a story about a man (a reenactor) who was defending the Confederate Flag by donning his Confederate uniform and marching up and down the streets of Asheville, N.C. carrying the 3rd National flag and a sign that says "Heritage not Hate".

����They showed him from the rear. They showed him from a distance. They showed him sihlouetted against a setting sun.They showed his uniform from the shoulders down. They played audio of him defending the flag. But they did fail to show one thing. Not once did they bother to show his face, but they did give his name. Mr. H.K.Edgerton. I thought I recognized the name. Mr. Edgerton is a black gentleman and a former HEAD of the Asheville NAACP.�

�����On Sunday, in our local newspaper, the Goldsboro News Argus, they did a very nice story on him and they showed his face and the fact that he was a black gentleman.

�����Just another example of how the media can manipulate it's audience.... Think about it for a minute.... When I first started, unless you already knew the story, you probably thought Mr.Edgerton was white. Did you feel different when I said Mr. Edgerton was black? Should you feel different? Why do you think they did not show his skin color or state his race on TV? This is a prime example of how the media will easily play us ALL like a puppets if we let them.

�����In the Goldsboro News Argus, Mr.Edgerton states: ��"It (the Battleflag) represents my heritage, my culture, my people's participation in this thing. That don't make me an Uncle Tom or a lackey because I stand behind my heritage, because I understand the Confederate Flag.

�����I said Mr. Edgerton was a former head of the Ashville NAACP. He was suspended from his post there in 1998 for noncompliance with state and local NAACP mandates, and has been bitterly critisized by some black leaders for defending the Confederate battle flag, which they view as a divisive and racist symbol. Ya reckon?

�����George Allison said of Mr. Edgerton "I don't know how he has made this great transition from a civil rights branch president to that level," (You can almost hear him looking down his nose at Mr. Edgerton when he says "level".) Allison went on to say "I have to laugh to keep from frowning. We basically see him as a person who has a problem. We don't know what it is, but he obviously has a problem."

�����Monroe Gilmour, a member of the Ashville branch of the NAACP, said of Mr. Edgerton "I think some of us would like to see the organization renounce him at the local, state, and national level, But you don't want to martyr the guy." (As a footnote, Gilmour is white.)

�����Mr. Edgerton said in his interview that "removing the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state house will only alienate whites and deepen racial divisions that have beset the South since Reconstruction. This is not the first time carpetbaggers and scalawags have come into the South to try to seperate white and black folks."

�����How right you are Mr. Edgerton. If all the racial tensions in this nation were resolved today, then the instigators such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would have to go out and find real jobs. Of course they don't want that. Stirring up racial tensions is job security to them.

�����In Oklahoma a few days ago at a high school basketball game, a white student was sent to the hospital for a brain scan after being beaten by some black students for wearng a t-shirt with the battle flag on it. It was a gang fight and the paper said 8-14 students were involved both black and white. They did'nt speak of any incedence that led up to the beating, so I assume it was over the flag.

�����One school official said that the school did'nt have any policy against displaying the battle flag..... yet. "But I'm sure there will be now."

���The battle flag is not the problem! The ignorance of people (both black and white) toward the battle flag is the problem.

�����I've had folks come up to me and say something stupid like "The war is over, youse guys lost, why don't youse just let it go?" or "That's something that happened a long time ago, it don't matter today." or "You're living in the past, forget about it." Forget about it??? Ok then, The Declaration of Independence was signed a long time ago, let's forget the 4th of July. Memorial Day is for some people who died a long time ago, let's forget that too. George Washington has been dead for about 200 years. Let's put a new, hip, contemporary face on the dollar bill. Bill??? There ya go "Dollar Bill Clitnon".

�����No, it's just us Southerners who are supposed to just roll over, give up and forget our heros and symbols. There's room enough for all Americans to celebrate their heros without making another group give up theirs.