Press Release Concerning Howard Dean's Campaign Statements

It is with shock and dismay that Southerners from all walks of life watch the contention concerning remarks made by Democratic Presidential candidate Howard Dean concerning the Confederate flag. It shows how far to the depths of bigotry that faction has come.

Dean simply commented that that his party needed to function under a "big tent" and embrace those who have Confederate flags on their pickup trucks; to fail that would write off "poor whites" in the South to the Republican Party.

Now one would expect the Democratic Party, the self-styled party of the down trodden, to react with revulsion that a minority group was referred to in such a derogatory fashion as being "pickup truck" people. But no, not by a long shot. What happened next was a sad testament to this American sub-culture and shows how nothing really changes in the Democratic Party.

In subsequent debates, challenging candidates charged Dean with racism. Candidate Al Sharpton, the race profiteer from New York, took an emotional challenge to Dean's statement quoting Martin Luther King, Jr., when Dean said something to the effect that the descendants of slaves and the descendants of slave owners should sit at the table of brotherhood. Sharpton stated that there was no room for Confederate flags at the table of brotherhood. Many in the crowd applauded. It was an unbelievable thing to be shown on national television.

The final statements in the affair gave us an embarrassing display by candidate Edwards of North Carolina. He made a series of emotional statements, seeking frantically to show that he really was not one of those "pickup truck" people and most other Southerners were not either, inferring that only poor, dysfunctional Southern people embraced their Southern heritage. He is a perfect example of the "gated community" Southerner who is so psychologically bruised that he is ashamed of his fellow Southerners and his own cultural heritage, and who is consistently turned out of office across the South. He can be assured that should he be nominated, will not take his own state.

In the end, Dean apologized for hurting the feelings of his bigoted colleagues by merely inferring that his party should be nice to those who love their Southern heritage. It was comic opera, pure and simple.

One thing comes through clear: the Democratic Party is still the party of bigotry. In the 1950s it conjured logic to gain the Southern white vote. Now it does the same thing in reverse to get the Southern black vote. The stunning reality of it all is that they cannot see how obvious they look to outsiders, how backward and regressive they look.

For their information, only one in four white people in the South voted for the Democrat in the last presidential race. Why? Because they feel disenfranchised. Actually, they feel slighted by both parties but choose the Republicans by default, because they share more peripheral beliefs. But to infer that the Republicans appeal to those who wave Confederate flags is a demonstrable lie.

In recent elections, several high profile politicians in the South were turned out of office for groveling to the bigot faction and offending fellow Southerners concerning their "Rebel" heritage. Majorities turned them out of office. It cut across all economic levels and was not confined to those whom the Democrats sought to humiliate by referring to as the "pickup truck" crowd. Democrats speak mightily about how they seek to be sensitive to all and not offend anyone, yet they take a huge faction of voters and call their ancestors Nazis and speak of their beloved symbols as racist. The hypocrisy is truly amazing.

The bottom line is that they are bigots. They reject an ethnic group completely, seeking to prosecute the ultimate humiliation on them: to strip them of their cultural heritage, a thing they would reject in horror if done against Indians or any other group, but which they do with naked boldness to Southerners. The only good thing to come of all this is that the American people are not fools. They see clearly what makes up the moral fiber of these charlatans seeking to run their country. And more importantly, they see clearly that the reason we have racism today is because certain well paid leaders make their fortunes by making people hate one another. When these demagogues stop it, and stop hiding behind their race, coming forward to answer for their bigotry with full equality in American society, then, and only then, will we find healing.

P. Charles Lunsford, President
Heritage Preservation Association