American By Birth, Southern By the Grace of God

This weekend I went back home and partook in the festivities of the annual Olustee Battle Festival & Reenactment. As in a Civil War Reenactment. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of a Civil War reenactment, go watch Sweet Home Alabama then come back and finish reading.

SO.

On Saturday my family and I went to the festival downtown. We clogged our arteries with Pulled Pork Sandwiches and Funnel Cakes, we watched the soldiers march down the parade route and we even went out to the battlefield to watch one of the reenactments. *

A little background on the Battle of Olustee: It was the largest Civil War battle fought on Florida soil and resulted in a major Confederate victory. This battle ended the Union invasion of Eastern Florida.

Y'all. I am a bonafied Daughter of the Confederacy. My grandfather's grandfather was a Confederate Captain. I'm a Daughter of the Confederacy and I'm damn proud of it.

What I am not, however, is a racist.

Apparently, the fact that I was at a reenactment of a battle that resulted in a Confederate victory and I was PROUD that it resulted in a Confederate victory makes me a racist.

I guess all of the black, Confederate reenactors are racist, too. I sure hope someone got them the memo.

So many people hear "Civil War" and think "Slavery". To fly the Confederate Battle Flag means you might as well be a member of the KKK.

REALLY?

Really?

Y'all, the Civil War was about states' rights. Slavery was but a small part of that equation. I have been to the north and lemme tell ya somethin- I have witnessed more racism and bigotry in the north than I EVER have down here. Sadly, racism is everywhere. And ironically, it's colorblind. It involves black people and white people and hispanic people and middle eastern people and all other kinds of peoples.

Yankees on their high horses go on and on about how awful us southerners are for being proud of our heritage, they say that we're MAD we lost the war and want slavery back. Most of our ancestors didn't own slaves.

Let me repeat that:

MOST OF OUR ANCESTORS DIDN'T OWN SLAVES.

I know my great-great granddaddy didn't. Prolly most of em didn't agree with slavery, either. They dang sure believed in the states' rights though. And that's why they fought.

Y'all ever heard of "Carpetbaggers"? No? Let me enlighten you: Carpetbaggers were Yankees who came down south during reconstruction and treated the southerners like trash.

Nothin' pisses me off more than hoity-toity Yankees (or anyone else for that matter) thinkin they're all that and a bag of Skittles because clearly WE (the southerners) are insensitive, racist bastards and they were just perfect lil angels. No, no, Yankees. Y'all were meany-heads too.

Y'all remember that little thing called the Revolutionary War? We got pissed at England and fought back. We won. We became a great nation. Do the British hate us? For the most part, no. They're among our strongest allies. Do we label Brits anti-American because of what their ancestors did? No. British soldiers fought for what they believed in just like American soldiers fought for what they believed in. The Civil War is no different. I bet the Brits are GLAD they lost- especially since it was their former territory that helped save their rear ends during WWII.

So I say all of THAT to say THIS: Just because I rooted on my boys in grey on Saturday don't mean I'm racist and I'm pissed off that we lost the war anymore than it means a Northerner who is proud they won the war is a Carpetbagger.

I am proud to be a southerner. I am proud of my heritage. I refuse to be ashamed of it. I am 110% against slavery, racism and anything else that resembles slavery and racism. We all have skeletons in our closet. The Yankees have the Carpetbaggers and we have Slavery. I know I joke about the "Yankee Varmints," but, I'm GLAD that the events happened in such a way as to unite our great country. I'm GLAD that I can hop a plane to Minnesota to see my BFF and my Twin and play in the snow (when they have it). And I know my BFF is happy to hop a plane to Florida and play in the warm water and bake at the beach.

Don't hate, y'all. Just... don't. Be proud to be American. Embrace ALL our history- even the ugly parts- because it helped make our country into the awesome piece of land it is today.