Thursday, August 24, 2017

Whistling Dixie in Orange County


"The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” wrote Southern novelist William Faulkner in Requiem for a Nun. Rebel Girl, ever an English major, learned that long ago and she has been thinking of it again lately for reasons that are sadly obvious.

She doesn't have much time this morning as the first week of classes is so busy but before too much more time goes by she wants to point out Gustavo Arellano's recent excellent article in the OC Weekly: "California's Last Confederate Monument is at Santa Ana Cemetery—And It Was Erected in 2004."

excerpt:
" The monument itself seems straightforward save for two inscriptions at its base. One of them, on the side, thanks Bricken and SCV Camp 1770, ending with Deo Vindice—"With God as Our Defender," the official motto of the Confederacy. But that didn't hail Dixie enough for Bricken and his pals, so they put the following at the front of the base:
'To honor the sacred memory of the pioneers who built Orange County after their valiant efforts to defend the Cause of Southern Independence.'
...

So when did this glorification campaign happen? Late 19th century? Maybe 1910s, when the majority of Confederate memorials went up at the height of Jim Crow? Maybe 1950s, when the South fought viciously against the Civil Rights Movement and erected them to try and reaffirm white supremacy?
Stay classy, OC! Try 2004. As in the 21st century. As in 13 years ago. In Southern California. In SanTana."
Playing dress up. 
The IVC/SOCCCD connection? Former trustee Steve Frogue, longtime active member of  the Orange County-based Southern Confederate Veterans (SCV) Camp 1770The local chapter is named after James I. Waddell, captain of the Sheandoah who was the last to surrender in the Civil War (months after the war's end, in England) and presided over the last official lowering of the Confederate flag. Of course they chose Waddell. Of course they did. Steve Frogue's son Jim was Trump's senior health adviser during the campaign

You can't make this stuff up though you wish you could.

Check out all of Gustavo's article here.   (These are the photos that accompany his article.)  I guess he won't be our commencement speaker again this year. Darn. But at least he's got our collective backs in the Weekly. Gracias, Gustavo, for all you do.




6 comments:

Anonymous said...

So we don't want to glorify the Confederacy, but we go by the name "Rebel Girl"?

Roy Bauer said...

Evidently, 1:26, you believe that the term "rebel" is specific to the Civil War.
Not so.
Invest in a dictionary.

Anonymous said...

I understand it, Rebel Girl takes her nom de plume from Joe Hill's song "The Rebel Girl" which was about Helen Gurley Flynn, a union activist. Sometimes a rebel is just a rebel.

http://joehill2015.org/joe-hill/joe-hill-songs/the-rebel-girl/

Anonymous said...

I have some reb dictionaries for you from the 17th century. Interested 1:26?

Anonymous said...

2004?!?

Anonymous said...

The aftermath of that war lingers, even here.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...