The New Confederate Controversy

Rep. Mike Burns 

There�s a lot going on right now. Here�s a list of the things that I considered talking about on tonight�s blog:

1.     Donald Trump (his �bigger� nuclear button, among other things)

2.     Steve Bannon (accusing the President of committing treason, among other things)

3.     Logan Paul (the YouTube star who recorded and laughed about his encounter with the dead body of a suicide victim for millions to see)

4.     The deadly protests in Iran

5.     Michael Wolff�s new book about the Trumps (It turns out that Melania Trump cried when she found out that her husband had won the election, and they were not tears of joy.)

6.     Paul Manafort suing Robert Mueller (a gutsy move)

7.     The Dominion merger with SCANA (It�s too early to tell whether this is a positive development.)

8.     Snow (I measured seven inches in my yard.)

9.     The bill in the State House pushing to create a monument for black confederate soldiers.

I decided to cover the bill in the State House because, well, you will see in a minute. It was hard for me to resist when I began to read into it. Representatives Bill Chumley and Mike Burns drafted a bill last month that would create a commission to eventually build a monument dedicated to black confederate soldiers who fought in the Civil War. The bill will be up for a vote in the next few weeks as this year�s legislative session begins. Burns told a local CNN affiliated station that, �These African-Americans, like many of their Caucasian contemporaries, stepped up to defend their home state during a tumultuous time in our country's history.�

Burns also told The Post and Courier, �This history is the truth and is being whitewashed.� It turns out that there are no records of black confederate soldiers considering that the Confederacy barred African-Americans from serving in the military. This is the truth and it is not a whitewashed version of history.

After this story broke and was picked up by CNN it went viral in a way that proponents of the bill probably did not intend it to. Instead of praise they became subjects of mockery for their efforts that were not entirely fact based.

When analyzing this ridiculous incident, I had to decide whether these representatives were knowingly pushing a false narrative or made an honest mistake. Knowing the GOP-controlled state legislature, which accidentally passed a resolution that endorsed expanding Medicaid last February, I would not be surprised if Burns and Chumley had no clue that there were no black Confederate soldiers. No matter the case, the representatives do not have noble intentions.

Multiple Confederate statues have been taken down since last year where the controversy over these monuments peaked and turned violent in Charlottesville, Virginia. As more monuments started to come down and the Confederacy became a target for ridicule, local lawmakers fired back by trying to put up more monuments and statues. Instead of trying to resurrect the removed statues, they took a new route by pushing for entirely new monuments. Burns and Chumley thought that they had put the protesters against the statues in a checkmate with their plan. I can imagine the evil laughter echoing throughout the chambers of the State House as the two drafted this bill.

Unfortunately for them, facts got in the way and prevented the GOP from sacking the anti-Confederate effort and their drive was able to continue down the field. This is actual fake news and luckily the truth was able to shut it down. Hopefully the State House will strike down this bill, but you never know with South Carolina. We might be paying tribute to a group of people that never existed in a few months. We shall see.

I didn�t talk about the Steve Bannon-Donald Trump feud tonight but I�d like to ask Trump supporters one question: Is Breitbart fake news now?

That�s all for this week. 

Here is Logan Paul's apology. You can learn more about the fiasco here.