Like the late baseball great Billy Martin used to say in the beer commercials, I feel strongly both ways. For me, it’s not about the beer. It is about one-issue, my-way-or-the-highway groups on both ends of the political spectrum. I have no patience with those who see only one side of an issue, whatever it may be. Yet, they provide me so much column fodder that I don’t have to worry about having to get a real job.
One of my earliest targets in this space was the old state flag crowd. As mean and bullying a bunch as you will ever find. To refresh your memory, the Georgia state flag featured the Confederate battle flag. It was adopted in 1956 when our state was full-bore segregation.
Gov. Roy Barnes got a new state flag design passed on 1998, doing away with the Confederate battle flag design. He lost reelection with flaggers taking more credit than they deserved. They hailed his successor, Sonny Perdue, as their savior. Alas for them, Perdue politically kneecapped them and changed the flag to its current design and the flaggers crawled back under the rock from whence they came.
Now, the pendulum has swung the other way. It is the Woke crowd with their my-way-or-the-highway attitude under siege. I will assign you the homework to look up Woke but the short version is that old white guys are responsible for every bad thing that has occurred in our country since Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas, thinking he was in the Far East.
Speaking of Columbus, he was Italian but the Woke crowd considers him an old white guy who mistreated the locals whenever he got to wherever he thought he was. So, instead of celebrating Columbus Day like we did when I was a kid, Berkely, California, decided in 1992 to call it Indigenous Peoples’ Day and a number of other cities and states followed suit. In Hawaii, it is Discoverers’ Day. In South Dakota, it is called Native American Day.
And to make sure we got the point that Columbus was a bad white guy, more than 30 statues of Columbus have been taken down across the country. The Woke crowd loves tearing down statues. And changing names, too. Particularly, if that name is associated with a white guy.
Favorite targets have been schools and mascots and streets, the Boy Scouts and noted birdman John James Audubon. Low hanging fruit. I have encouraged the Wokers that if they are truly committed to the cause they should go after the eight Georgia counties named for Confederate generals and politicians. And let’s not forget our nation’s capitol and that statue of our third president that s located within it.
One of their primary targets has been military installations. During the Biden administration, nine such facilities received new names, including Fort Bragg, in North Carolina, and our own Fort Benning, in Columbus. Fort Bragg, named after Confederate Gen Braxton Bragg, who wasn’t a particularly effective general, became Fort Liberty, and Fort Benning, named for Col. Henry Benning¸ who was called “Old Rock” because of his bravery in battle, became Fort Moore, in honor of Lt. Gen. Harold Moore, a decorated combat veteran of Vietnam, and his wife, Julie. Not anymore. Enter the new Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
Fort Bragg is Fort Bragg again, only this time it is not an inept general who bears the name. It is Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, who earned a Silver Star and Purple Heart for exceptional courage during the Battle of the Bulge, during World War II. And Fort Moore? It is Fort Benning, but not Old Rock Benning. Cpl. Fred G. Benning was a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross who served in France during World War I and distinguished himself in battle enough to get a fort named for him.
Here comes the tricky part. Augusta’s Fort Gordon, originally named for Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon, has been changed to Fort Eisenhower, in honor of former Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower, a five-star general who served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe in World War II. While president, he also sent the 101st Airborne Division into Little Rock to ensure the students’ safety in the integration of Central High School in Little Rock. I think even the Woke crowd would give him some chops. Not all white guys are bad guys. Take heart, Christopher Columbus, wherever you and your statues are.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com or at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139
Leave a Reply