As the Southern Cause gains momentum once again, I have heard talk debating how minorities will view the actions of pro-South organizations. I believe that most of the people who are concerned about offending minorities, or of finding minorities on the opposing side in the debate for Southern Independence have bought into the liberal culture’s effort to drive a wedge between black, Hispanic and white Southerners.
Let’s look at black Americans for a moment. Since the beginning of the different American Colonies, blacks, as a minority, have made up a larger percentage of the population in the Southern states than in the Northern states. This is true today as well. Across the United States, blacks make up 12% of the population, but in the South they make up 25% of the population.
Consider the Hispanic community. Hispanic communities in America are focused in Florida, Texas and the Southwest, including California. The same argument stands for Hispanics as for blacks: The Hispanics of Florida and Texas stand to make up a larger percentage of the population in a free South than they do as a part of the United States.
Why wouldn’t these minority groups support Southern independence if it meant increasing their percentage of the population and thereby increasing their political clout? Some "experts" say that projections show that by the year 2050 there will be no racial majority in the U.S. and there is no reason to support Southern independence. These are probably the same so-called experts who said years ago that the introduction of the personal computer would reduce the average work week to 20 hours and leave Americans with an exorbitant amount of leisure time and unheard of independence in how they would live their lives.
One thing that is seriously overlooked in the debate on minority support of the South is the fact that a large number of minorities supported Southern independence the first time Dixie attempted to exert its Constitutional rights. Also, the Southern culture does reach across racial lines. There is a commonality of shared values in the areas of faith, family and morality. Surveys conducted by the Christian Coalition have shown time and again that minorities share the same traditional values as white (mostly Southern) Christians.
The real battle is against white liberals and those supposed minority leaders that have promoted the divisive lies about the relationships between Southern whites, blacks and Hispanics to maintain their power base. We must reach out to minorities and share the whole truth with them of our common Southern heritage. While promoting the parts of the past that have been conveniently left out, we must not deny the parts that have been over emphasized. Admitting the historic reality of slavery (in the North and South) does not mean that we endorse it today.
There is every reason to believe that once the whole truth is made known about Southern history, minorities will embrace the idea of Southern independence. With an opportunity to realize the fullness of real freedom and self-determination, how could anyone not support the traditional political ideas of our Southern forefathers?
Jeff Adams
February 25, 1999