PRESS RELEASE November 15, 2017
Media Contact: HK Edgerton 828-273-1991 Email: floridasshe@gmail.com
HK EDGERTON CALLS ON SENATE TO KEEP GEN. SMITH IN DC AND PUT HIM IN FLORIDA VETERANS HALL OF FAME
HK Edgerton at Senate Appropriations Committee Meeting
Tallahassee - Today the Florida Senate Appropriations Committee took up a bill that would formally replace Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith in Statuary Hall. But HK Edgerton would have none of it, calling for the Senate to vote "no" on the bill and to keep Smith in Washington. Edgerton also called on them to right a wrong and add Smith to the Florida Veterans Hall of Fame. "I think that's the right thing to do - Florida needs to right this wrong" he said Gen. Smith's statue was targeted prior to the Confederate Monument Mania that started after the Dylan Ruff massacre in 2015, as one of those associated with slavery in the nationals capital, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz called on Florida Gov. Rick Scott to convene a special session of the Legislature just to take action to remove him. "I don't like these lies being told about Smith" said Edgerton. "He was the model Floridian - there is no one better to represent Florida than him...teacher, soldier, concerned about his Black brothers and sisters...environmentalist. He had the whole package....unfortunately, because he had white skin, some people say he has got to go" he added. "No one disputes Ms. Bethune is a fine American, but it will only create more division between the races if the Florida Legislature makes this move - it will make national headlines that the Florida Legislature is dishonoring one of the finest Floridians ever and siding with Black Lives Matter" he concluded. Edgerton is President of Southern Heritage 411, Member of Save Southern Heritage - FL and past president of the NAACP in Asheville, NC.
SAVE SOUTHERN HERITAGE Inc. is a not for profit education and advocacy organization for Southern Heritage & History. It was started in 2015 in response to the knee-jerk Anti-Southern institutionalized bullying and “Erase-ism” levied against the people of South Carolina by Governor Nikki Haley, after she broke all previous agreements about how South Carolina’s historical veterans and their symbols should be treated and respected. SSH FL does not condone racism and as such we do not support any group or person that does. We respect the rights and privileges of all as bestowed on them by their creator and expect those in our association to respect and treat others as they themselves would wish to be treated. The Florida branch was activated in mid-January 2016, in response to three initiatives in the Florida Legislature that are part of a hate campaign led by Anti-American extremists, who refuse to respect the various cultures that make up the fabric of Florida’s society. Since that time, it has grown in membership and has been active in Heritage battles throughout Florida including the “We'll Remember in November Campaign” that resulted in #heritagehater candidates to lose elections in Florida. More info: www.sshfl.org.
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