HK EDGERTON: ST. AUGUSTINE REPORT IS “INSULTING AND RACIST”

HK EDGERTON’S REACTION TO ST. AUGUSTINE CONTEXTUALIZATION COMMITTEE REPORT

TWO WORDS: “INSULTING AND RACIST”

St. Augustine – This week, in advance of the July 4th observance, the City of St. Augustine released the recommendations from the City’s Contextualization Committee for the Constitution Plaza War Memorial...and it ended up being a diss on veterans, according to HK Edgerton. Read report here. HK Edgerton, civil rights activist and past president of a NAACP branch, reviewed the report and had two words for it: “insulting and racist”. “It is biased, racist, totally unacceptable and just plain insulting” he said. “It is filled with lies, half-truths, division and disrespect” he added. “This report is racist towards Southerners and if the committee members really believe this about their neighbors, they should just get out of town”. Edgerton is calling on the City Commission to reject the Committee’s recommendation and reconsider their decision to contextualize the historic war memorial at all. “I’m clearing my schedule to appear on the 9th call this report what it is” he said. Edgerton has requested the opportunity to make a presentation about the issues he has with the Report. “If the Mayor allows me to make a presentation…I wasn’t allowed to speak at all the last time I came to St. Augustine...I intend to tell them the Committee members who voted for this hogwash ought to be tarred and feathered and run out of town for conjuring up hate and division” Edgerton said. “This Report is biased” Edgerton said. “Its obvious they are trying to pander to Ron Rawls, and he and his kind will never, ever be satisfied until every reminder of the love between black and white southerners and their unification against a common enemy is gone” Edgerton added. When asked specifically what he objected to in the Report, the agitated Edgerton said “Alexander Darnes is turning over in his grave”. “We expected to see something taking about this integrated monument and how people like him and Anthony Welters and Isaac Papino and others fought side by side with their friends and neighbors. We expected education and healing, but, instead, we got noting but hate and division!" he retorted. "They completely ignored the service of the southerners with black and brown skin that risked their lives shoulder to shoulder with their white families against the Yankee invader. Why are they doing this? It’s just a page out of the play book of the Southern Poverty Law Center, trying to conjure up hate and use blacks as the weapon of choice against American values” he responded. “I hate to see the City Council duped into disrespecting their rich history this way” Edgerton said. “This whole thing is crazy! What do chains of slavery have to do with a memorial to dead veterans…this is insulting”, said Edgerton. “That war wasn’t white vs. black it never was…blacks were just used as a weapon of choice, just like the Southern Poverty Law Center and others are trying to use people who look like me today to gin up a race war for some nefarious purpose” he said. “Even putting this hogwash up on the City’s website is a disrespectful to the families of those honored on this monument. It should be immediately removed and the City Commission should direct the Committee to go back to the drawing board and start over or better yet, forget about contextualizing it and just accept the monument as is where is” Mr. Edgerton said. “Not only does this proposal disrespect those honored and the families of those honored, but it also disrespects the service of the Black Southerners who went off to confront the invaders with their white family, and I am offended by that” he said. “And don’t forget that these veterans are American veterans, and when you disrespect one American veteran, you disrespect them all. This is just a disgrace” he concluded. “If the City of St. Augustine puts this up this travesty, they will prove Ron Rawls right… St. Augustine is the most racist City in America” Edgerton said. "And I call on all those patriotic Americans who read this statement to call the City and tell them to remove the racist Report from their web site right now" he concluded. The City of St. Augustine can be reached at: 904.217. 4801.

SAVE SOUTHERN HERITAGE Inc. is a not for profit corporation that educates & advocates on behalf of Southern Heritage & History. It was started in 2015 in response to the knee-jerk Anti-Southern institutionalized bullying and “Eracism” 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. 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 battles over American History and throughout Florida including the “We’ll Remember in November Campaign” that resulted in #heritagehater candidates to loose elections in Florida and others to win. More info: www.sshfl.org.

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