PRESS RELEASE: Kirk D. Lyons 828-669-5189
9 June 2004
SLRC Calls Beauvoir Firebombing a "Wake-Up Call"
Black Mountain, NC - The Southern Legal Resource Center, a nonprofit law firm that specializes in defending the civil rights of Confederate-Southern Americans, called last weekend’s firebombing of Jefferson Davis’ home, Beauvoir, “appalling” and said it indicates that “an increasing number of troublemakers believe they can destroy Southern monuments with impunity.”
Kirk D. Lyons, the SLRC’s Chief Trial Counsel, said he hopes the police investigation of the incident will be “pursued with vigor, for everybody’s sake.
“All too often, cases like this involving damage to Confederate shrines and symbols are put on the back burner or allowed to fall through the cracks,” Lyons said. This causes great frustration and anger among those who hold their Confederate heritage dear; they perceive that in an age where everybody else’s heritage is protected and exalted, theirs is fair game for every sociopath with a brick or a match or a can of spray paint.”
Dr. Neill H. Payne, a member of the SLRC’s Board of Directors, said defacing of Confederate shrines and monuments “has reached epidemic proportions, with few if any arrests made in connection with them. If these acts of vandalism were being committed against any other ethnic group’ s shrines or memorials, there would be a great hue and cry in the national media and law enforcement would use every resource to put a stop to it.” he said. “The Beauvoir firebombing is a very late wake-up call to anybody who feels Confederate memorials are not specifically targeted for destruction.”
H.K. Edgerton, Chairman of the SLRC Board of Advisors and a Black Confederate activist told reporters today that the attempted "ethnic cleansing" of Jefferson Davis' last home points up the desperate need for federal and state recognition of Confederate Southern-Americans as a people who are entitled to the full protection of their rights under the law. "By denying Confederate Southern Americans their inalienable rights Government gives tacit consent to thugs that commit acts against the cultural legacy of Confederate Southern-Americans." Edgerton said.
“The right of a people to its sacred monuments protected is fundamental,” Lyons concluded. The SLRC will be monitoring this situation and demand an energetic and fruitful investigation.”
For additional information, contact: Kirk D. Lyons, (828) 669-5189
The SLRC is a non-profit South Carolina public Law firm that advocates on behalf of Confederate Southern-Americans and Southern heritage issues.
Donations to the SLRC are tax deductible for income tax purposes.
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