Revisionism Reminds Us Why We Need Black History Month

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By Deron Snyder

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour was the 16-year-old valedictorian of his high school class in 1964 -- also known as "Freedom Summer" -- when the slaying of three civil rights workers punctuated escalating racial violence in his state. What does he remember about the time? "Not much," he told The Associated Press recently. What he does remember is revisionist, including claims that his generation attended integrated schools and the racist White Citizens' Councils were civil rights champions.

In October, it was discovered that a textbook in Virginia elementary and middle schools claimed that thousands of black soldiers fought for the South in the Civil War. According to "Our Virginia," among the hordes of African-Americans fighting for the Confederacy were "two black battalions under the command of Stonewall Jackson." Though Confederate apologists make similar assertions, most historians reject the claims, the textbooks have been pulled and the publisher is replacing them at no cost to the schools. CONTINUE....

Barbour Backtracks, Says Councils 'Indefensible'

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By: Charles Babington, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a potential Republican presidential candidate, said Tuesday he was not trying to downplay the pain that many endured during the South's segregation era when he defended his home town's 1970 public school integration process. CONTINUE....

Haley Barbour Responds to Critics About Civil Rights Quote

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By: Nsenga Burton

The Clarion-Ledger is reporting that Governor Haley Barbour issued a statement Tuesday denouncing the Citizens Council after facing a barrage of criticism for his description of the whites-only group as "town leaders" who kept the KKK at bay in civil rights-era Yazoo City. Barbour's said: CONTINUE....

Miss. Governor Barbour Praises Civil Rights-Era White Supremacist Citizens Councils

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Eric Kleefeld

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS), a potential Republican presidential candidate, has an interesting perspective on the tumults of the civil rights era that swept through his Deep South state.

As Barbour recalls it in a new profile in The Weekly Standard, things weren't so bad in his hometown of Yazoo City, which took until 1970 to integrate its schools (though the final event itself is said to have gone on peacefully). For example, Barbour says that there was no problem of Ku Klux Klan activity in the town -- thanks to the Citizens Council movement, an organization that was founded on the basis of resistance to integration and the promotion of white supremacy. CONTINUE....

Barbour's Proposal on Merging HBCUs Met with Ire

By: Denise Stewart, BlackAmericaWeb.com

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour could be in for a fight next year over his proposal to merge that state’s three public historically black universities into one institution.

 

Barbour on Monday proposed merging Alcorn State University and Mississippi Valley State University into Jackson State University as part of his plan to deal with decreasing revenue and increasing government costs statewide. Each campus would continue to function, Barbour said in a prepared statement.

But lawmakers and leaders of the state’s HBCUs say the governor should come up with other ideas for cuts that don’t include merging the campuses.

Barbour's Proposal on Merging HBCUs Met with Ire....

Stimulus-Snubbing Govs Don't Care About People, Black or White

By: Tonyaa Weathersbee

Let me see if I have this straight.

The unemployment rate in South Carolina has hit 10.4 percent – the second-highest in the nation. In Mississippi, the unemployment rate is at 9.2 percent. In Alabama, it’s almost 8 percent.

But the governors of these former states of the Old Confederacy, as well as Texas and Louisiana, don’t want to help their jobless citizens fight their misery with the relief contained in President Barack Obama’s stimulus package.

They’d rather conscript them to fight the Civil War instead.

Led by South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, the leaders of these states say they won’t accept the part of the stimulus package that expands unemployment benefits, such as covering part-time workers who lose their jobs. Among other things, they say it would force businesses to have to pay higher taxes once the federal money runs out.

Besides that, they say, they don’t appreciate Obama – outside agitator that he is – telling them that they have to change their laws to get federal money. No matter that for their jobless minions, that money could make the difference between someone living in their home or out of their car.

States’ rights, you know.

Stimulus-Snubbing Govs Don't Care About People, Black or White....