THE CIVIL WAR: THE TRUE STORY BOOK 2

Confederaphobes

Confederaphobes

By Paul C. Graham on Feb 6, 2019

Presented at the Lee-Jackson Banquet, Finley's Brigade Camp 1614 – Tallahassee, Florida, 19 January 2019

Prologue

It seemed like just another day at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, for the vice chancellor of student affairs, Paula Knudson, until the phone calls, student visitors, and official "hate and bias" reports began to pour in.

A truck—a semi-tractor trailer truck to be exact—had somehow breached the invisible line that marked the school's safe space and, without any apparent consideration for the students' feelings, was right there on the construction site at the student centre with a Confederate flag grill cover.

Shock waves spread as iPhones, Androids, and other electronic devises lit-up across campus warning fellow students of the hateful display.

After receiving the message loud and clear, "this is hurtful," the Vice Chancellor called for action. Executive Director of Facilities Douglas Pearson was quickly dispatched to the construction site to get to the bottom of this blatant disregard for the emotional well-being of the school's young scholars. Pearson spoke with the site supervisor, who in turn spoke to the truck driver, who in turn moved his truck "without complaint."

Among those who were affected by the offending truck was physics senior Matthew Dreis, who saw the flag on his way to class that morning.

"That's very inappropriate," Dreis said. "I think we have problems with institutionalized racism at our school and when we see it at the construction site of the physical building where students are getting their education it solidifies that there's a problem with our campus atmosphere."

It apparently never occurred to the future physicist that the truck had nothing to do with the school or, perhaps, that the trucker didn't view the flag in such terms. In fact, no thought seems to have been made of the trucker by anyone at the university—how he was affected by their hostility, in-hospitality, and general lack of good manners.

In an email sent to students later that afternoon, the Vice Chancellor apologized for "the fear and angst caused by (the flag's) presence." She further assured the shaken students that the flag-bespangled truck had been removed from campus.

* * *

A "furious storm of confusion" rained down on the Indiana University campus at Bloomington when a TWEET went out on what was otherwise an unremarkable spring evening. A man in white robes had been spotted—it appeared that a Klansman was on campus ... and he was carrying a whip!

"iu students be careful," reported one tweet, "there's someone walking around in kkk gear with a whip."

It took less than one minute for a concerned student to re-tweet the disturbing news to the entire campus:

"there's a man walking around campus in a KKK hood carrying a whip and there's NOTHING you can do to make the students feel safe?"

Ethan Gill, being mindful of his responsibility as a resident assistant, sent out a Facebook post to the young scholars for whom he was responsible.  He was cautious, citing the First Amendment rights of Klansmen, but urged vigilance: