I must have posed for 100 different pictures for people of all races and nationalities and talked with dozens of folks from the same. On this day there were a large contingent of Aussies, who have gone through their own flag change upheaval. One thing that jumped out at me was to a person, after the standard "Is there a reenactment today?" is the dissappointment they missed it and almost anger that the service WAS NOT ADVERTISED by the Stone Mountain folks.

In a most telling example of the hushed atmosphere of the event, immediately after the service I walked over to the Train Depot to use the restroom, and two park employees asked me what was going on (regarding the noise and reenactors on the lawn). One had been working there four months, and the other had five years under her belt, and they were not in the loop. Can we say lost opportunity....

I met up with South Ga SCV / Flagger Sam Lyons and his beautiful family, who escorted me up the mountain. I wish most of y'all reading this had half as much passion for the cause as his 9 year old daughter, who will sho' nuff be (and is) a fireeater for the Cause.

I only had one bad experience, while by the Train Station a white man and his family walked by and under his breath, but loud enough for me to hear, uttered "loser".... yep, I am still LOSING sleep about that. :-)

At the top of the moutain, a white man approached me and requested an audience, which I always grant. He begins to qualify his statements by giving me his southern pedigree, and his existence in the southland, but then begins sounding like the black man I conversed with at the Augusta NAACP flagging.

"Did you know that people are offended at the sight of blah blah..."

"Yes, I am aware that a few people disapprove of this flag."

"And did you stop to think that some people look at it the same way that Jews look at Nazi blah blah..."

" I have heard some people try to use that argument, but I cannot see the logic in it. The Jews fought for the Confederacy, but not for Germany. The Jews were an integral part of of the Confederacy, but not for Germany. The Confederacy just wanted to be left alone, whereas the Nazis sought world domination. Plus, blacks fought with the Confederate States of America, while the Nazis put six million Jews into ovens for gassing and burning, so no-sir, I fail to understand their argument in that regard."

"Well, I'm one of those who is offended at seeing that (and he points to my flag) displayed in public becuse the klan blah blah..."

"I think you are confused, as this is a 4x4 square Army of Northern Virginia Confederate Battle Flag bordered in white used by General Robert E Lee's forces, and not the one you associate with the KKK which is rectangle without a border. In either case, the use by ignorant hate groups is not what the flag means and your being here in a Confederate Memorial Park talking to a Reenactor holding a CBF should be enough proof."

With that he thanks me and walks away - better educated and his arguments full of holes.

I would like to think I made a small difference today, and the pictures and lessons I gave were well worth the $8.00 it cost me to get in. I would challenge anyone to do this. It's easy and FUN !

Billy Bearden at Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial Service April 9, 2005