As SPLC Maps Confederate Monuments, Groups Resist ‘Greatest Threat to Our Heritage’

The Southern Poverty Law Center in August launched a campaign to build an interactive map of all parks, school mascots, and streets that honor the Confederacy and its leaders.

“The Confederate flag doesn’t just represent Southern ‘heritage,’ it’s a deeply divisive symbol used by racist groups, one what was raised above state capitols in the Deep South during the civil rights movement to show that they stood for white supremacy,” said SPLC Founder Morris Dees. “There’s no place for this or other symbols of the Confederacy in our public spaces.”

The SPLC is asking people to send in names of photos of “Confederate statues or monuments; flags; government seals; patches on government uniforms; the names of parks, streets, schools, military bases or counties; school mascots; and other examples.”

The group is also preparing a “a community action guide to help local communities reach consensus on removing publicly supported symbols that represent the slave-holding South.”

As Confederate flags continue to come down from government buildings and Civil War monuments are pulled from public places, more groups are resisting the change.

The Columbia, Tenn.-based Sons of Confederate Veterans Heritage Defense Fund raised $40,000 of its $100,000 goal as it fights “the greatest threat to our heritage in modern times.”

“The radical leftists who are driving this crisis are committed to the complete eradication of all things Confederate,” the site states.

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