Gift —>
https://wapo.st/4ev2SzJ
“…At a moment when the Trump administration is scrubbing prominent Black historic figures from U.S. government websites and condemning Smithsonian exhibits on race as “divisive ideology,” the Edenton statue drama — community activism, followed by a resurgence of the old order — seems to embody the nation’s pivot from the reckonings of 2020 that were prompted by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
… On a recent sunny Saturday, Ron Toppin, 80, and two helpers set up a canopy over tables neatly lined with trays of Confederate information sheets and hit the sidewalk two hours before their opponents arrived.
…
Trump’s election “made the country a whole lot better,” said Toppin, whose late wife used to organize the informational materials for the group and who said his great-great-grandfather was a rebel soldier captured by the Union in 1863. “We’ve got America back.”
Mike Dean, commander of the Edenton Bell Battery of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, roared up on his Harley — dubbed “Traveller” after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s horse — and took command of the outpost. When a few protesters began marching up the sidewalk, Dean gestured to a woman walking by with a sign that read “Remove this statue.”
“Understand,” Dean said, “these are Marxists. Marxists want to destroy history.”…”
