http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/09/08/military.college.ap/index.html
Graduates plan male-only military college Monday, September 8, 2003 SHELBYVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- Disgusted by what they see as the extinction of the all-male Southern military college, some graduates want to build one of their own, based on the way The Citadel and Virginia Military Institute used to be. That is, they say, before those schools started admitting women, before they stopped saying mealtime prayers, and before the winds of political correctness swept aside many of the reminders of the Confederacy. "Southern traditions that have been tarnished and almost lost will live again," backers of the planned Southern Military Institute say on their Web site. "The concept of an officer and a Southern gentleman will be the standard, not the exception." The nonprofit group headed by Michael Guthrie of Madison, Alabama, is planning to purchase a 450-acre farm in Tennessee and hopes to open with a first class of about 30 cadets in the fall of 2004. It will be the nation's only private, all-male four-year military college. Backers say it will extol the virtues of military discipline and the legacy of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Confederate symbols, including the first national Confederate flag, are included in the school's promotional materials. But Guthrie said blacks are welcome to attend. "We have been villainized, especially Southern Christian heritage has been villainized as racist," Guthrie said. "I think there are a lot of conservative blacks who would understand the issues that revolved around the Civil War. "There will also be people who oppose us. The very reason we are having to start this school -- we have become a minority in this country." If a group of black separatists made a similar announcement about starting a military school in Detroit, what do you think the reaction would be? But because it's a group of "good ol' boys," nobody will say a thing. Somehow, Southern Christian conservatives are just automatically assumed to be patriotic, even though it was Southerners who were traitors to the United States in 1861, Southerners who committed terrorism against negroes for five generations after the Civil War, Southerners who defied the law in the 1950s and 1960s, Southerners who still believe that racist separatism is the way to go (check out Southern Partisan magazine, although not immediately after eating). Call yourself a Southern Christian Conservative and you can get away with anything. Tom Beck www.prydonians.org www.mercerjewishsingles.org "I always knew I'd see the first man on the Moon. I never dreamed I'd see the last." - Dr Jerry Pournelle _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
