"In this
place, I will give thee peace...Thus saith the Lord of Hosts. This Chapel is
dedicated to the memory of the Confederate dead." Inscription above the pulpit, Confederate Memorial
Chapel, Richmond, VA.
Most of you are aware that the
Va Flaggers were organized following the forced removal of Confederate Battle
Flags from the Confederate Memorial Chapel by officials of the Virginia Museum
of Fine Arts (VMFA). The Confederate Memorial Chapel is one of
two buildings that remain from the RE LEE Camp #1 Old Soldiers Home, which
served homeless and destitute Confederate Veterans. The Veterans
themselves donated the land for the art museum, with the promise from the
Commonwealth that the remainder of the grounds would be set aside as Confederate Memorial Park for perpetuity.
Years (and hundreds of broken promises) later, the VMFA, with a wink and a nod from the Governor's office, has stolen the land that was designated for a memorial park to build a parking deck, ripped the flags off of the Confederate Memorial Chapel, kicked the Sons of Confederate Veterans out of the Chapel so that they could offer their own interpretation of OUR history, and actively worked to silence those who dared to speak out against their disgraceful actions.
Years (and hundreds of broken promises) later, the VMFA, with a wink and a nod from the Governor's office, has stolen the land that was designated for a memorial park to build a parking deck, ripped the flags off of the Confederate Memorial Chapel, kicked the Sons of Confederate Veterans out of the Chapel so that they could offer their own interpretation of OUR history, and actively worked to silence those who dared to speak out against their disgraceful actions.
If there was any question as
to how the VMFA and the Commonwealth were going to interpret our history
moving forward, the answer has come swiftly, and
painfully:
Confederate Chapel to Get
Trippy Makeover During InLight
NEXT weekend, November
13th and 14th, artists will probe the socio-political significance of the CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL CHAPEL, by turning the memorial into a trippy funhouse.. Yes, you read that
correctly, ¦a TRIPPY FUNHOUSE.
In case you think we are
exaggerating, or making this up...please read for yourself here:
http://www.styleweekly.com/Studi/archives/2015/11/01/confederate-chapel-to-get-trippy-makeover-during-inlight
The sacred Chapel, where
Veterans who had answered the Commonwealth's call to defend her and were left
PENNILESS and ALONE in their old age, sat each week to worship, and gathered to
say final farewells to their compatriots as one by one the men passed from this
life onto the next, until the last Veteran died in 1949 ... is going to be turned
into a FUNHOUSE of lights and sound at the hands of the VMFA, and under the
leadership of the Governor'soffice.
As far as we are concerned,
allowing this kind of desecration of this consecrated memorial is intentional
and no different than if VMFA officials or the Governor of Virginia walked out
to Hollywood Cemetery and urinated on the graves of our Confederate
dead.
We can't help but ask: are
you mad enough YET?
The Virginia Flaggers plan on
attending/protesting the Trippy Dippy Light Show. We will
have a candlelight vigil/flagging at the Chapel, with photos of the Veterans who
lived and died on the grounds of the Old Soldiers' home. We
hope hundreds will join us, Friday, November 13th, 7:00 p.m. - Midnight, and Saturday, November 14th, 7:00 p.m. - 10:00
p.m. Come when you can, stay for as long as you can, and be a part of those
taking a stand against what we feel is a direct and intentional slap in the face
of the thousands of us whose ancestors served the Confederacy.
We are also asking everyone to
contact the VMFA and the Governor and tell them how upset you are that they dare
to desecrate a Confederate Memorial Chapel in this manner.and ask them to
cancel this show IMMEDIATELY and preserve the honor and dignity of the
Confederate Memorial Chapel.
Contact information:
Alex Nyerges, VMFA
Director/CEO (804) 340-1500, alex.nyerges@vmfa.museum
Governor Terry McAuliffe, (804)786-2211 Email the Governor here:
https://governor.virginia.gov/constituent-services/Communicating-with-the-governors-office
In the meantime, we will
continue our twice weekly flagging of the VMFA, THIS SATURDAY, November
5th, 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Join us on the
Boulevard as we protest the removal of the Confederate Battle Flags, forward
the colors in memory and honor of the Confederate Veterans who lived and died on
the grounds of the Old Soldiers' Home, and change hearts and minds in the
Capital of the Confederacy.
Grayson
Jennings
Va Flaggers
No comments:
Post a Comment