Hats Off to Andy Hall

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

Over at his Dead Confederates blog, Andy Hall has a post up correcting an earlier post based on an erroneous news report.

The story deals with a verbal confrontation between a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and a black resident of Danville, Virginia, regarding the flag at the Sutherlin House museum.  The SCV member is reported by numerous news outlets as saying to the black man, "You need to go back to Africa."

Many outlets reported that remark, ending with a period (or exclamation point) and end-quotes after the word Africa, which is false reporting, as the man's statement did not end there. A transcript of the exchange occurs in the written report at WSET-TV:

"Your own ancestors sold you into slavery. Yes they did," Clark said.

"It doesn't make right. It doesn't mean you're right to take people," Danville resident Kevin Moore said.

"Well then you need to go back to Africa and tell them to stop," Clark said.

"Well I'm confronting you. You're involved in the crime too," Moore replied.

"Oh I'm not involved in anything," Clark said.

"...and tell them stop," is the phrase that has been left out of many, many reports of the incident.

The clip of the confrontation runs about ten seconds, and you don't know what was said before or after, but it appears the SCV member, in using the present tense, is alluding to not only the historic participation of Africans in the slave trade, but their current participation, as well.

Andy's replacement post acknowledges that the SCV member's statement did not end with, "...go back to Africa," and it includes his apology for not verifying the report before posting about it.

I give Andy a hard time when I believe he's wrong about something, and I'm certainly in fundamental disagreement with what motivates him, with regard to Confederate history and heritage.

But when someone I disagree with corrects an error, I have to offer not just acknowledgment, but admiration and thanks.