GOVERNMENT-RUN SCHOOL HAS A LOT OF NERVE CHIMING IN ON CONTROVERSIAL BANNER …
|| By FITSNEWS || Clemson University has – belatedly – echoed calls to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of the S.C. State House in the aftermath of last month’s horrific, racially motivated church shooting in Charleston, S.C. that left nine black worshippers dead.
“Like the Clemson board of trustees did in December 1999, we called on removal of the flag from the (State House) grounds,” the school’s board of trustees leader David Wilkins said this week. “We support the governor and other leaders in their position. And like the Clemson Board did fifteen years ago, we wanted our position to be known.”
Wilkins is referring to Clemson’s support for a 2000 compromise which moved the flag off of the State House dome to its current location.
We approve of Clemson’s position. Of course that’s hardly surprising seeing as we were the first media outlet in the state to call for the flag to come down in the aftermath of the Charleston tragedy (and the first to advocate a specific legislative method of accomplishing this objective).
It’s just time …
But at the same time Wilkins was (eventually) landing on the right side of this debate, he continued to defend a white supremacist legacy deeply ingrained in the Upstate agrarian school.
Clemson’s most famous building – Tillman Hall – is named after Benjamin Tillman, an outspoken white supremacist and lynch law advocate who was indicted (but never tried) for his role in the 1876 Hamburg Massacre. In that incident, at least six black freedmen were murdered by a racist mob. Three others were shot and seriously wounded.
Clemson’s Institute of Government? It’s named after longtime segregationist U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond. Hell, the ground on which Clemson stands was once the plantation of John C. Calhoun – one of the staunchest antebellum pro-slavery advocates.
“I hold that in the present state of civilization, where two races of different origin, and distinguished by color, and other physical differences, as well as intellectual, are brought together, the relation now existing in the slaveholding States between the two, is, instead of an evil, a good—a positive good,” Calhoun once famously said. “There never has yet existed a wealthy and civilized society in which one portion of the community did not, in point of fact, live on the labor of the other.”
But “Pitchfork Ben” Tillman is the worst of the lot …
In fact his murderous, racist legacy was so bad – and so widely known – that this website called for the removal of his statue from the grounds of the S.C. State House seven years ago.
Not only was Tillman never prosecuted for the Hamburg Massacre, he referred to it as one of many “stirring events” in rallying support for his 1890 gubernatorial campaign. He won that race, which led to South Carolina’s “Jim Crow” laws and the infamous Constitution of 1895 – a document which continues to hold our state back on so many levels.
Oh, and before anyone gets confused and thinks Clemson’s legacy of racism is a thing of the past … consider this little get-together from last Christmas. Err, Cripmas.
Despite all this, Wilkins is having none of the effort to remove Tillman’s name from Clemson’s iconic landmark.
“We dealt with it several months ago,” he told The Greenville News, adding there were “no plans” to revisit the controversy.
Really?
Here’s what’s so bad about that.
Not only is Wilkins’ dead wrong on this issue, but there is absolutely no recourse for those who disagree with him.
How’s that? Well, Wilkins is one of the lifetime appointees to the Clemson board – which continues to run this government-subsidized institution in clear violation of state law banning precisely such lifetime appointments. In other words if you disagree with him or the other lifetime appointees (who comprise a majority of the board), you are S.O.L.
Ben Tillman would be proud …
This website has repeatedly argued that higher education is not a core function of government and that the Palmetto State’s bloated, duplicative and inefficient network of state-subsidized schools should be set free to pursue its destiny in the private sector.
This is yet another reason why …
115 comments
we should close down Washington and Lee, because Robert E Lee was a confederate general. And we should close down the Citadel because they fired the first shots of the civil war. The marine research lab and NOAA observatory on James Island need to be shut down because fort johnson is where the citadel fired those shots from. While were at it lets tear down congress and the white house because they were built by slaves.
Washington and Lee goes down on two counts. After all Washington was a slave owner. We must rename the capital too.
It will never happen.
No…and America will NEVER elect a ‘closet’ Muslim pResident/czar that governs like a marxist (see Cuba today) or allow its moral or cultural foundations erode to the point of legalized perverted marriage between homosexuals. Ha Ha.
Hey, great new name, BC. Represents what age you and your beliefs belong in. 6,000,000 BC.
lol!!! BAN God,the confederate flag,the American flag,pogo,churches,prayer,traditional marriage,pogo,CHOICE of health insurance,free speech….!!!! BAN it all…cars,gas,electricity,money!!!
When you wake up in the morning ya will still be one miserable SOB.The life of a liberal.
It’s okay. Washington was Black. No harm and no foul, sorta like when you can have eight or ten Blacks murdered by other Blacks in an area in a week and there are no candle light vigils, no riots, and no looting. Let a white cop shoot a Black criminal who asked for it and all hell will break loose.
My wife graduated cum laude W&L and is horrified at your comment. I laughed, and now get to enjoy a night on the couch.
You’ll pay Flanders.
Ulysses Grant was also a slave owner. It wasn’t just a Confederate thing. If the war was all about slavery then why did slave owners fight with the north?
EXCELLENT.You get it. The Civil war was about saving and preserving the northern economy.
I’ve always understood that. I’ve also always despised racism, slavery, and bigotry. I am full of southern pride and have never been ashamed of my southern heritage.
Had a college professor from the north that reinterpreted history from a Biblical Christian perspective. A brilliant man that married a southern woman and loved the south.
Prayed with Anwar Sadat while in the middle east. Sadat was a ‘closet’ Christian.
Don’t worry about tearing it down. Just look at Detroit, Baltimore and Ferguson. Very progressive. Love the pictures of people jumping up and down on burning cars and stealing shit. Very forward thinking. All the monuments and names of buildings and pictures will be removed and that will change nothing. People will still use symbols to promote hate and, after the Confederate flag is banned, there will be something else used for a big fuck you between the races. Hatred is the issue. History happened. Good or bad. And it cannot be rewritten. Just as it cannot be rewritten that blacks were enslaved by their own. The tragedy is the people who lost their lives in Charleston is no different than any other tragedy when kids have been murdered at elementary school or a nut starts shooting in a movie theater killing innocent people there. They are all tragedies and one does not trump another. But, if bringing down the flag will keep Columbia or Charleston from becoming another Detroit or Baltimore, great, but you cannot rewrite or sanitize history. Most of what is being done is for political jockeying on the backs of the dead. And it has taken the spotlight off their lives. The timing sickens me.
“I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races. I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people. And I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. … And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.”
Time for someone new on the $5 bill and the penny.
Don’t even get TBG started on that NYC tunnel, that financial group, those logs or that city in Nebraska.
You have to consider that he said that out of necessity to get what he wanted done, done.
May have, anyways. I can’t read living peoples’ minds, let alone ones that have turned into worm food.
“My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union.”
Props to him for sticking with his story after being elected and invading the South, then.
You are absolutely correct. Old Honest Abe is the worst war criminal in American history. His crimes against humanity dwarf Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden combined. And the civilian holocaust his pit bull Sherman unleashed on the south is awfully familiar to Dresden and Tokyo after WWII, and we build monuments to that bastard. Oh, and he was gay, committing unholy acts in the White House, no less.
You are one delusional individual.
Got something against the truth? I am in favor of taking the flag down, but don’t put Lincoln on a pedestal. He was nothing but a power hungry opportunist that would have kept slavery around, and said so, just to keep the Union together. Now explain his views on self determination again. And his views of the Constitution were laughable. He would have been perfectly fine with our recent Gitmo experience, remember he was fine with military tribunals for civilians and completely suspending parts of the Constitution.
Your reliance on Southern lore is embarrassing. Try reading the articles of secession.
the articles have nothing to do with the direct actions of Lincoln IN THE NORTH which violated the Constitution and existing law.
Your reliance on Southern lore is embarrassing. Try reading the articles of secession.
No wonder Ammon Lakip used coke.
He was just trying to keep up with the moving goalposts…
Cheaper than a therapist.
No you are face. You bought hook, line and sinker all the deification of Lincoln. Why did he order the arrest of the Chief Justice of SCOTUS? You agree with his suspension of habeas corpus?
Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution says, “The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.” Following the constitution’s a war crime? Tell us: Are you a revisionist or just stupid?
Do some reading. Lincoln suspended it and the Chief Justice (Taney) called him on it. Lincoln gave an arrest warrant for Taney to a federal marshal who had the good sense to do nothing.
“Following the constitution’s a war crime?”
That wasn’t CNSYD’s argument, that was the other guys.
I assume the other guy is referencing the rape of Southern women and various other crimes that happens in all wars, including Iraqistan & WW2.
War is filled with crime, there’s not a “clean” one out there.
Plus, he was a bastard and his mother was a prostitute. Enloe was his father not Lincoln.
If South Carolina were more like New Jersey … we would be in paradise.
Or Baltimore. Or Ferguson.
You got that right. Great post.
Tillman Hall and the Tillman statue don’t have all that much heritage. Weren’t they both rather late arrivals, dating from the 1940s, the existing building being renamed?
Shhh – changes the narrative…
Tillman Hall at Clemson was so named in 1946, at Winthrop in 1962. The statue went up in 1940.
Interesting support of Haley, just after Haley vetoed various Clemson initiatives.
Will Fritz Hollings be made to denounce the Democrat Party’s abject racism? The Democrats invented race hate and discrimination. And will Fritz have to give back all of his pay from the state for governor and the US Senate pay? What about the modern-day racist Democrats of Obama, Rutherford and McLeod? Will they have to repent and give back the state money they collect? Why are you against equality?
And racist Southern Democrats became Republicans when LBJ signed the Civil Rights legislation. Please stop playing this exhausted tune.
Liar. When political figures repented and straightened up, they became members of the party of Lincoln. The party where Americans are born equal, not given extra rights based on your hate and revenge. Democrats simply converted to hating whites, because they wanted to use the hate of the blacks for political power. And it is working to some degree.
You’re the willfully ignorant liar.
Hey Bud, don’t bogart that joint. Apparently that is some good shit you are smoking.
The Dixiecrats and George Wallace’s American Party ARE the GOP voter base now.
BTW: the GOP’s racist Southern Strategy apparently began withing rock-throwing distance of the still-flaunted but disgraced flag.
I’ll have those niggers voting Democratic for the next 200 years. – Lyndon Baynes Johnson
Who is claiming that LBJ was a paragon of virtue? He was one the rudest, crudest, most assholeish presidents ever. He made a racist statement? OOOOOH, I’m just SO shocked, pogo.
Sheesh!
LBJ knew he was alienating Southern Whites for years to come, and with Ted Kennedy, Mondale and numerous northern liberals getting national bids, Southern Democrats had nowhere to turn. They joined the Republican party.
Bah! The old-line Democrats in the South hated Lincoln. They still hated him when they joined the “Party of Lincoln.” Many of them despise him to this day. Shit is embarrassed that you are so full of it.
You are correct.LIncoln didn’t really give a shit about blacks or freeing the slaves.
The Civil War was fought for economic reasons-the advent of the Cotton Gin in the south threatened the northern economy.
More delusion! It won’t end.
For delusion, face, look in the mirror.
Yep, I used to be a Democrat too. Something happened to change that though!
Thurmond, after he repented and became a Republican, got more of the black vote than any other Southern white US senator, ever. He even had a bi-racial daughter who he treated like a queen. He loved a black woman, while you Democrats spat upon them. Once Thurmond became a member of the GOP and viewed all Americans as equal, he was loved by non-racist black voters.
” He even had a bi-racial daughter who he treated like a queen. ”
A HIDDEN queen I suppose.
Shhh y’all! Don’t tell nobody I’m that black girl’s baby daddy!
Exactly the case. pogo makes it sound as though he were proud of her. He “did right” by both the woman and their daughter, financially speaking. But there is no indication he ever “loved” the mother. That’s just the pogo fantasy factory mind at work.
pogo pogo pogo pogo pogo pogo pogo pogo
So you’re saying Strom treated his offspring better than a majority of Black men who sperm donate daughters in modern-day America. You inadvertently praise Strom.
Pogo’s just the best person to laugh at on this site, I swear…
“Loved a black woman” – LOL! He knocked up the family maid when she was 16, then paid hush money to keep the child hidden until he died. Please.
That can’t be stated too many times.
Flip believes he should be treated equally, just not the gays.
The damn West Virginia Turnpike is named after ME!!!!
weak
Democrats devouring Democrats. Funny how the liberals all of the sudden defend media-called racism, if it’s your racist doing it. That’s what happens when you sleep with the Devil media. It will eventually rip apart the Democrat Party the same way your gods are falling. In South Carolina, the Democrats are almost a party for Blacks only, now. How much longer before they enforce a law that only Blacks can be nominated as your candidates? Live by Race Hate, Die by it, too. You deserve it.
Thinking you should double up on your meds today, Flip.
Ask Wilkins about a stolen college car and a trip to Atlanta when he was on the tennis team at Clemson. And about R.C. Edwards’ cover up of the event. And this crook is a life trustee and chair? No wonder the state is in such bad shape.
I’ve heard of regression, but you sound like a real kook, clinging to the past.
Benjamin Beauregard IV, you sure you want to go down the path of college days stories?
Colleges are money making enterprises that occasionally educate someone.
Wilkins is a money making enterprise that rarely ever helps anyone.
When you understand how many people make loads of money off colleges you will then see all the pieces of the puzzle drop right into place. The mystery is solved.
Case closed, and it is so easy one you know the secret.
Click bait anyone?
At first it was mildly amusing, now it’s downright pathetic. There is no response Clemson could have given that would not have produced a scornful response. This coming from a USC grad.
I am a Clemson grad and I agree. It’s an easy call…get rid of the names of the racists adorning Clemson landmarks and replace them with the names of graduates who have gone on to excel…preferably minorities.
Why? What does that do?
Black Americans well know what party is full of the people who hate them. Just look at the party they don’t vote for. All the trite old lies from the GOPer shills and stooges fool them not at all.
Trump is helping Hispanics and Latinos see through the Bush/Cruz/etc. charades regarding them too.
Your Race Hate will eventually eat you alive. You’re already deemed unfit for office in South Carolina because of your inability to represent all people. And Hillary looks more and more unelectable because she is as racist as the rest of your party. You’ve peaked using race as a weapon. Better come up with something new or you’re in big trouble.
Black people know which party’s base wishes them ill . . . the GOP, no other.
Wrong, they all are not as stupid as you.
A ride to the polls coupled with walking around money and a half pint will get you all the votes you need. Read the Chicago-Cook County playbook. I am sure Obama has a copy.
Or a BBQ plate.
So you want to bash Clemson, Mr. USC man? Has USC made any statements about the flag? Should we assume they support it being up there? How about their athletic namesake and his connection to slavery? Have you called for them to rename their mascot? Let’s start renaming all the buildings in the “horseshoe” since they are all named for slave owners. SMDH. Pot meet kettle.
The point of the article is to point out hypocrisy. Clemson wants to keep Tillman Hall but remove the flag. They are for symbols of the confederacy and against them. USC has building name in honor of confederates and pro slavery individuals but they have not called for removal of the flag while refusing to rename their buildings. Therefore no hypocrisy.
Tillman is a symbol of the Confederacy?
Ben Tillman was a democrat, was pro slavery, anti-black, and enlisted in the confederate army but never served because a medical illness delayed his service. After the civil war he committed numerous acts of violence against blacks and openly bragged of killing them. I could find no clear connection to Clemson University.
If not for Tillman, neither Winthrop nor Clemson may have been created. Tillman was a champion for the “common” (read poor) white people of SC. He opposed the aristocrats (his view) he saw from South Carolina College and The Citadel. He may rightly be called a racist and/or white supremacist but I don’t see how you can tie him to the “Confederacy”. If believing that whites were superior to blacks is your connection, then perhaps every single signer of the Declaration and the Constitution are racist and/or white supremacists.
He enlisted in the Confederate Army. He murdered blacks and bragged about it. He formed racist groups. Does that not overshadow your feeble attempts to humanize him as a common man. Is the creation of Clemson and Winthrop more important than the lives of the men that Tillman either murdered or had murdered? If he was so important why was the building renamed for him in the 40’s instead of named for him when it was built? Is there not a more honorable person that helped form Clemson that you could pay homage to by renaming the building after them?
Tillman’s relatives, one of which was a trustee at Clemson, thought he was being forgotten. That’s when the name of Old Main was changed to Tillman Hall. That’s the only reason it’s there. No one at Clemson (or Winthrop) has the authority to change the name back. Only the legislature can do that by law.
Many at Clemson don’t want the name changed simply because it’s the only name they know for that building. I and many other alumni would like to see it renamed.
Pretty much everyone involved with the founding of ALL of our state colleges were “men of their time” and as such would be seen as racists today, so I don’t know what name you would choose.
So the Trustee’s at Clemson ignored his racist views and chose to honor him in the 1940’s while blacks were still struggling for equality. They continued to ignore this up to the point where the law passed that removed their ability to change it. They could have avoided recognizing this racist from the very beginning. They had had the power to rectify this mistake for over 50 years and failed to do so. One could argue that they espouse his views and are hiding behind the law to avoid criticism for not speaking out against it. When Wilkins spoke out against the flag why didn’t he also speak out about Tillman Hall and call for both to removed?
Whatever, princess. You can look up Wilkins’ statement about Tillman Hall if you’d like. I don’t agree with him. I’ll be wiping my ass with your flag in the mean time.
And in a democratic move you concede the point by stooping to name calling.
Democrat? That’s funny. Also haven’t conceded anything…just tired of the argument. You were acting sort of high and mighty, so I figured you must be a princess. Didn’t mean to hurt your widdle feewings.
YOU SHOULD HAVE WIPED THAT ASS A LONG TIME AGO. IT SMELLS BEFORE YOU GET IN SIGHT.
One can always argue. The problem is that some arguments are specious.
There was no attempt to “humanize” Tillman. It was just facts. If you don’t believe that there has been dislike bordering on hatred between “aristocrats” and white “common” people in SC since well before 1860, then you don’t know SC history. I was not present in 1940 when the decision was made to name the building after Tillman so I can’t tell you why. All I know that is that it took Tillman to get the Act of Acceptance approved and the opposing forces were supporters of South Carolina College. By the way, do you know the name of the circular road in front of Tillman Hall?
Better to give tacit approval than be seen as a hypocrite? Gotcha.
What “symbol of the confederacy” is Clemson for? The only confederate symbol that’s been discussed is that flag.
Allowing anything to bear the name of Ben Tillman should be more offensive than the flag. Can you name one thing that Ben Tillman did that overshadowed his racist views and acts?
There was much more to the civil war than slavery. Both the North and the South had supporters on both sides of the issue so it had to be more than a one issue war.
The flag was hijacked by racist democrats after the war and used as a banner for groups like the KKK and others.
The Confederate flag needs to be remembered for what is was intended to be. A banner that represented those that fought for the States right to govern themselves. Much pride can be gained from that by the descendants of both white and black supporters of the southern cause.
What pride do you get out of having your building at Clemson named after Ben Tillman?
There’s no pride in anything related to Tillman, save the Tillman Act. He was a despicable human by anyone’s standards. For the record, I am on the “rename Tillman Hall” side of the argument.
The reason he is associated with Clemson (and Winthrop) is that he was instrumental in getting those colleges founded. That’s why his name is on the buildings in Clemson and Winthrop. (actually one of his relatives was a trustee and pushed for the naming, well after Tillman’s death) There’s no statues or anything like that, just a name on a building. The law that moved the flag to it’s current place also prevents Clemson from renaming any of it’s buildings. If you have a problem with the name, talk to your representatives as it will take a 2/3 majority vote in the legislature to change it.
The flag was basically unseen until integration when it was adopted by anti-integration groups, such as the KKK. Not really “after the war”. HTH.
It will also take a 2/3 majority to move the flag from it’s current location on the State House Grounds. A compromise that was agreed to by both parties. A compromise that one party wants to renege on. So if you support renaming Tillman Hall the talk to your Senators and Representatives. If you don’t then quit whining about the flag. If you are Tillman lover then name your house Tillman Hall and advertise that.
You are a strange one. It isn’t one party that wants to “renege” on that compromise…it’s both parties. I would support them changing the name of Tillman Hall at the same time. If they do that, then they should rename half the buildings at all of our state colleges, so that’s probably a non-starter.
I have contacted my state representatives. One is Corbin who is a big ol’ racist ass. The other gave positive feedback but there’s no will to get into changing building names.
The democratic party has tried to renege on the compromise since they voted for the compromise.
Heck, we know that you have a list of things that you want renamed. Want on.
Why should it matter to a Cock Lover?
It’s not about the schools. It’s about a hypocrite speaking out against a flag that not all people consider racist when he resisted calls for Tillman Hall to be renamed. I know he can’t do it but he wasn’t in favor of it being done. No one can deny that Ben Tillman was the face of evil and can only be compared to the likes of Hitler.
It’s been a long time! Idiots!!!!!!!
Wait..you never cared about the confederate flag over our statehouse, but you say that 6 years ago you wanted Tillman Hall (in a school you never attended, and probably never have even seen in person) renamed?
lol
And had no hope of ever getting admitted to.
What do a USC student and a Clemson student have in common? Both of them got admitted to USC.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4)– A Colorado Springs man was arrested after police believe he left racist messages outside a church.
Vincent Broughton, 44, who is black, is facing charges for committed a bias-motivated crime and disorderly conduct.
The signs were posted outside the New Covenant church that is predominately attended by African Americans. One sign references the KKK. Another reads, “Black men beware, you are the target.”
The messages had the congregation on edge.
“We locked our doors this morning, so we were inside, but it shouldn’t be that way. You shouldn’t have to lock your doors in the church, it’s just… I’m speechless,” said Pastor Roland Joyner.
Police said Broughton admitted to posting the flyers but did not explain why he targeted the church.
Years ago in a refreshingly candid interview on CBS news 60 minutes retiring democratic Senator Fritz Hollings admitted to a “deal” with national democrats to leave southern segregation in place.
“We had a sweetheart deal with the National Democratic Party. ‘We’ll go along with all your programs, if you’ll go along with our segregation.’ But once that Civil Rights Bill passed in 1964, then Lyndon friend became Lyndon the enemy,” says Hollings.
This is the most direct statement of a plan by democrats to conspire to keep racist policies in place prior to the civil rights legislation of 1964 which passed with republican help.
Fritz continued a tradition of hypocracy among democrats with this classic double speak,.
Democrat Fritz Hollings of South Carolina thinks being from Africa makes you a cannibal: “You’d find these potentates from down in Africa, you know, rather than eating each other, they’d just come up and get a good square meal in Geneva.”
Democrat Fritz Hollings of South Carolina thinks being from Africa makes you a cannibal: “You’d find these potentates from down in Africa, you know, rather than eating each other, they’d just come up and get a good square meal in Geneva.”
Charles Taylor says “Hi.”
…and also “Nom nom nom…”
lol…that’s horrible…yet funny…making it horribly funny.
Fritz Hollings who was revered by many of today’s modern Democrats was the key figure behind putting up the confederate flag over the SC Statehouse. Robert Byrd, who was KKK and also revered by modern Democrats also had an affinity for it. Bill Clinton’s mentor was a racist segregationist.
Joe Biden explains why southern Democrats should vote for him: “My state was a slave state.”
MAN BEHIND IT ALL: Former South Carolina governor and Democratic U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings raised the Confederate flag at the state capitol building in Columbia, S.C., in 1962.
Fits know this crowd is easy. Just bring up the Carolina-Clemson rivalry and we rednecks will bite. just sayin…
Wasn’t Tillman basically the inventor of the Jim Crow laws?
Did those start here, as I read once, or did we really adopt them from another state?
FITS, you are, literally, too stupid to be insulted.
I would have no problem with them leaving the statue up and keeping his name on the hall, but they should put his most infamous quotes on the base of the statue and above the door on the hall.