South rises again — to crush boy’s good idea
Austin eighth-grader Jacob Hale is a poker-faced kid, a useful trait at what turned out to be close to a full house of folks who hate his idea to scrap narrow-focus Confederate Heroes Day in favor of a broader-focus Civil War Remembrance Day.
Who could be against that? Your answer can be found on the hearing video. The bill comes up at the 2:42:50 mark. The South’s dander rises again anytime some of its inhabitants sense a slight of its sainted, gray-clad ancestors.
And so it was Tuesday evening when the House Culture, Recreation and Tourism Committee heard House Bill 1242, filed at Hale’s request by Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, and co-sponsored by Rep. Tony Dale, R-Cedar Park.
As I wrote in February: When kids testify at the Capitol, it’s often on stuff like naming an official state pie. Messing with the Confederacy is different than naming an official state pie.
Hale and Howard say the bill merely is about recognizing all Texans’ involvement in the Civil War, be they gray, blue or black.
“My name is Jacob Hale and I represent myself and I am here for the bill,” he said in beginning his testimony and just before a committee clerk moved the microphone down to eighth-grader level. Hale continued, pitching his inclusive intent. “Over the past 10 months or so I’ve learned that different people have extremely different views on the Civil War.”
That lesson continued for about two hours at a hearing dominated by folks opposed to the bill. Through it all, Hale sat expressionless in the second row.
Sue Hardy of the United Daughters of the Confederacy testified that Confederate Heroes Day is inclusive with ceremonies “open to anybody and everybody who wants to come.”
Rudy Ray, a corporal in the Sons of Confederate Veterans mechanized cavalry, said Confederates were “tremendous heroes” and these kids today sure need some heroes. “I hope I don’t offend anybody in this place, but we were not a Yankee state.”
Shelby Little, a Georgetown member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said: “It is a sad day indeed when the sacrifices and accomplishments of those who have come before us and done so much on our behalf are denigrated and trampled under foot based on the historical naieveté of a 13-year-old. Even worse is the exploitation of children for the advancement of political agendas. »
See video of Jacob Hale’s testimony with this story online at mystatesman.com.
“They are our forefathers,” he said, “Our family. It’s personal. Assaults on their character are assaults on us. There are a few of us who have resolved that we have turned the other cheek on this issue for the last time.”
Howard silently seethed. Hale remained stoic, or whatever you call it when you can’t tell what a 13-year-old boy is thinking. After Little wrapped up with something about “getting shot in the back by our own people,” Howard told him “you have no idea about why I authored the bill and what this is about.”
“This is not about political correctness,” she said. Somebody or bodies in the audience laughed at that.
Johnnie Holly, commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, testified “We did not fight for slavery.”
That’s a notion I’ll discuss in my Insight column on Sunday.
After Sons of Confederate Veterans’ member Paul Martin said Hale’s “youthful naiveté is being used against him,” committee member Marisa Marquez, D-El Paso, told Hale “don’t get discouraged by the comments that are being made here today about you.”
Hale, whose 11-yearold brother, mom and dad and two of his grandparents were on hand, managed a small smile and a “thank you.”
Several witnesses, though against the bill, praised Hale’s involvement. “I want to thank that young man over there,” said Jim Westmoreland of Sons of Confederate Veterans. “He at least got us pulling together.”
After the hearing, Hale said he was not upset about the opposition: “It’s just a bunch of people who care about the Civil War. I don’t know if they understand the bill fully, but they are definitely passionate.”
Howard said Hale may be headed for disappointment. “I was just explaining to him that that’s the reality of politics,” she said. “That doesn’t mean that it will happen that way. I was just preparing him.”
The kid is prepared, declaring himself on the morning after the hearing as “realistic but hopeful.” This may not be the time for his idea, but let’s hope the time comes soon for an idea whose time already has come.