Black Confederate display banned 
                  Politically-correct Army 
                  censored 'tasteful' historical' exhibit 


                  By Jon E. Dougherty
                  © 2000 WorldNetDaily.com Thur. March 9, 2000
                  An Army post has forbidden a retired officer
                  from displaying Civil War-era historical
                  memorabilia of black Confederate soldiers,
                  claiming the display is offensive, even though it
                  was set up to honor Black History Month. 

                  Ed Kennedy, a retired Army lieutenant colonel
                  who taught history at the Army staff college for
                  three years and now lives near Fort
                  Leavenworth, Kansas, said he is perplexed by
                  the order to remove the display from the post's
                  Command and General Staff College. According
                  to Kennedy -- who is white -- the display was
                  created to honor, not demean, blacks and to
                  educate people who might not have known that
                  many blacks indeed served willingly as
                  southern soldiers. 

                  Kennedy said in order to prevent hurting
                  anyone's feelings, his group -- Sons of
                  Confederate Veterans -- purposefully decided
                  not to place a Confederate flag in the display,
                  even though it dealt with a Confederate theme. 

                  The display, erected on Jan. 30 but covered by
                  superiors with brown paper by Feb. 1, was
                  based on "a lot of research, going through
                  books, many of them by black authors, detailing
                  the lives of black Confederate vets," noted Greg
                  Freeman, a columnist who wrote about the
                  incident in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "They
                  also transcribed historical documents and
                  included photographs of some of the vets. The
                  tasteful display also included Civil War-era
                  bullets and bayonets." 

                  Kennedy and his group works closely with
                  another group, Sons of Union Veterans, made
                  up of descendants of Union soldiers. No
                  mention was made as to whether the Union
                  group participated in the Leavenworth project,
                  but "the groups sometimes work together
                  decorating graves, among other things,"
                  Freeman said. 

                  Kennedy said when he tried to find out why the
                  display was covered, Army college officials
                  gave him "the runaround." 

                  Initially, he was told someone had filed an
                  official complaint about the display, only to find
                  out later that claim was false. Then, said the
                  retired officer, he was told the display offended
                  the college's commanding officer, Col. Stanley
                  Evans, who had ordered it covered up. 

                  Kennedy tried to get a meeting with the officer
                  but was repeatedly delayed. On Feb. 5, word
                  came that Kennedy would have to remove the
                  display, on Evans' orders, because U.S. Army
                  Chief of Staff Gen. Eric K. Shinseki would be
                  visiting the college and Evans didn't want him
                  to see it. 

                  "The decision to censor
                  and remove the
                  display was made
                  before anyone would
                  even meet with us to
                  talk about it," Kennedy
                  told the Post-Dispatch.

                  Finally, the college
                  commander agreed to
                  meet with Kennedy,
                  telling him the display
                  was removed because it lacked "balance." The
                  retired officer explained that the display was
                  intended to showcase black Confederate
                  soldiers and that it was not appropriate to add
                  references to black slavery as Evans suggested. 

                  "That would have been fine, but not as part of
                  this display," Kennedy said. 

                  The retired lieutenant colonel also said he
                  explained to Evans that the display was
                  historically accurate -- based on voluminous
                  supportive research -- and was in no way
                  intended to demean, malign or otherwise insult
                  blacks. Evans said he would study the issue of
                  allowing Kennedy to put the display back up
                  and said he would be in contact. 

                  But the call never came. After some time had
                  passed, Kennedy decided to re-contact Evans,
                  only to find out he had retired. The new
                  commander, Col. John Moilanen, knew nothing
                  of the issue and Kennedy decided not to
                  approach him with it. 

                  "By then it was too late to do anything, plus Col.
                  Moilanen was new in the position, so it would
                  have been unfair to ask him to make a quick
                  decision without knowing what had gone on,"
                  Kennedy said. 

                  The retired Kennedy has since filed a complaint
                  with the base inspector general and with the
                  base Equal Opportunity Employment office. 

                  An Army spokesperson at Leavenworth, Janet
                  Ray, said the display had been removed
                  because "there were complaints." 

                  "Those who complained felt the display didn't
                  give the full perspective of blacks' experiences
                  in the Civil War," Ray said. 

                  Though she said she knew blacks had served as
                  soldiers for the Confederate Army, Ray said,
                  "we'd like the Confederate group to maybe
                  work with the black officers and figure out a
                  better way to make the presentation in the
                  future." 

                  Kennedy said Ray's comments were the only
                  ones he received as well. 

                  "We'd love to work with the black officers or
                  anyone else, and we'd be glad to make a
                  presentation to anyone who'd like one," he said. 

                  However, he added, he wishes someone from
                  the Army would have told him that, especially
                  during the month of February. 

                  "I think they were just hoping we would go
                  away," Kennedy said. "We were censored -- but
                  not on something that was inaccurate, but on
                  something factual, honoring those blacks who
                  fought in the Confederacy." 



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                  Jon E. Dougherty is a staff reporter for
                  WorldNetDaily.