of “Dixie” and other Southern anthemsrnburst forth with unrestrained exuberance.rnWe had come to honor the memorvrnof the dead. But, as with mostrnSouthern funerals, significant thingsrnoccur among the surviving kith and kin.rnWe go to bury our dead and we comernaway resurrected, our sense of place withinrnthe kindred renewed and confirmed.rnSo too at the memorial service and rallyrnin honor of Michael David Westerman,rnwho was murdered in January, allegedlyrnby two carloads of black males whornobjected to his flving the Confederaternbattle flag from his truck.rnBetween 500-600 vehicles initiallyrnformed the motorcade that headedrnnorth on Highway 41 for Guthrie, Kentuckv.rnOnce arrived in Westerman’srnhometown of 2,000, whole familiesrnsaluted us from their front yards, andrnteenagers waved excitedly from thernhoods of cars in gas station parking lots.rnThe Flag was everywhere, especiallyrnpoignant in the hands of little children.rnRain clouds loomed in the west, and Jackrnremarked on the propitiousness of thernslain’s name; the fate of “Westerman”rncould yet be the fate of “Western Man”rnshould Southerners be stripped of theirrnculture and civilization. We made ourrnway to the gravesite where MichaelrnWesterman’s survivors waited: his youngrnwidow, his infant twins, each held by arntearful grandparent. A brisk north windrnrippled hundreds of Confederate bannersrnheld aloft by the callused hands ofrnGod-fearing, law-abiding, working people.rnDuring the eulogy someone saidrnthat the Justice Department might bringrnci’il rights charges against the alleged assailants.rnHis sidekick shot back, “It’ll berna cold day in Hell when they admit thatrnSoutherners have civil rights.”rnFrom Guthrie, we wound our way tornFlkton, home of Todd County HighrnSchool, Westerman’s alma mater. Itsrnsports teams are the “Rebels” and theirrnsymbol, the Confederate battle flag. Afterrnall, Todd County is the birthplace ofrnJefferson Davis. The Kentucky NAACPrnhas been agitating against The Flag andrnother Southern symbols since the fall ofrn1993. By now our caravan had swelled tornnearly 1,000 vehicles (even though thernAP wire story reported only 200-300),rnlooking like an invading army.rnA country music group was performingrnDwight Yoakum’s “I Sang Dixie” asrnthe multitude entered Jefferson DavisrnPark. The ubiquitous Rebel Yell echoedrneerily around the grounds and fell silentrnat the foot of the massive obelisk that isrnthe Davis monument. Following a movingrntribute to Westerman by his aunt,rnspeakers from several pro-South organizationsrn—the Southern League, the Sonsrnof Confederate Veterans, the HeritagernPreservation Association, the Council ofrnConservative Citizens, among others—rnfired an already enthusiastic crowd ofrnsome 4,000. The Southern League’srnadvocacy of secession as a means of combatingrnthe tyranny of a usurping centralrnstate met with howls of approval. It wasrna good day for Southern nationalism.rnThe ‘eterans among us almost to a manrnsaid that they had never seen anythingrnquite like this before.rnI have no doubt that people went awayrnmore inspired and more certain that theyrnstill belong to an extended family calledrnThe South. They will continue to flyrnThe Flag and keep and bear arms, evenrnthough tyrants and thugs in their midstrnseek to deprive them of both rights,rnwhile liberal intellectuals will continue tornjustify “black rage”—as if any color ofrnrage that manifests itself as murder is acceptable.rnThe Establishment will continuernto pass “crime bills,” while thernCrips and Bloods freely spread mavhem.rnWhite Southerners will get more ofrnwhat Otto Scott calls “retroactive punishment,”rnwith the pretext being the rectificationrnof perceived past injustices.rnI’m reminded of Mick Jagger’s “Sympathyrnfor the Devil”; “When every cop is arncriminal and all the sinners saints…”rnOur future as Southerners is threatened.rnMotorcades and rallies are voluntary,rnand so is allegiance to the South; wernwouldn’t want it any other way. But ifrnwe, as the remnant of Western Man, arernto survive to enjoy our voluntary associations,rnwe must close ranks and require ofrnourselves service to the cause of Southernrnindependence. The gathering inrnmemory of Michael Westerman hasrnshown that Southern nationalism isrnindeed alive, and with it lives the “last,rnbest hope” for Western Man.rn—Michael HillrnT H E JAPANESE army tortured andrnmurdered American prisoners of war inrnthe 1940’s; most people know this. Butrnnot many people are aware that Japan—rnin contrast to Germany, which apologizedrnto former POWs and paid millionsrnof dollars in reparations—refuses even tornadmit publicly that its military violatedrnbasic standards of decency, not to mentionrnthe Geneva Convention. This is allrnthe more startling in light of the seriousrndisparity between the treatment ourrnmen received in the German POWrncamps and that accorded to Americanrntroops interned in Japan.rnAccording to the Center for CivilianrnInternee Rights, 12,526 of the 33,587rnAmerican soldiers captured by thernJapanese died, a mortality rate of 37 percent.rnWhile some of these deaths resultedrnfrom malnutrition and disease, an untoldrnnumber died from beatings andrntorture. In German POW camps, thernmortality rate was one percent, evenrnthough the Nazis had 96,614 captives,rnnearly three times as many as their Asianrnallies.rnJapan’s refusal to concede that anyrnatrocities took place prompted GilbertrnM. Hair, himself a survivor of the camps,rnto launch the Center for Civilian InterneernRights, which has filed a lawsuitrnagainst the Japanese government in anrneffort to win reparations and to redressrnwhat he calls the “intolerable discrepancy”rnbetween German and Japanese responsesrnto past crimes. The center encouragesrnall survivors of the Japaneserncamps and their next of kin to participaternin this class action. Papers must be filedrnwith the organization’s lawyers beforernAugust 1, 1995. For more information,rnwrite to Mr. Hair at the Center for CivilianrnInternee Rights, Inc., 6060 La GorcernDrive, Miami Beach, Florida, 33140, orrncall 305-864-2558.rn—Michael WashburnrnOBITER DICTA: Immigration and thernAmerican Identity, a book of essays by 23rnChronicles contributors, is still availablernat the discount price—$12.95 plus $2.50rnfor shipping and handling. For ordering,rnsee the ad on the inside back-cover.rnChronicles can be found in the followingrnMichigan stores: Chapters, 128 E.rnBroadway, Mt. Pleasant; Grand RiverrnBooks, 515 Grand River, East Lansing;rnGeneration X, 425 Albert Avenue, EastrnLansing; Little Professor Book Center,rn22174 Michigan Avenue, Dearborn;rnSchuler Books, 2075 W. Grand River,rnOkemas; Borders Book Shop, 45290 UticarnPark Boulevard, Utica; PaperbacksrnUnlimited, 22634 Woodward St., Ferndale;rnMichigan News Agency, 308 WestrnMichigan Avenue, Kalamazoo; TowerrnRecords, South University Galleria, AnnrnArbor; Barnes & Noble Superstore, 6575rnTelegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills.rnJULY 1995/7rnrnrn