Southern Exposure Magazine / Institute for Southern Studies

Southern Exposure Magazine / Institute for Southern Studies
The story, published on the website of Southern Exposure magazine, http://www.southernstudies.org/southernexposure.asp, and which will be featured in the print version of the magazine in early March, reveals that Governor Bush has "long-standing close ties with - and offers financial support to - neo-Confederate groups and causes."

Among the evidence of Bush's questionable associations documented in the story:

* * * Governor Bush is listed as a donor to the Museum of the Confederacy, based in Richmond, Virginia, as a supporter of the Museum's annual ball - an event held in a slave hall, which has drawn fire for its celebration of the Southern Confederacy.

* * * A letter on Texas Governor stationary, dated January 1, 1996, shows Gov. Bush congratulating the 100th anniversary of the United Daughters of the Confederacy - a group known for glorifying the Confederate past, and which has been criticized for sponsoring books by extreme-right authors who, among other claims, downplay the harms of the slave trade.

* * * Bush also penned an official state letter honoring the Sons of Confederate Veterans in 1996, a group which claims to be mainstream, but which has repeatedly offered a platform for avowedly white supremacist organizations like the Council of Conservative Citizens.

"This puts Bush's silence on the South Carolina battle flag controversy into perspective," says editor Chris Kromm, editor of Southern Exposure and author of the story. "Gov. Bush has gone out of his way to embrace the agenda of the Old South - a position that, if made public, would alienate most forward-looking Southerners, not to mention the rest of the country."

Most disturbing, Kromm says, is Bush's support for the Museum of the Confederacy ball, held at the Tredgar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia, where slaves worked to build war material for the Confederate Army. Each year, the ball draws hundreds of all-white guests in period costume to a hall festooned with Confederate flags.