From Staff Reports

A student wearing a Confederate soldier’s uniform at an Erwin High School football game ceremony on Oct. 7 prompted the voicing of concern from some area residents.

In the aftermath, Buncombe County Schools officials on Oct. 17 provided a reason and response over the unnamed student’s attire at the game, noting that he was part of a Junior ROTC Color Guard representing different eras of military history.

“A school system spokesperson said the school board has not taken any action,” Asbeville television station WLOS (News 13) reported on Oct. 17.

News 13 then quoted an unnamed school spokesman as saying – again on Oct. 17 — the following:

“However, central office and school administrators have looked into the situation and, moving forward, will make sure all historical period piece costumes used for school events will be screened for appropriateness prior to the event.”

In response to the action by the Erwin High student who wore a Confederate uniform, H.K. Edgerton, a black Asheville native and long-time Southern heritage activist, submitted a letter to the editor — praising the student as a hero — that is published in this edition of the Daily Planet on Page A11.

Meanwhile, a story dated Oct. 17 and appearing in the Asheville Citizen Times noted that the student’s wearing of a Confederate uniform during the Erwin High football game ceremony raised “issues the school has dealt with in years past.”

The story, with a byline of Ryan Oehrli — “social justice reporter” — stated that “the uniform — a standard set of Confederate grays — made an appearance on Armed Services Night during a football game.

“Buncombe County Schools’ current dress code policy bars Confederate symbols.”

An email from schools spokesperson Stacia Harris to the Citizen Times was quoted in the ACT story as follows:

“The event was during the Erwin Football game last Friday (Oct. 7). It was Armed Services night, which is an annual tradition that involves all of the JROTC Cadets. The costumes for the color guard were chosen to represent different military eras. The costumes range in the level of detail and historical authenticity.”

“The school board is not involved; however, the central office and school administrators have looked into the situation and, moving forward, will better train our staff to screen for appropriateness as related to historical period piece costumes.”

At that point in the story, Oehrili reported the following:

“From 1861 to 1865, the seceded Confederate States of America fought to preserve slavery in the South. Three days before the Civil War ended, there was the Battle of Asheville — a five-hour standoff at the city’s northern outskirts. Asheville had once aspired to be the ‘capital of the Confederacy,’ with its recruitment camps, rifle factory and geographic centrality, historian John Inscoe has written.

“Confederate symbols have long been utilized in white supremacist movements, seeing a resurgence during the Civil Rights Movement. And in 2015, after Dylann Roof killed nine Black parishioners, journalists and law enforcement soon dug up his online manifesto that showed him waving the Stars and Bars, reigniting the longtime conversation about racism and Confederate symbols.

“In 2019, students at Erwin High protested for the school to no longer allow Confederate symbols on campus. Students counterprotesting showed up in their Confederate threads,” the ACT reported.

In quoting school policy further, the newspaper noted:

“Clothes can be disallowed if ‘deemed by school officials to be reasonably likely to create a substantial and material disruption to the educational process or to the operation of the school, including but not limited to items that are reasonably expected to intimidate other students on the basis of race (for example the Confederate flag, swastika, and Ku Klux Klan or KKK or affirmations of white supremacy), gender, gender identification, sexual orientation, creed, national origin, religious affiliation or physical, emotional or intellectual abilities or characteristics.’”

Meanwhile, as for the newspaper with a “social justice reporter” and now known as the Citizen TImes, it also, at least allegedly, has a past connection to the KKK. 

To that end,  Skyline News chief Chad Nesbitt posted the following story, headlined “Founder of the Asheville Citizen Times was a leader of the Ku Klux Klan,” on Facebook on July 16, 2020:

“In 1869, Randolph Abbott Shotwell was the founder of the Asheville ‘Citizen’ when he was 23 years of age. Shotwell had also been a Confederate soldier with the 8th Virginia Infantry. 

“After the Civil War, Shotwell’s political activities  made him a leader in the Ku Klux Klan. Shotwell used his editing skills to justify the atrocities of the Klu Klux Klan in the local media.  He also used his three newspapers, the Asheville Citizen and two others (in New Bern and Rutherford), to attack Republicans and their efforts for racial equality.

“His involvement with the Klan landed him (with) a prison sentence after being arrested on July 5th, 1871. He was convicted to 6 years’ confinement at Albany NY and fined $5,000.00.

“Shotwell was offered an immediate pardon if he would implicate Democrat politicians involved with the Klu Klux Klan. He refused and was sent to the federal penitentiary. 

“In 1872, Shotwell finally revealed the names of prominent Democrat politicians involved with the KKK. Upon the reveal, Republican President Ulysses Grant gave him an unconditional pardon. The Democrat politicians Shotwell implicated served prison time for their involvement with the KKK.

“A monument to Stockwell resides in the Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina. The monument was erected by the State of North Carolina,” Nesbitt’s posting concluded.