In the summer of 2004, I attended Lagniappe, a symposium in Lafayette for teachers of gifted students. The three days were wonderful, and the symposium proved to be a life-changing event.
While there, I wrote this poem. I submitted it and it was published in a magazine with national circulation: Confederate Veteran Volume 62, No. 5 September/October 2004. p. 53. Deo Vindici was the official motto of the Confederacy during the War Between the States, and it means, “God will vindicate us.” I decided to post the poem here.
Deo Vindici
I am a Southerner . . .
I won’t apologize
I won’t be reconstructed.
I will not surrender
My identity, my heritage.
I believe in the Constitution,
In States’ Rights,
That the government should be the
Servant, not the Master of the people.
I believe in the right to bear arms,
The right to be left alone.
I am a Southerner . . .
The spirit of my Confederate ancestor
Boils in my blood.
He fought
Not for what he thought was right,
But for what was right.
Not for slavery,
But to resist tyranny, Machiavellian laws,
Oppressive taxation, invasion of his land,
For the right to be left alone.
I am a Southerner
A rebel,
Seldom politically correct,
At times belligerent.
I don’t like Lincoln, Grant, Sherman,
Or modern neocon politicians like them.
I like hunting and fishing, Leonard Skynnard,
The Bonnie Blue and “Dixie.”
I still believe in chivalry and civility.
I am a face in the Southern collage of
Gentlemen and scholars, belles and writers,
Soldiers and sharecroppers, Cajuns and Creoles,
Tejanos and Isleños, Celts and Germans,
Gullah and Geechi, freedmen and slaves.
We are all the South.
The South . . . My home, my beautiful home,
My culture, my destiny, my heart.
I am a Southerner.
Deo Vindici.
By the grace of God, I am a Southerner. If someone tells me that I don’t sound like a Southerner when I speak, I readily apologize and tell them that I must be doing something wrong because I don’t want to have any other accent and that it’s an honor to sound Southern.
I’m very proud to be a Southern. I’m also proud of my great grandfather, CPL.WT Player who never owned anyone but did fight to evict the Northern invaders.
Joe Wolfe
Charleston, SC
I love this! I was born in NC, but grew up in LA, MS, and AL. My dad worked hard in the paper mill industry. I am proud to be a southern belle, always will be.
I am soooo glad I found this. It expresses my “southernility” to a T. I am a born and bred southern farmer’s daughter who shares several Confederate ancestors with my family who served on our side!!!! I have two sons at Ole Miss, and I’m gonna have turnip greens, cornbread, barbeque chicken and fresh homegrown tomatoes for supper. I’m gonna continue to talk like a southerner, I’m gonna tell the old stories and sang the ole songs til the cows come home. Them folks with them crazy ideas might just oughta leave me alone and stay offa my place. Love yall and God bless ye.
Unfortunately, I was not born in the South, but Ohio. I am Southern by blood and ancestry. Since childhood I have been drawn to always head south never north. My children have all been born in the South, as…many of my ancesteors. Who never owned slaves, but fought to protect what was rightfully theirs from Northern Agressors.
I have lived and served in the South far longer than I have above the Ohio river.
I consider my self Southern by blood and belief, I love this poem and it does describe my feelings and beliefs.
Norman E. Rechel Jr
USMC 1980-1993 (NC & VA)
Kentucky ANG 2003-2013
General Roger W. Hanson Camp 1844 SCV
Deo Vindici