McBerry to speak at Lee-Jackson banquet
Event honors Confederate generals recognized as superior military tacticians
By Carlton Fletcher
ALBANY — One-time Georgia gubernatorial candidate Ray McBerry will be the featured speaker Saturday at the Albany Sons of Confederate Veterans camp’s annual Southwest Georgia Lee-Jackson Banquet.
The banquet, which kicks off with traditional music by the Leesburg band A Joyful Noise, will be held at the American Legion Post 30 banquet hall at 2916 Gillionville Road. All persons interested in Southern history and heritage, including those who are not SCV members, are invited to attend the banquet.
McBerry, who preaches at Pinnacle Baptist Church in Locust Grove after an unsuccessful 2010 run for governor, said he’ll use the examples set by Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson to emphasize the importance of preserving Southern heritage for future generations.
“Young people especially have been brainwashed to believe they have no right to be proud of what they are,” McBerry said in a phone conversation with The Herald. “Thankfully, some of the themes that have played out in our country recently have awakened Southerners from indifference. No one is happy about the tragedy in Charleston (S.C., in which nine worshipers in a predominantly African-American church were shot and killed by an avowed racist), but there are opportunists who’ve concocted ways to vilify the symbols of the Confederacy.
“I think men like Robert E. Lee, who freed his own slaves before the war, give you a true indication of what (the American Civil War) was about. People still insist it was about slavery, but 90 percent of all Confederate soldiers did not own slaves. The notion that 90 percent of a group is willing to risk their lives so others could keep slaves is ridiculous.”
As far as his own political future, McBerry said he “tries to be obedient to where the Lord leads me, and at this particular time I don’t feel he is leading me back into that realm.”
Lee-Jackson Banquet attendees will start arriving Saturday at 5 p.m., and A Joyful Noise will perform from 6 to 7 p.m. A banquet will follow. Advance reservations, which are $20 for single adults, $38 for couples and $15 for persons under age 21, are required.
Reservations may be made by contacting SCV Albany Camp 141 Commander James King at (229) 854-1944 or at [email protected] online.
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