BlackAmericaWeb.com Home:Sons of Confederate Vets divided on racial agenda

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - More rifts are forming in the Sons of Confederate Veterans as factions struggle for control of the group's identity and direction.

``Save the Sons of Confederate Veterans'' is sending letters to more than 800 camps around the world aimed at steering the SCV back toward its ``constitutional purpose'' of defending Southern heritage in a nonracist way.

Last week, Ron Wilson, commander in chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, removed Charles Hawks, a retired government worker, as head of one of the group's three regional divisions.

Three months earlier, Hawks had beat an opponent with white supremacist ties for the coveted post of commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. Wilson said he took the action because Hawks breached the confidentiality of a closed meeting, but Hawks says he obeyed the group's rules.

Hawks says he is being ``purged'' from the 31,000-member organization because he does not embrace the far-right politics of some of its leadership, including his election rival, lawyer Kirk Lyons.

Hawks' removal was tied to a meeting with discussions about disciplinary action against Greensboro, N.C., restaurateur and SCV local chapter leader Gilbert Jones.

Jones started Save the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

``What we're trying to do is simply return the SCV to its constitutional purpose,'' said Walter C. Hilderman of Eutawville, one of the group's organizers, said in a news release. ``If someone wants to attack the government and advocate secession, they can join the League of the South. If they find some sort of warped virtue in racism, then go to the Ku Klux Klan. But this organization has rejected racism in its past, and it's time to do it again once and for all.''

Wilson says the SCV hasn't become political or embraced a racist agenda. ``People, when they don't like what you're doing or saying, they'll label you with some onerous term,'' he said.

Some SCV members also are members of the League of the South and the Council of Conservative Citizens, both of which the Southern Poverty Law Center labels racist hate groups.

Wilson acknowledged that many SCV members belong to other groups. For instance, his chief of staff was a member of the League of the South. Wilson said he belonged to both the League of the South and the CCC several years ago, but has quit both groups. ``Obviously, I had some discomfort or I wouldn't have left,'' he said.

Wilson said those memberships don't violate the SCV's prohibition against political activity.

``We don't give up our citizenship when we join this organization,'' he said.