People's Rights Oregon 5 – July 4th 2021 Parade – Questions Answered-by BJ Soper

A controversy surrounding a float in the Redmond Independence Day Parade depicting a Union and Confederate Flag together has produced a topic of conversation that we at Peoples Rights Oregon 5 would like to address. The float was created by PRO5 member Scott Stuart. Mr. Stuart's goal with the float was to show that throughout history, division has torn our Country apart.  His message was "United We Stand, divided we fall".  Mr. Stuart teaches a living history class that focuses on leadership skills, and his class uses the battle of Gettysburg as a focal point.  Mr. Stuart is a relative of a Confederate Officer, Jeb Stuart, for which his uniform was depicted in the float along with a Union officer and a Union soldier.  Mr. Stuart is not a racist, nor is racism a principle that People's Rights promotes or agrees with.

We stand firm on the statement, "those that do not know their history are bound to repeat the mistakes of the past."  The Confederate flag is a part of our American history.  History can not be changed, for the better or the worse.  While we understand that many see this flag as a symbol of racism, just as many see the flag as a representation of a time in history where more than racism and slavery were in question.  624,511 Americans died in the bloody 4 years the war was fought.  Some fought to preserve slavery, while some fought to end it. Some fought for the South to preserve the US Constitution while at the same time despising slavery.  This fact remains, while slavery ended in one sense for millions, millions more were enslaved by the Union force.

  Many would argue the liberty of the southern people was taken away by force, just as the liberty of those forced into the slave trade.  The Lord instilled in every person the inalienable right to life, liberty and property, combined with the ability to protect and defend as needed. This can never be taken away by another person, only subdued by force and violence.

 Natural law listed above is a fundamental principle for People's Rights. These are not just American principles, they are human principles, given to every man and women to walk this Earth. No other factor like the the color of skin, or national origin exist to change what the Lord has given to all of us. As Mr. Stuart intended to express, we are much better off defending our rights together, UNITED. He used history as a tool to teach and express this message. People's Rights members keep the motto, "Unite to Defend" as our founding principle, working to protect and defend the rights of everyone.

People's Rights Oregon 5 never has and never will promote racism, in fact we find racism to be a sign of weakness, and believe that We The People as a whole body are not weak.  Groups like the KKK, and BLM promote racism as a tool to push agendas and further division, to weaken the foundation of this country, which as shown above is contrary to our foundational principles.  We find no value in this strategy. We at PRO5 value all life; we work hard to protect and defend the life, liberty and property for ourselves, our family, friends and neighbors.