Editing Michael Hill
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With Thomas Fleming, Hill co-authored an article entitled "New Dixie Manifesto" in ''The Washington Post'' in June 1995. The "League" venerates what it calls the south's "Celtic" heritage, advocating a version of racist pseudohistory in which (white) southerners are alleged to descend from Scottish and Irish immigrants and the "liberal" north is alleged to descend primarily from English immigrants. | With Thomas Fleming, Hill co-authored an article entitled "New Dixie Manifesto" in ''The Washington Post'' in June 1995. The "League" venerates what it calls the south's "Celtic" heritage, advocating a version of racist pseudohistory in which (white) southerners are alleged to descend from Scottish and Irish immigrants and the "liberal" north is alleged to descend primarily from English immigrants. | ||
Michael Hill's speeches make frequent reference to the movie ''Braveheart'', and he often states that a war between the "Celtic" south and the English north is "inevitable". In an Abbeville speech he asked the crowd "What would it take to get you to fight? … What would it take to turn you into a William Wallace?" in reference to the main character from the movie ''Braveheart''. His supporters also support and glamorize groups like the [[Irish Republican Army]] and the Scottish Nationalist Party. The notion that the south is "Celtic" and the North is "English" has been dismissed by scholars on numerous grounds. It both provides a justification for the [[Civil War|civil war]] that is based on a psuedoscientific racial determinism and which also does not include the southern states explicitly seceding for the sake of preserving slavery. Furthermore it has been pointed out that proponents of the theory define numerous parts of southern and central England as "Celtic", in order to make the numbers work, and it ignores the fact that even amongst the working classes immigrants from Scotland and Ireland were massively outnumbered in the south by English indentured servants by a collective margin of roughly 5:1 (with groups like the Scots-Irish not being the largest immigrant group at this time as Hill and his group claim, but rather they are the largest non-English group) and that in the 1980 census when people were asked what their ancestry or ethnicity was, a large majority of southerners self-identified as being of English ancestry. | Michael Hill's speeches make frequent reference to the movie ''Braveheart'', and he often states that a war between the "Celtic" south and the English north is "inevitable". In an Abbeville speech he asked the crowd "What would it take to get you to fight? … What would it take to turn you into a William Wallace?" in reference to the main character from the movie ''Braveheart''. His supporters also support and glamorize groups like the [[Irish Republican Army]] and the [[Scottish Nationalist Party]]. The notion that the south is "Celtic" and the North is "English" has been dismissed by scholars on numerous grounds. It both provides a justification for the [[Civil War|civil war]] that is based on a psuedoscientific racial determinism and which also does not include the southern states explicitly seceding for the sake of preserving slavery. Furthermore it has been pointed out that proponents of the theory define numerous parts of southern and central England as "Celtic", in order to make the numbers work, and it ignores the fact that even amongst the working classes immigrants from Scotland and Ireland were massively outnumbered in the south by English indentured servants by a collective margin of roughly 5:1 (with groups like the Scots-Irish not being the largest immigrant group at this time as Hill and his group claim, but rather they are the largest non-English group) and that in the 1980 census when people were asked what their ancestry or ethnicity was, a large majority of southerners self-identified as being of English ancestry. | ||
Hill tried to revive the [[Southern Party]] in 2003. A decade later, in 2013, Hill promoted "opposition to immigration and same-sex marriage." In June 2015, he spoke out in defense of slavery and white supremacy, stating that his views were backed up by science. | Hill tried to revive the [[Southern Party]] in 2003. A decade later, in 2013, Hill promoted "opposition to immigration and same-sex marriage." In June 2015, he spoke out in defense of slavery and white supremacy, stating that his views were backed up by science. | ||