July 4th and the Confederates

July 4th and the Confederates

The 4th of July weekend was coming up so I asked my Uncle Nestor what we will be doing. He looked at me with a puzzled face and tells me”OK hold on.” He then calls someone and speaks in our native language “Tagalog”. After the conversation he tells me he called up a Filipino family he knew that would have a small get together at their place. He then tells me “I asked them what should we bring. they told me pork. What should we do?” I then mentioned to him “Lets do pork belly BBQ.” My uncle agrees.

It was still Thursday and it was way early to buy the groceries for the BBQ. He then tells me “Get ready lets go to the park and to Athens today.” I agreed and prepared. the drive wasn’t bad they told me this park was located close to Atlanta. But on the way there we already noticed pick -up trucks displaying the Confederate flags. My uncles told me that its a big thing here. I did noticed this going through the southern states but never this much. People were always telling me as i go more south that watch out that prejudice people will be much more. Believe it or not in my experience I never got this. I’ve encountered friendlier people here than people in NYC.  It was in Georgia that i saw people waving the Confederate flag more.

I asked my uncle what is the park were going through. He told me Its “Stone Mountain Park.” I asked him “What kind of park is it?” He then tells me “Its a rock that displays the Confederate generals and leader President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson. I reacted as “WOW… Really?” Excitement filled me because I have seen documentaries about this and wanted to see it more.

We got there and went around the park. We got into seeing more of the park than just the Confederacy and its rich history with the Klu Klux Klan. Uncle Jo has been in Georgia for 30 years and he told me that back then they used to have meeting there and it sometimes turn bad. But now things have change and Confederacy doesn’t mean prejudice or its history but more where you come now. As we go around the park we finally set to see the carving on the face of the quartz mezonite rock. The Big rock towering to 1600 feet. had cable car to the top and smooth surface on the other side that was blasted long ago. I did more reading about the park as we went along and found out that the park used to be owned by private entities use to do quarries and they were supporters of the confederates. The government did purchase the land when the economy was bad to boost and create jobs for the community around it.

Believe it or not this park did not even displayed one confederate flag. I didn’t know because maybe the 4th of July holiday is coming up so i asked my uncle. He then tell me that this park is managed by a management company.

As we walked the park opened up and the carving was there and clear. It was life size measuring to two football fields. Below the carving is a clear view with a lawn for you to sit and enjoy. They do laser shows during the night and most of the time set up a stage below for concerts and shows. this was arranged almost like a concert hall with stages and platforms for groups on the side. Each platform has a state that left the union and joined the confederates. We stayed for a while and even converse into some people also visiting and by the way everyone was asking about the confederates flags. There was none display and am sure we all agreed since its the July 4th weekend and since its manage now by a company entity that they don’t want to get any negative press about it.

We then left the park and headed towards Athens. Everyone was already starving and my uncle decided to go to the buffet once again. Hearing this i felt like i was a bear going into hibernation and ate like a monster. My uncle kept telling me that i need to gain back what i loss and make enough room for you to loose again soon. After late lunch we then walked in to the Korean market and bought the groceries we need for the BBQ. We encountered some Filipinos and even an African America lady that spoke “Tagalog” They are in a missionary church and told us she has been in the Philippines for missionary messages and stayed there a lot before. We were all in awe how she was able to speak fluently.

We then headed to Athens. I have already seen Athens on the way to mu Uncle Nestor’s place, but it was night time and saw it in a passing glance. When we got there it looked like a ghost town. It was almost empty with few stores open. Keep ion mind its summer and school semesters are done, not to mention its July 4th weekend also. Uncle Jo told me before that they used to display the University of Georgia mascot bulldogs in most stores. But in some ordinance before they have removed most of it. Walking through their business area and we were able to find one and took photos. The campus was open but only a few sections also. My uncle told me Athens used to be smaller and University of Georgia has most of its land but they have already expanded the city limits.
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We were beat and headed home. As soon as we got home i started the marinate of the pork bellies. Uncle Jo takes advantage of the opportunity and started opening the brandy and tequila. I took shots and he began to prepare the grill. Since he said “I cant make it with you guys tomorrow but we can celebrate tonight.” I placed beers in the freezers and Uncle Nestor opened the karaoke machine. this went on for the whole night until we all reached our limit from singing and drinking at 1am.

The next day we all stayed later at our own beds and woke up late morning. I then prepared a remaining of the beef marinate i made the other day and had our fill. After this Uncle Nestor tells me to get ready before 5 since we are heading to that get together soon. I went on to start the BBQ since it was already close to 3pm. I aske him “Uncle Nestor do we have more charcoal? Unlce Jo used most of it yesterday.” He looks at me with a puzzled face and tells me “Hold on.” He then comes out with 2×4 pieces of wood and tell me “Will this work?” I then give him a smile and told him “I can make it work.” I was able to get the fire started and it was going fine. He then shows up and tell me “You want to fast track it?” I responded “Sure.” He comes out with a blow torch hooked up to an LPG gas and torches away the wood. He had a big grin while he was doing this and when he was contented he tells me. “That fast enough?” I just nodded and laughed. The best park of me cooking is i enjoy it and makes me relax. I grabbed more beer while cooking and this made cooking much more enjoyable.

When I was done Uncle Nestor tell me to get ready since it was already 4:30 and we have to be to the get together soon. We got there by 5:30 and was introduced to our host. They have prepared a lot food and i thought to myself. “this is a lot of food they prepared. Good thing i made extra if more people showed up.” And by experience of Filipino parties when they tell you oh its just gonna be an intimate get together. Which mean maybe 3-4 families. By the time it was 7pm there were about 8 family and their guests in there. After we had our fill and socializing we then decided to hit the road.

On the way home I told Uncle Nestor “too bad we couldn’t see any fireworks.” He then replies “We can actually see it if you want to. My neighbor last time invited me but i don’t know if we should.” I asked him why. He then tell me the story that when they were invited he showed up with a big brandy bottle and they didn’t even had anything to serve. It was only fireworks. No food, drinks, sweets, nothing. I just laughed at him and told him “Hey at least thye invited you and am sure the food went to the fireworks.” He then replies am sure it did but I wanted to eat more.” We both laughed.

As soon as we get home we walked in his garage, we heard someone calling his name. “Nestor! Hey Nestor!” He stopped and saw who wasit was… It was his neighbors coming to invite him. I looked at him to see how he would react. They introduced themselves to me and invited Uncle Nestor if he wanted to see their fireworks. Being sly and smart he then answers “Oh no thank you my nephew here need to wake up ealry and pack his things tonight. He has a big trip ahead of him.” I just looked at him and smiled. We did thank them for the invite and went back inside. As soon as we got back in I then tell him “Man… You used me as your escape” and we both laughed

We went inside and to our surprise the fireworks On tv was still on and has not started. we were able to watch the full show whole doing my laundry. we went to bed and told Uncle Nestor that ill be leaving early. He told me that he will be up to say farewell

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