“The South” – at least as defined as a unique, richly
flavored heritage in the American melting pot – nearly died at the end of the
19th century. But it hung on in the tenacious way that southerners have always
held on. They held on even as they came (as Virgil Cane said) and tore up the
tracks again. And as they held on and regrouped through the 20th century, they
had a symbol to cling to. It might not have been the best symbol, and others
would obviously see it as a sigil of war, but it was the symbol they had. And
they hung on to it. It grew to mean something deeper and more profound about
the cultural identity of just being from The South when everyone else wanted to
pretend that The South had never existed. That’s what it’s all about. And it’s
what it’s been about for a very, very long time.
I don't think he explains much about the meaning of the confederate flag at all with the above, but let's set that aside. Here's my personal take on the confederate flag. I don’t think the confederate flag should be the official flag of any federal, state or local public entity, and I don’t think anybody should want it to, but that’s for the people of those different jurisdictions to decide. I think people should be able to fly it or otherwise display it, because that’s freedom of speech. If their community ostracizes or otherwise responds negatively to them because of it, I say great. If their community thinks it’s fine or actively cheers, I say shame. But that’s America.
A lot of the Hot Air comments have said that people who are not from the south simply don’t get it. That the confederate flag symbolizes something deep and fundamental, a history and heritage encompassing any number of things about the south, its culture, its history and people that are elemental to it’s meaning to southerners. They suggest that racism and slavery, while certainly bound up in the flag’s symbolism, are merely incidental to it’s meaning, rather than core to what it stands for. You can have a lot of fine debate about it, a lot of fascinating historical discussion. I suppose there is something to that argument. Personally, I don’t think race and racism are incidental to the confederate flag’s symbolism, but I’ll accept this view of it at face value as sincerely felt and believed by its proponents.
As a black citizen, as a descendant of people who were enslaved, as a descendant of people who wore the Union uniform (13th US Colored Heavy Artillery) the confederate flag is the symbol of the people, who had they won, would have kept me and mine enslaved to this very day. It’s the symbol of the people who fought and died by the thousands, who were willing to kill thousands of their fellow white citizens, for the right to maintain my family members who came before me as chattel within a routine and organized system of degrading, violent and inhuman slavery so that I could one day be born into it as well. When I look at the flag, what I see are the colors of the people who desired to perpetuate a continuous and barbaric crime against humanity on me and mine and were willing to kill and die for it. Show a swastika to a Jew and you get a visceral reaction that pretty much anybody understands. Show me or any other regular black citizen a confederate flag, pretty much the same thing. It’s the symbol of people who fought a war to preserve their ability to enslave and degrade us. That’s what I see and that’s never gonna change.
Logging you in...
willamettevalley · 486 weeks ago
It is undeniable that the central issue that sparked the Civil War was the abolition of slavery. Let me be very clear that I strongly believe the North was right to try to abolish slavery. At the same time, the South was right about the Constitution and the rights of states. I wish the issue had been able to be worked out peacefully without the killing of 600,000 American's and the trashing of the Constitution. I believe there is some nuance and complexity to the South's reasons for fighting in the war. Even those who opposed slavery like General Lee fought to protect his state. The South was asking to be left alone and be allowed to secede from the Union; I think most Southerners thought they were fighting to protect their state and their region from Northern aggression. I'm just a white guy from Oregon, but I believe that the South felt very bitter about the war and the destruction that the North had inflicted upon the South, and the North continued to look down upon the South for a long time. As a result, instead of abolitionists being able to change the hearts and minds of the Southerners about slavery (which I grant would have taken longer), the war created a very defiant spirit among the South, and racism continued much longer and much stronger in the South than it might have if abolitionists had been able to achieve outlawing slavery through democratic processes than through a war.
I certainly understand where you are coming from when you describe how you see the flag, but I also understand why a lot of South rallied around what they saw as a symbol of honoring their loved ones who fought and died in the war, defiance against those that looked down upon them, and a symbol of regional pride.
darwin · 486 weeks ago
Great points … and I agree with you. However, I’m inclined to believe that the battle isn’t really over the flag itself, but the constant attempts on the left to make people bow to their demands.
Democrats keep chipping away at history, tradition, religion, values, guns, and pretty much anything you can think of.
“You can’t say this … you can’t do that … you can’t display this … you can’t do anything unless we approve”.
I think that’s mentally people are sick of and it shows itself in issues like this.
If someone, or some group simply would articulate what you just said to the people of Mississippi … not demanding, just explaining how black people feel … the flag just could possibly go out without a fight.