Someone sent me a link to yet another misinformed rant from
a pro-racist, anti-Confederate heritage reactionary:
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20150414_Limit_public_use_of_Confederate_flag.html#qHmwC0eeeX0WbsIL.01
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20150414_Limit_public_use_of_Confederate_flag.html#qHmwC0eeeX0WbsIL.01
I decided that I would go ahead and write a response to the
article, but found that after posting four equally misinformed responses from
like-minded Tools that went along with the flawed and faulty premise of the
article, the closed-minded coward apparently closed the comments section out of
fear that he would be schooled by someone knowledgeable of the issue.
Well since it was his article, the author, one Mr. Paul F.
Bradley, has every right to evoke censorship.
However, since this is my uncensored blog, I have every right
to offer my personal response to the article, point by point.
Let's begin shall we?
Limit Public Use Of The Confederate Flag (Snort)
As the country has commemorated the
sesquicentennial of the Civil War, the Confederate battle flag has been paraded
at events across the country. (Actually there are many
different Confederate battle flags -- though I presume Mr. Bradley refers to
the Dixie Cross pattern itself rather than say the Missouri Battle Flag, or the
Hardee Battle Flag -- oh and FYI that flag and others like it have been paraded
at events across the country long before the sesquicentennial of the War
Between The States.) In the commemorative context - at
battle reenactments, museums, and cemeteries - it seemed appropriate. Beyond
that, is there a more divisive and controversial symbol in America? (I can name several off the top of my head: The Obama symbol and
other political symbols of candidates both Left and Right -- why campaigning politicians
need their own symbols these days like sports logos is beyond me .)
I live in suburban America. (Really? So do I!) The
neighborhoods and surrounding landscape are filled with picturesque woods,
river vistas, and neatly trimmed houses with retail shopping at major road
crossings. Old Glory (the real U.S flag) waves from nearly every other porch. (Old Glory flies from my
porch too -- though it does have company. Also I don't dispute the fact that
the US flag is Old Glory....but the terms US flag and American flag I don't really
consider the same things.)
On a recent run, though, I stopped
in my tracks. On one street I counted four Rebel battle flags (two bumper
stickers, one hanging in the back window of a pickup truck, and one that
snapped menacingly in the late winter winds). (Wow and he saw all of this at once? He must have eagle eyes this
one.) This
is just outside Philadelphia. (Go Eagles!)
Visually, the Rebel battle flag is captivating. (Captivating, yet menacing according to the schizophrenic mind of
the writer.) With its red field, blue stripes, and white stars, it was a
19th-century marketing gem. Red symbolizes power and aggression and
psychologically strikes fear, and no doubt that was the hope as this banner was
carried into battle by Robert E. Lee's troops. (Not just General Lee's troops. By 1864 the Confederate Army of
Tennessee had its own version of the Dixie Cross battle flag.)
To some, this flag is a symbol of
Southern heritage. It represents the pride and courage of the Southern soldiers
who challenged perceived federal tyranny during the War Between the States. (That and much more: a
symbol of a living Southern cultural identity and pride, as well as a memorial
symbol of the Southern dead from the War.)
But others are hoisting the flag as
the symbol for their à-la-carte (humm, what is on the menu? LOL!) application of federal law. As a
counterargument, one only needs to review the rationales that accompanied the
states' ordinances of secession and the Confederate Constitution: Slavery
trumped states' rights as the cause for the war. (To give the writer credit, at least he didn't bore us all with the
litany of cut-and-paste history that usually accompanies articles like this
one.)
For countless others, the flag is a
symbol of oppression that was resurrected in the decades after it was furled at
Appomattox Courthouse. Hate groups, segregationists, and opponents of the civil
rights movement, including certain Southern states, appropriated the flag and
used it to intimidate. (Humm, yeah, look at how those bigots misused and misappropriated an
honorable American symbol to promote their sick, twisted ideology. I can especially see the pain and hurt in that last photo.)
Segregationists....check. |
Opponents of Civil Rights....check. |
Misuse by Hate Groups....Double Check. |
Some of these states, including Georgia, eventually yielded to public pressure and removed the battle flag from their state banners. (If by "public pressure" Mr. Bradley actually means: removed because of a State Legislature that took matters into their own hands at the complaints of angry "civil rights" groups promoting a pro-racist ideology regarding that flag over the objections of the vast majority of voters in their own districts, then the statement would probably be correct.) Mississippi has not. (Most likely because they allowed their citizens to vote on the matter, and the result was overwhelmingly in favor of keeping it across ethnic lines, but that's a dirty little secret that one.) South Carolina no longer flies the flag from atop its Statehouse but still has it on the grounds.
People have a First Amendment right
to fly the flag, (They do indeed.) but common sense and compassion for
the pain it causes should dictate otherwise. (And how exactly does indulging ignorance in favor of a
wrong-thinking view of that flag promoted by racial bigots apply as
"compassion" in any common sense application of logic? Strangely I
never get a realistic response for that question, though I ask it time and time
again. Certainly taking the time to educate, to teach the full history of that
flag is better in the long run than simply handing it over to those who would
continue to misuse it without a fight. That is what a REAL educator would do.) As Indiana
Jones once said about another article of antiquity, "It belongs in a
museum." (And recall the response: "So do you."
That and the fact the original battle flags already are in museums just makes
people who throw this argument around look even more foolish than they already
seem to most learned people.)
Display the flag in museums with
uniforms, weaponry, and other period artifacts. Unfurl it at reenactments. But
eliminate it from official use. (I was unaware the bumper stickers, porches, and front bumper tags
on cars constitutes "official use" in any way. Humm.)
I hope that by the bicentennial of
the Civil War, the Rebel battle flag will be a long-tucked-away vestige of our
history, an artifact used as a teaching tool. (Ah mercifully this train
wreck is over!)
Now here is where those who honor
that flag see a much different future than this misinformed fellow from Philly.
After close to 25 years of attacking
that flag, the Opposition has failed to completely do away with its public
display. Indeed, now it seems as if the tide of history is turning against
them. In fifty years, it is my hope (and that of many other defenders of
Confederate heritage and Southern identity) that noble banner of the American
Southland will be feared by nobody and accepted fully as the cultural symbol
that is has become to a great many people, and not just in the American South.
It is my hope that by the
bicentennial of the War Between The States, the Dixie Cross banner will be on
display prominently and proudly by Southerners of all races and faiths who
honor it properly. It is my further hope that in fifty years hence the misuse
of it by racist bigots (if any still exist then, and sadly I fear given human
nature they might) will be extinct, or otherwise no longer taken seriously by
anyone, thanks in no small part to the efforts of noble Southern heritage
defenders.
Regardless if you believe that or
not, there is one truth that is certain, the public display of that flag today is
not going anywhere anytime soon. Those who honor that flag rightly as a symbol of identity and heritage will continue to move forward. There will continue to be public displays of that flag in various contexts in the decades to come, and by an increasing diverse group of Southern-born Americans and Confederate descendants alike.
That is the reality.
I have two bumper stickers. One with a Dixie Cross banner
that reads: I am A Proud
Descendant Of A Brave Confederate Soldier. The other reads: Coexist.
I would suggest - using a little Southern Fried Common Sense - that the best thing to do would be
for those who disapprove of that flag's display to accept that fact and find
some way to come to mutually acceptable terms with those who honor that flag
for all the right reasons, and ultimately find proper common sense solutions
where everyone can coexist and nobody has to be offended, or forced to feel guilty about who they are as a people.