Opposition to the Confederate flag in the MS flag (Jackson: school, legal)

[Gunluvver2]

Originally Posted by motownewave

Might it change anytime soon? I am surprised it stays as is with Mississippi having a huge African American community. Georgia changed their flag to remove it years ago. But perhaps that was only possible due to the efforts of white liberals from Atlanta (think REM and other celebrities)?

Do you really believe the ONLY reason that the Civil War was fought was to abolish slavery? What was the date the Emancipation Proclamation was issued? Didn't the Civil War start many months before? If slavery was the only reason for the war the EP would have been law as soon as the war started.

Yes the Confederate Flag is a reminder of the EVIL of slavery to, many however it is a part of our History. Most of my ancestors fought in the Civil War on the side of the Union.

[motownewave]

Regardless of its meaning in the Civil War and ever since, do I need to remind you all what flag the Confederate flag is itself based on? Hint: the flag of the country on the losing side of the American Revolution!

The flag of Jamaica also has the same origins.

[JosephM1994]

I am actually considering a move to MS....I'm thinking the white part of Jackson (Northeast), or Diamondhead.

[Tarzanman]

Originally Posted by Gunluvver2

Do you really believe the ONLY reason that the Civil War was fought was to abolish slavery? What was the date the Emancipation Proclamation was issued? Didn't the Civil War start many months before? If slavery was the only reason for the war the EP would have been law as soon as the war started.

You have a pretty rudimentary understanding of history.

Distilled down to its basic components, yes. Slavery is what ultimately caused the Civil War.
The reason I say this is that basically all of the other ancillary causes are issues that still exist today, but have not led to secession movements (Texas notwithstanding, lol).
Federalism and states autonomy, economic disparity, political tribalism, etc. It was the issue of slavery and the massive accompanying huge economic and political implications that caused secession.

Yes the Confederate Flag is a reminder of the EVIL of slavery to, many however it is a part of our History. Most of my ancestors fought in the Civil War on the side of the Union.

Slavery is a much bigger part of Americans' history than the flag of the defunct southern confederacy.... so the complaint that a flag that was only used for ~5 years is "part of their history" sounds pretty ridiculous.

[An Einnseanair]

Originally Posted by Tarzanman

Slavery is a much bigger part of Americans' history than the flag of the defunct southern confederacy.... so the complaint that a flag that was only used for ~5 years is "part of their history" sounds pretty ridiculous.

This thread is likely about to get locked down, but the quote above pretty much kills the "it's part of our history" argument. As the Confederate Battle Flag flag originated in the Civil War and was only used for a few years, the only way anyone can claim it represents the state history is if that flag represents the decades of slavery in the state. Anyone who wants to keep a symbol specifically because it represents decades of oppressing an entire race has serious problems.

Is changing the flag a requirement before Mississippi stops being seen as a backwater racist cesspool by large parts of the rest of the world? No, but it's a good start. Maybe it'll happen someday.

[motownewave]

Originally Posted by jwkilgore

This thread is likely about to get locked down

Not if we (the Mississippi section of this site) secede before that happens...

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by viverlibre

MS is 37% black, 60% white. The largest black percentage of any state. MS will be the first majority black state, but that is still 30 or so years off.

MS is never going to host any type of NCAA tournament (minus those earned as being the number one seed - like baseball, and we are regular hosts for those) anyway.

Mississippi was a majority Black state at one point. That started changing around the time of the Great Migration during the early-mid 20th century.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by viverlibre

Actually, the civil war was more about state rights (obviously deciding on when to end slavery was one of those rights) vs. a strong central government. You have imagine back to the times, The founders thought the central government should be weak, in fact Jefferson thought the strongest center of government should be local government. The confederates had no intention of continuing slavery, (they knew that age was coming to an end), it was the thought of a strong central government superseding state's rights that didn't sit well.

The vast majority of southerns were not slave owners and had no involvement in slavery.

States' rights might have been a part of that. Slavery was also a large part of it. This is the way I look at it. I have no respect for Confederates. This is why. It was mentioned in the Articles of Secession that the desire to keep slavery was a major part of secession. I learned this from people who are Civil War historians.

Most southerners didn't own slaves. They were too poor to own slaves. The rich, elite planters owned slaves, and were bent on keeping slavery around for their own economic reasons.

[green_mariner]

This is how I see the Confederate flag. I have no respect for it, and this is why. The desire to keep slavery was mentioned as a major reason for seceding from the Union. This is in the Articles of Secession. Mississippi and South Carolina were among the first states to declare secession. Both had the largest slave populations. One can't deny that slavery played a major part in this. Yes, slavery was a part of American history. However, the USA as a whole did not use the desire to keep slavery as a reason for declaring independence. Slavery, however played a large part for Confederate secession. As someone who has descendants who were slaves, I do have a problem with that Confederate flag for the historical reasons I mentioned, as well as my own family history.

I have to really think about this. There are other symbols of the South. Mississippi is called the Magnolia State. Why use the Confederate flag?

[motownewave]

The Mississippi flag never even had a good design aesthetically. I wish it were the same size as the national flag so then at least the Confederate flag would take up a whole corner of the state flag, similar to the British flag in the Hawaiian flag.