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There is no amount of "bringing up" race relations and racism that will do more harm to moving into a post-racial America than flying the banner of the most aggressively racist event in American history.
There is no letting the past die when large segments of America openly rally behind a symbol of a time of Black dehumanization.
All this talk about Obama or any public figure bringing up the historic mistreatment of Black Americans when when people, places, and symbols who's only relevance is related to the historic mistreatment of Black Americans get celebrated.
If America is really concerned about the President "fanning" racial animosity, then how about those same voices challenge who openly accepted the Confederate flag is in certain political circles.
There is no amount of "bringing up" race relations and racism that will do more harm to moving into a post-racial America than flying the banner of the most aggressively racist event in American history.
There is no letting the past die when large segments of America openly rally behind a symbol of a time of Black dehumanization.
All this talk about Obama or any public figure bringing up the historic mistreatment of Black Americans when when people, places, and symbols who's only relevance is related to the historic mistreatment of Black Americans get celebrated.
If America is really concerned about the President "fanning" racial animosity, then how about those same voices challenge who openly accepted the Confederate flag is in certain political circles.
Maybe we can move past racism when we stop having institutions promote it, such as the NAACP, Black History Month, affirmative action based on race, etc. As long as we have organizations promoting one race over another we'll never be rid of racism.
It's a symbol of history. Should we remove all american flags because they once flew over japanese concentration camps and were carried by soldiers when evicting natives from their lands? is it the fault of NC that a few hate groups decide to use it as a symbol of hate?
Momo is fine hoisting swastika as well? After all, if have an issue with that, you have the issue with anything. Genius!
Look, the Confederate flag(and really, there were a lot of Confederate flags, the battle flag wasn't adopted until later in the war), is not on its own racist. The Southern soldiers who actually fought in the Civil War were not fighting for slavery. The actual people who fought in the Civil War were fighting for independence. The south even had originally thought about calling itself "Washington"(after George Washington), because they believed they were carrying on the spirit of the revolution.
In fact, up until AFTER Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln had no intention whatsoever of abolishing slavery. If you read the Emancipation Proclamation, you'll realize Lincoln said clearly that slavery would continue in the "Border States", and that slavery would only be abolished in those Southern states, if the Southern states didn't rejoin the Union by the end of the year(not that he had the power to issue the proclamation anyway, and was used as a political tool to prevent European intervention).
The vast vast vast majority of the people who fought under that flag, were not even slave-owners, and to denigrate the history of the Civil War by making it a war over slavery, is to denigrate the very men who fought in that war.
Just because some racists picked up a flag and made it a symbol of racism, doesn't make it so. And just because some people associate the flag with racism, doesn't make it so. There are plenty of black people who fly the confederate flag just as proudly as any white man. Because they know its real history.
Maybe we can move past racism when we stop having institutions promote it, such as the NAACP, Black History Month, affirmative action based on race, etc. As long as we have organizations promoting one race over another we'll never be rid of racism.
Which came first: the NAACP or the flag that was flown by people supporting the dehumanization of Black Americans?
If you're going to have an honest discussion on race relations, ignoring the most visible symbol of American racism seems to be the first "symbol" that needs to be dealt with. Everything after that is a moot point if the Confederate flag is still hoisted and proudly displayed.
Look, the Confederate flag(and really, there were a lot of Confederate flags, the battle flag wasn't adopted until later in the war), is not on its own racist. The Southern soldiers who actually fought in the Civil War were not fighting for slavery. The actual people who fought in the Civil War were fighting for independence. The south even had originally thought about calling itself "Washington"(after George Washington), because they believed they were carrying on the spirit of the revolution.
In fact, up until AFTER Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln had no intention whatsoever of abolishing slavery. If you read the Emancipation Proclamation, you'll realize Lincoln said clearly that slavery would continue in the "Border States", and that slavery would only be abolished in those Southern states, if the Southern states didn't rejoin the Union by the end of the year(not that he had the power to issue the proclamation anyway, and was used as a political tool to prevent European intervention).
The vast vast vast majority of the people who fought under that flag, were not even slave-owners, and to denigrate the history of the Civil War by making it a war over slavery, is to denigrate the very men who fought in that war.
Just because some racists picked up a flag and made it a symbol of racism, doesn't make it so. And just because some people associate the flag with racism, doesn't make it so. There are plenty of black people who fly the confederate flag just as proudly as any white man. Because they know its real history.
Get a life.
It doesn't matter if they were slave-owners. They SUPPORTED the cause of slave-owning and the perpetual dehumanization of Black Americans.
It's a symbol of history. Should we remove all american flags because they once flew over japanese concentration camps and were carried by soldiers when evicting natives from their lands? is it the fault of NC that a few hate groups decide to use it as a symbol of hate?
The difference is that those other flags were not adopted for the purpose of being pro-slavery, pro-Black dehumanization. Yes, there were other factors that also led to adopting that flag, but that doesn't change the fact that the racism of Black enslavement was a major part of the ideology that the flag represented and supported.
The American flag, for comparison, was not created for the enslavement of Japanese Americans.
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