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Wow. This thread is still active! Spoke to a man yesterday who is an avid Civil War artifacts collector. One of his ancestors lived in Rhode Island and was a Union soldier. This man has has his diaries and other memorabilia, and in one of the diary's entries his ancestor stated that was fighting the war not for the freedom of the black slaves, but to prevent the South from seceding.
The Civil War was not about slavery, but just keeping the young country of the United States whole and intact. And the Confederate Flag is just part of that history.
When I moved to Florida from up North, it horrified me to see that symbol on their State Flag. Then I did some research. It is a symbol of the Southern Cross which is a stellar configuration in the skies used by navigators for hundreds of years. The original meaning is benign and very useful. I suppose it is unfortunate that the Confederacy usurped this image for their own purposes. Before the Civil War, this would certainly be an appropriate symbol for Southern states, especially those not landlocked.
Perhaps some people watched "Gone with the Wind" one too many times. The Confederate flag is not a legitimate flag any longer. It's from a bygone era. It represents an ugly era of history when states wanted to secede from the rest of the USA so they could retain a system of enslaving other human beings.
Several events over the last view years have put the Confederate flag in the national spotlight. It is a controversial symbol and for good reason. I grew up in Georgia and kept hearing the same thing "it represents southern heritage" or "it's about my southern pride". I ask my mother and her response was "I'm southern but it's not my pride". I'll save how I feel about the Confederate flag for later in the thread.
Living in the South, there is one segment of the population that never says that it represents "southern pride" or "southern heritage". That is the Black population. 55 percent of American's Black population lives in the South. Most Blacks regardless of what state they're born in have ancestors from the southern USA (see The Great Migration). By default, the majority of America's Black population are southerners or have southern heritage. However, a majority of Blacks do not claim the Confederate flag as part of their heritage. I can testify to this living in Georgia.
Outside of the "Blacks are brainwashed by the leftists" gaslighting line, I notice very few people can or will answer this question: Why aren't Blacks embracing the Confederate flag as part of their "southern heritage"? This is an important question to ask because. There is a major contrast between how many Whites view the Confederate flag vs how Blacks view the Confederate flag. And there are legitimate reasons for this. However, I'm noticing that said question is not being asked.
By the way, if the only thing anyone has to offer is "Blacks are brainwashed by the left" or some photo of a token Black person brandishing a Confederate flag, this is not the thread for you. I've seen that tactic so many times it's like a broken record. Gaslighting at its finest.
The confederate flag was the flag of slave owners and the KKK. Why should blacks embrace the confederate flag?
The confederate flag was the flag of slave owners and the KKK. Why should blacks embrace the confederate flag?
The basic answer is the majority of black people don't.
The contextual answer is there are groups of people who prefer to continue to erase the uncomfortable historical circumstances they prefer to deny, significantly "white supremacy in the South":
Quote:
...Mayor Mitch Landrieu has called the Battle of Liberty Place monument the "most offensive" of the four up for removal. Erected in 1891, it commemorates the Crescent City White League-attempt to overthrow the city's Reconstructionist government after the Civil War. Its inscription hailed "white supremacy in the South," but a new plaque covered the original and recognized "Americans on both sides" who lost their lives in the skirmish. ...
Removal of the first of four New Orleans Confederate monuments begins with Liberty Place
The monument was built to 'commemorare the uprising' of 1874. In 1891, the city erected the Battle of Liberty Place Monument to commemorate & praise the insurrection from the Democratic Party point of view, which at the time was in firm political control of the city and state & was in the process of disenfranchising most blacks. The white marble obelisk was placed at a prominent location on Canal Street. In 1932, the city added an inscription that expressed a white supremacist view.
Quote:
The following inscription was added in 1932:
Quote:
"[Democrats] McEnery and Penny having been elected governor and lieutenant-governor by the white people, were duly installed by this overthrow of carpetbag government, ousting the usurpers, Governor Kellogg (white) and Lieutenant-Governor Antoine (colored).
United States troops took over the state government and reinstated the usurpers but the national election of November 1876 recognized white supremacy in the South and gave us our state."
Such a loaded question,
What does it mean if in the hands of a Klansman?
What if he asked,
What does it mean if in the hands of the working stiff that has roots in NC for 6 generations?
Give me a break!
Gotta love NPR...NOT!
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