NASCAR chairman France wants to eliminate Confederate flag at races

The Japan Times ^ | JUN 28, 2015

[bob_denard]

SONOMA, CALIFORNIA – Calling the Confederate flag an “insensitive symbol” he personally finds offensive, NASCAR chairman Brian France said the series will be aggressive in disassociating the symbol from its events.

“We want to go as far as we can to eliminate the presence of that flag,” France told AP on Saturday. “I personally find it an offensive symbol, so there is no daylight how we feel about it, and our sensitivity to others who feel the same way.

“Obviously, we have our roots in the South, there are events in the South, it’s part of our history like it is for the country. But it needs to be just that, part of our history. It isn’t part of our future.

“We want everybody in this country to be a NASCAR fan, and you can’t do that by being insensitive in any one area.”

The flag issue was heightened last week after nine black churchgoers were slain in Charleston, South Carolina. The suspect in the case, Dylann Roof, embraced Confederate symbols before the attack, posing with the rebel battle flag. That revelation prompted a reappraisal of the role such symbols play in the South.

France admitted the Charleston church shooting has pushed the series to find a way to take a tougher stance. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon, two of NASCAR’s biggest stars, on Friday supported NASCAR’s efforts.

This week, NASCAR said it backed South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s call to remove the Confederate flag from state capitol grounds, and noted it bars the flag symbol in any official NASCAR capacity.

[Jim Noble]

The reason I like 1984 more than Brave New World is that Orwell lived with the commies in Spain, he knew them well enough to project (very accurately) where they would take us and to describe what they were all about.

Huxley had some insights into the need to tranquilize the masses, but he had, in general, a more benign view of our rulers than they deserved, then or now.

[riri]

I think they both had insights.

Maybe it was that Huxley didn't take into account people like us and no need for the iron fist. He saw people as loving their slavery, so obsessed with hedonism they willingly went into bondage. A population distracted and incapable of critical thought. And THAT is a huge chunk of the American people.

[vox_freedom]

Wonderful idea, attack your base. Maybe the GOPe should try that. Oh wait, they are already doing that.

That!!!

I've been a NASCAR fan for decades and it has given me less and less as a fan, and more and more to folks who don't care about the traditions of the sport and now America. Being politically correct is wrong, stupid, and not for me. I've been watching it less and less as the France's latest generation gets more and more stupid. This is the latest insult and I ain't buying what NASCAR is selling.

[vox_freedom]

ditto’s

[FreedomPoster]

I always strongly recommend Homage to Catalonia whenever Orwell comes up, because it really shows the background that led directly to 1984 and Animal Farm. If you haven’t read it, pick it up, it’s a short but illuminating read.

[riri]

Never read it. I am headed to the bookstore one day this week, I will look for it or order it from Amazon. Thanks!

[The Toll]

Amazon hates freedom.

[Impala64ssa]

Noticed the crowds at a NASCAR race lately?
Also, about 6-7 years ago all that hype about a proposed NASCAR track in NYC on Staten Island. That deal fell through in late 2013.

[Impala64ssa]

)
In light of Dale Jr renouncing the Confederate flag, supposedly out of respect for his Black housekeeper (his kid's "Mammy" Shades of Gone With the Wind?) Perhaps NASCAR should consider renumbering his racecars. According to, of all sources the SPLC the "**" is some kind of code used by skinheads and neo nazis, coincides with H being the 8th letter of the alphabet, HH, as in heil hitler. I could act like a hypersensitive little b*tch and scream anti-Semitism, but I won't, like political correctness in general that would be ludicrous.

[Impala64ssa]

“88” damn keyboard!