Why this black defender of the Confederate flag says slavery was ‘a choice’

WaPo ^ | 06-30-2015 | Peter Holley

[NRx]

For many Americans, the Confederate battle flag is an unmistakable symbol of slavery and oppression.

But for Karen Cooper, a black woman who was born in New York but later settled in Virginia, the flag embodies something else entirely.

“I actually think that it represents freedom,” the ardent tea party supporter says in a video interview that’s been making the rounds online. “It represents a people who stood up to tyranny.”

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

I don't know whether there were any blacks that chose slavery but I do know that I have never lost one meal because blacks were enslaved and/or segregated.

In fact I'll bet not one person could ever honestly claim to have lost a meal or one hour sleep over slavery and racial segregation.

[DiogenesLamp]

She also says the master taught the slaves to read and write, took them to church and gave them land of their own.

That is true in some cases, but I expect not in most. I recently read that Stonewall Jackson taught black children at Sunday School, and I know Frederick Douglas started off learning to read and write from his Mistress.

His account also relates how it was against the law to teach slaves to read because it only made them resent their status all the more.

But I think this could not have been sustained. I think the same social forces that swept slavery away from the Northern states (except for five) would eventually sweep slavery away from the rest. It would have just taken more time.

The task was simply harder in the South because there was so much greater financial investment in the institution and so much more financial dependence upon it.

It was effectively the main economic engine of the South in the manner that fossil fuels are to a nation's existence today.

[FunkyZero]

There's a reason (right or wrong) that flag was dubbed "Rebel flag" many years ago. I've never heard it called "The Slavery and Oppression Flag".

I've been around for a few years and to this day, I've never met a man who thinks slavery was a good thing. Every single time I think I've seen the pinnacle of lunacy in this country, I am greeted with a jump-the-shark movement like this. I am starting to wonder, and I mean this seriously, if we are experiencing a degradation of overall intelligence levels. These topics really do push the boundaries of reality

[cripplecreek]

Lots of stories here told by former slaves. Slave owners ran a whole range of behaviors from abusive to downright doting on them.

http://dbs.ohiohistory.org/africanam/html/mss/gr7999.html

[Twinkie]

I’m almost 69 yrs. old. My great great grandfather was a “Rebel” soldier who fought the “Yankees” at Shiloh, TN. He was a Tennessean. Yankees were attacking “down heah”. He didn’t own slaves. Back at home, he WAS practically a slave, plowing his fields with a mule. - My 6th great grandparents did have a few slaves down in Georgia Indian Territory. Their son eloped with a Cherokee girl. His mother pitched a fit & his father gave him his inheritance in gold; & he & his Indian wife took a riverboat & sailed up to Perryville, TN. That’s why I’m in Tennessee today. That was a different time; just like WWII was a different time.

[BenLurkin]

Perhaps we could do her the courtesy of referring to her as a woman rather than “girl”.....

[BenLurkin]

Hmmmmmm........

[TBP]

She’s about to get lynched — by her fellow blacks. After all, she has committed the most heinous of crimes. She has committed truth.

[x]

There's a reason (right or wrong) that flag was dubbed "Rebel flag" many years ago. I've never heard it called "The Slavery and Oppression Flag".

Have you been listening lately? A lot of what's said against the flag today goes too far, but people are in the debate now who didn't get a hearing in the past. As a result, the image people have of the flag has changed.

[x]

She’s about to get lynched — by her fellow blacks. After all, she has committed the most heinous of crimes. She has committed truth.

Or it could be the slavery was "a choice" thing ...

[11th_VA]

Wasn’t slavery like a primitive form of Affirmative Action?

[upcountryhorseman]

Many southerners who didn’t have slaves were defending their homes when the north invaded THE south.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Perhaps so. She looks so young. I couldn’t find her age. Best to err on the side of courtesy.

[FunkyZero]

Their image is wrong and misguided and a result of their own inability or desire to understand their own history. It is not my burden that they are misinformed or get their news from comedy central. That’s the way I see it and I get sick of it. I don’t have a horse in this race, I’m not 17 and I don’t have a confederate Flag license plate or sticker in my back window. But this creeping stupidity is beginning to affect me and I’m not up for it... and I’m speaking in huge generalities here... I’m talking homo rights trumping the rights of others. I’m talking illegals can no longer be questioned on their citizenship status when voting... I’m talking about a number of misdeeds being perpetrated against the American citizen and it all starts with stupidity like this

[RedMonqey]

The Betsy Ross flag is more familiar to the public and less associated with tainted goals.

You do know that Britain offered freedom to American slaves that fled their masters' grip and joined the British ranks with arms against their former owners. After they war these former slaves were returned to their masters, a lucky few were exiled in Canada, in British territory in the Caribbean and fewer yet in Britain.

In essence, the Betsy Ross banner fought for the right of the states to secede and to preserve slavery in 1776 as much as the Confederate Battle flag did in 1865.

Only difference, Lincoln had better weapons and more troops.

[TexasRepublic]

And of course, we have England to thank for slavery in the colonies in the first place. But, the English were amateurs compared to Spain and Portugal - most Africans were shipped to South America.

[DiogenesLamp]

You do know that Britain offered freedom to American slaves that fled their masters' grip and joined the British ranks with arms against their former owners.

Yes I do, but the public doesn't. Nor do they associate the American war of Independence with Slavery. This is because the British did not make it the primary propaganda effort of their side, unlike the Union did after the civil war.

In essence, the Betsy Ross banner fought for the right of the states to secede and to preserve slavery in 1776 as much as the Confederate Battle flag did in 1865.

It was about more than just that. It was mostly about whether they would be ruled from afar, or rule themselves.

Only difference, Lincoln had better weapons and more troops.

And more willingness to shed more blood. He was more fanatical than was Mad King George III.

[RedMonqey]

Yes I do, but the public doesn't.

And if you had an "Man on the Street" interviews, most (under fifty)Americans couldn't have told you which army the Battle Flag flew over during the Civil War, either.

The media made the Confederate Battle Flag a "Symbol of Hate"

When it is in the leftist media's agenda to "teach' the public about the American Revolution's role in preserving American slavery, they will beat it to death as well.

[RedMonqey]

But, the English were amateurs compared to Spain and Portugal

Very true. most slaves from West Africa ended up in the Caribbean and South American and in Brazil, in particular. IIRC, about 60%.

[DiogenesLamp]

When it is in the leftist media's agenda to "teach' the public about the American Revolution's role in preserving American slavery, they will beat it to death as well.

And this is a point which cannot be stressed enough. The media will move the goal posts.

Years ago, the "compromise" was "don't ask don't tell."

Now, the media portrays you as a hate bigot who needs to be thrown in jail if you articulate the position that Barack Obama had three years ago.

When the media turns their weapon on you, the public will be made to hate you. You won't get a fair hearing because all the Editors and Reporters are on the opposing team.