Posted on 06/20/2015 2:54:05 PM PDT by PROCON
J. Richard Cohen is president of the Southern Poverty Law Center
Exactly whose heritage does it celebrate?
Following the church shooting this week, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley offered powerful words of healing and said the “people of South Carolina need us to come together and be strong.”
But at the same time the state’s citizens are being urged to “come together,” the state continues to display a divisive symbol — the Confederate flag — outside the state Capitol.
Reacting to calls to remove it, Sen. Lindsey Graham said the flag “is part of who we are.”
His answer makes me wonder just who Graham means by “we.” Does he mean the white people of South Carolina? Does he mean the neo-Confederates of South Carolina? Surely he doesn’t mean the African Americans in his state whose ancestors were enslaved, tortured and murdered under the regime represented by that flag. Surely he doesn’t mean older African Americans who still recall the terrorism of Klansmen who adopted the flag as their standard during Jim Crow. Surely not.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
And I live about as far north as you can get.
“They can come and try to take it.It wont end well.”
There are some of us that wish they would, and sooner rather than later.
It’s long past time, if you get my meaning.
Sounds like the North’s loss is the South’s gain in your case.
You know...you're right. It IS a great way to give the left the finger. Time to go flag shopping!
Let's hear what Blacks in South Carolina are actually looking for, not from extremists.
Nothing can eliminate the Confederate flag from this country, short of eliminating all descendants of Confederate veterans. All we are talking about here is moving it around a bit.
Practically, to what end? To calm Black sentiment and prevent retaliation? As I proposed, let's first hear from them, rather than agitators, before assuming that it would do so. And while I am not against manipulating symbols to evoke healthy emotions, there are two hornets nests here, not one. Roof said he was stirred up by the Martin case, another attempt to calm Black sentiment. (And Cohen's stated goal is not to calm Black sentiment, but to prevent the next Roof.) So from a practical point of view, what is the benefit?
If you want that symbol to lose its negative meaning, my proposal is simple: Black Southerners should adopt it and coopt it. Blacks are more truly Dixie than all the immigrants and relocated Yankees who form the majority of the "white" folk. Take the flag and say it's yours, it stands for your region, the fruits of your labor, your Christian pro-family culture, the Cross of Christ, the great non-violent civil rights movement (which came from the South), and the natural principle of subsidiarity. There's no sense living in fear of the past when you can purify it and shape the future.
This is, I think, what the federal elite (who have never forgotten institutionally the lessons of the Civil War), the Sharptons, the Democrat plantation runners ... not to mention the self-identified neo-Nazi white supremacists who are so useful to them ... are most afraid of, particularly as they begin to implement their plan to isolate all churches (including Black churches) which oppose gay marriage.
Thank you sir.
I’m more concerned about the California state flag. The Bear has got to go...
You can count on the left to over play their hand every time.
It’s been about 14 years since I was in the Land of Cotton...I wish I was in Dixieland (Atlanta, GA) at the moment
Idioc myth making about what the flag represents.
I’m a northerner and I would like to express my thoughts. The Rebel Flag is a part of our history. It represents the segment of our population that chose to secede from the Union of the United States for political reasons. It is not a symbol of hate. It should not be held as a symbol of hate toward black Americans. It is not. I think removing it from every venue is alike to an ostrich hiding his head in the sand. It is a huge mistake. To allow a few people who go around looking for symbols of people’s pride to attack is a mistake. It will probably happen but it shouldn’t. It is part of history the same as old glory is.
It gives them an excuse to use to justify their failures to their base.
Well, if past history and old flags are so important, I feel we should go further back and think about the British flag. Probable killed one of my ancestors. So lets not have anything to do with Britain until they change theirs. And, if we go back far enough, I am sure there are a lot of other flags that imperiled my history that I should be indignant about.
Dems need blacks to vote for Clinton in the same numbers as Obama. This is just a continuation of the effort begun by Obama with the Zimmerman fiasco.
When I was a kid, it represented the good guys on my favorite show.
There was slavery under the Stars and Stripes for much longer than under the Stars and Bars. It is a valid historical flag and should stay but should never be above the U.S. flag.
I took this one around 1975 in Ozark, Alabama. The old Black man does not seem to mind the little Confederate Flags.
I know, because if we don’t, all of us southerners will turn into crazed killers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.