Posted on 07/18/2007 8:56:53 PM PDT by Rebeleye
A Confederate flag, in part anyway, is an emblem of slavery and thus racism. If we have not been upset or bothered by the marketing of a racist symbol at the county-owned fairground, perhaps that tells us something about ourselves.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnewsj.com ...
Because the First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, T-shirts and caps bearing the image of a Confederate flag cannot be banned as attire for fair-goers. But the merchandise vendors try to market at the Clinton
County Fair is another matter.
A couple years ago, supporters of the American Postal Workers Union were told they could not pass out flyers at the fair about the labor union's effort to organize workers at the DHL Air Park. As I recall, the reasoning given was the topic is touchy and the county fair is an event to have fun at and not an event where people should be permitted to distribute unsolicited printed matter that could upset or bother other fair-goers.
A Confederate flag, in part anyway, is an emblem of slavery and thus racism. If we have not been upset or bothered by the marketing of a racist symbol at the county-owned fairground, perhaps that tells us something about ourselves. Do we want Confederate flags at fair vendors' booths to be an acceptable part of the fairground landscape, as slavery itself was part of the landscape in American society for generations?
A friend's husband mentioned the Confederate flag to a vendor who had one displayed at his booth at the fair this week.
The vendor said Civil War re-enactors are among the customers.
As my friend observes, it's curious we don't also see replicas of an 1860s-vintage U.S. flag for Civil War re-enactors displayed at the same booth.
I can relate to the attraction some people feel to the spirit of a rebel. (Although, where is the spirit of a rebel in a conformist who, in effect, fought to maintain the status quo of the plantation system and the institution of slavery?)
But if a person wants something to portray the spirit of a rebel, there are other images a person can have affixed to their clothes - such as a photo of the late film actor James Dean from "Rebel Without a Cause."
Some defend the Confederate flag as a symbol of Southern heritage and history. But that's the problem.
A vital part of that history - at least during the Confederate era - was the practice of enslaving blacks. Let's make it clear at the Clinton County Fairground how Clinton Countians feel toward the Confederate flag and its links to racist attitude and practice.
There was a great deal more slavery and racism under the American Flag than under the Confederate Battle Flag.
Does it escape them that even some Southern Blacks give honor to that flag as their ancestors also fought for the South?
H.K. Edgerton
God bless him
Gary lives in Ohio. He would be offended to see grits served at the Chuck Wagon.
This guy’s another PC wind-up toy, a conformist’s conformist who drinks a glass of zeitgeist juice every morning.
Boo Hoo!!!. I get more upset seeing that damn Mexican Rag (er) Flag all over the place!...Get a grip numb nuts!
The author does not appear to know very much history when it comes to Confederate battle flags. Slavery existed in the United States (and in Northern states as well) long before the Southern Cross was adopted as a battle standard. Further, it was not even the original battle flag.
Is Gary a FReeper?
Dixie Ping!
In my second year of high school I attended McKinley HS in Canton, Ohio. Racisim there was far more vitriolic than anything I ever saw in Florida.
I was taught to address all older folks as “Ma’am” or “sir”, black or white, no difference. I am not capable of the disrespect I saw up there. Hell, I’m pushing 65, still say “ma’am” and “sir”, and mean it.
This is just another damn yankee trying for brownie points with the PC mob.
The worst part of this is where the suggestion is coming from. It seems as if this county is heavily Republican.
Just a bunch of northern revisionist nonsense
Bill Flax lives in Ohio too and we could do a lot worse...they are not all like Gary.
This needs a barf alert.
Amazing how truly ignorant some people are.
Balderdash. By the same reasoning, the united states flag should be banned because of the horrors visited upon native peoples by europeans when this country was being formed. As amazing as it may be, southern history is a whole lot more than Tara.
One quickly realizes that there is NOTHING on earth that I need to sit and listen to from the driveling mind of this individual.
(And it's nothing to do with looks, rather the knowledge that it's just some guy preaching to us.)
I always thought the Confederate Battle flag was one of the most beautiful flags ever. Some of the Confederate national flags were not ugly but not particularly striking either.
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