Posted on 06/22/2015 4:25:24 PM PDT by iowamark
The Bible tells me to love my neighbor. I have a number of black friends and I do not know any of them who would feel comfortable coming into my house if I were flying the Confederate battle flag. So I don’t. In fact, in my life, the people I can think of who proudly fly the Confederate battle flag outside their homes are people in whose yards, let alone houses, I would not feel comfortable.
I think if a Christian is to love his neighbor, he cannot fly a flag that so many of his neighbors associate with the defense of slavery. I agree with my friend Russell Moore in that, but I disagree in that I do think there are places that the Confederate flag is appropriate. I think it is appropriate at Confederate soldiers’ cemeteries. I think it is appropriate at Confederate memorials and museums. Frankly, considering a majority of citizens in Mississippi, both black and white, voted to keep it on their state flag, I think it is appropriate there. Mississippi, unlike many Southern states, put the Confederate battle flag on their state flag shortly after the Civil War, not in protest in the 1950’s and 60’s.
Outside of those locations, I don’t think it is appropriate. You, like many of my friends and family, may think the Confederate battle flag is a symbol of heritage, not hate. But for millions of black Americans, it is a very real symbol of oppression.
I’m afraid, though, that we are about to see a run on Confederate battle flags. Someone is going to make a tidy profit.
The only people I know who grumble and dwell on the flag are busy-body academics and people who don’t live in the South who have a low opinion of the region with or without the flag. The response, in the South, has been a reinforcement that others are bigoted toward the South and that the flag really does represent heritage, not hate — a heritage a bunch of racist1, northern white liberals want to stamp out. I have more than one relative, as do most white Southerners, who has a battle flag with “Heritage Not Hate” written in proximity to it. You and I can roll our eyes at this, but it is pervasive.
And now, because a bunch of mostly white yankees are again yelling about the battle flag, we’re not going to see a flag and tradition die out. Instead, we’re going to see a bunch of twenty and thirty-something Southerners go out and buy fresh flags as a middle finger to the Northern white liberals who did not like them without the flag. The Sons of Confederate Veterans are probably getting recruiting material ready as we speak.
I have found that less and less people of my generation and younger are fixated on race or care about it. The yards in which the battle flag fly typically belong to old racists of generations rapidly dying out. But in politicizing what happened in Charleston and demanding that the Confederate Battle Flag be removed by government action, the only thing that is going to happen is a run on the flags. It’s just like with gun control. The moment a bunch of liberals start making sounds like they want to take guns, second amendment fans run out to buy new ones.
I think the people of South Carolina can decide for themselves whether or not to take down the battle flag.
I think compromising with the left on this issue is not worth it because the left is only politicizing this issue to advance their agenda. Consider the attacks by leftists on Republican politicians, including Governor Rick Perry of Texas, shortly after the Charleston attack without a word about Gov. Perry and then Attorney General Greg Abbott blocking the Sons of Confederate Veterans from getting a personalized license plate in Texas. Or consider the attack on Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) 100% from the Huffington Post that he kinda sorta maybe indirectly possibly championed a law that kinda sorta if you looked at it cross eyed gave support to the flag.
Once the flag is gone, the left will advance to the next issue then the next issue, etc. They won’t compromise. There is no compromise. There is only conversion or censorship with the left.
But I also think if you proudly fly the Confederate battle flag and call yourself a Christian, you need to ask yourself how you are being a good neighbor to the black family down the street, next door, or on the other side of town whose ancestors were enslaved under that flag and whose parents or grandparents faced down white men in the streets waving that flag as an act of rebellion against voting rights.
None of this really matters though. Because the issue is now politicized, you might as well buy stock in companies that produce the Confederate battle flag. They’re going to get a lot of orders from people who equate raising the stars and bars with raising the middle finger toward liberals up north.
1. Most Southerners, regardless of race, learn very early on that the North has all the racism of the south and none of the awareness of the issue. In fact, I’m aware of a public school teacher who, when teaching about desegregation, points out that the Kennedy family was all in favor of desegregating Southern schools, but not their own. That sort of statement is pervasive in the South.↩
Thanks. The same thought occurred to me.
In days of old, Democrats bought their slaves using their own money.
Present day Democrats buy their slaves using taxpayer money.
My, my, there’s a name in that catch that is active here and has been posting on the flag threads. Imagine that. Do we bring this to his attention now that we know he’s a plant? Or just play along with him for awhile?
Should we even be concerned that “blacks are offended” by any action?
“States do not have rights...The term “states’ rights” is an oxymoron for the unintelligent to indulge in unreason.”
I guess Jefferson and Madison needed your genius to instruct them:
“The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions (or Resolves) were political statements drafted in 1798 and 1799, in which the Kentucky and Virginia legislatures took the position that the federal Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional.
“The resolutions argued that the states had the right and the duty to declare unconstitutional any acts of Congress that were not authorized by the Constitution. In doing so, they argued for states’ rights and strict constructionism of the Constitution. The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798 were written secretly by Vice President Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, respectively.”
Y’all have been here longer than I have, so I’ll leave it up to you. Should be fun either way.
“...please refute, or at the very least, address the argument brought up of the Fugitive Slave Act”
That’s easy enough. By 1850 there was already a secession sentiment going around the South. In order to stifle secession talk and keep the country together Whig leader Henry Clay proposed his Compromise of 1850 which included the Fugitive Slave Act.
Nationalist Whigs who would otherwise have opposed state’s rights passed the bill. It was their baby, their long time leader had crafted it, so they were stuck with enforcing it. Democrats who otherwise would champion states rights didn’t object to it since it served the interests of their section.
It was compromise politics at its finest, no principals needed. But the issue of state’s rights, the Principles of ‘98 as authored by Jefferson and Madison, was still undecided. Lincoln would settle the issue by the venerable policy of killing off its supporters.
Make an effort to rid this nation of the Stars and Stripes, while you wallow in your white guilt.
Adios, amigo.
As of 1807 slave ships were outlawed, and considers pirates. Thus the ships were not U.S., nor UK flagged ships.
hmmmmm - that explains some recent unpleasantness i’ve come across. Thanks.
You obviously have totally missed the point.
I’ll explain it .
The left, and the media which are one of the same want the battle flag taken down.
There have ben some sheep on our side which too have called for this.
Why?
Because the battle flag they say has been a sign of oppression.
Ok lets say to has even though it has not.
Does this mean most flags in the world including ours have to be taken down seeing as many flags including ours has flown over some oppression?
I say NO, did you get that? NO
I also say the battle flag should not come down if this is about the signs of oppression due to one being singled out because it is easy to do so and it’s a political move and agenda.
Hopefully I have explained it to you in such a way now that you know where I ma coming from.
It’s not about white guilt which you jumped to or maybe tried to be clever. I won’t question your motives as I don’t know you, but in the same sense you don’t know me , nor come to stupid views.
but there were slave ships carrying the stars and stripes before 1807. Just as it flew out west against the Indians.
if one wants to be offended then one should look at the stars and bars as that was the official flag of the confederacy. The battle flag was just that , a battle flag.
Using these deaths before the bodies are cold is sickening, twisted, and down right disgusting. Then again who would call the media out when the GOP are cowards and the Dems work with the media.
NAIL ON HEAD.
If is easily offended then do as you say.
Idiots will always use something as a rallying call. hell the KKK flies the stars and stripes too.
You want to ban that as well or anything which the left deems should be banned
EXACTLY, something schools do not teach anymore.
Who is the troll Catherine?
It a flag from another country.
It belongs in the cemeteries of that countries soldiers.
Private property displays are up to the owner.
But we don’t fly the colors of foreign countries here in the U.S. I was in Boston this weekend. The Union Jack was not flying on Beacon Hill.
At least he was consistent.
Well.. can’t argue with that I guess.
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.