Posted on 03/07/2003 9:35:10 PM PST by WhiskeyPapa
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The state's reputation, its economy and race relations hang in the balance of Perdue's decision on the flag. This square of fabric will determine whether Georgia is seen as a leader of the New South or a captive to the worst of the Old Dixie.
The flag is Perdue's moment in history, and he ought to think about the generations of schoolchildren who will read about how he responded. If he wants to be remembered as a courageous leader, he must make sure that the Confederate battle symbol never flies over the state Capitol again.
He has that opportunity now with the GOP proposal to limit the flag referendum to a simple yes-or-no vote on a state flag resembling the one that flew before 1956. Outlined by Perdue's own floor leader Glenn Richardson on Thursday, that plan is far less inflammatory than Perdue's own perilous proposal.
Yet, there was a Perdue spokeswoman on Friday demonstrating that Perdue doesn't recognize a life preserver when one hits him on the head. "The governor," said Erin O'Brien, "is standing by his plan to put the 1956 flag on the ballot."
Dividing Georgia was the understood intent of the Legislature when it slapped the Rebel battle emblem on the Georgia flag in 1956. The vote represented an angry backlash to federally mandated desegregation. With their decree, lawmakers embraced the Confederate battle emblem as a symbol of support for segregation and white racial superiority.
At the opening of that racially charged session, Gov. Marvin Griffin announced, "All attempts to mix the races, whether they be in the classrooms, on the playgrounds, in public conveyances, in any other area of close contact, imperil the mores of the South."
The argument that the battle insignia was hoisted to commemorate Southern heritage, rather than segregation, is thoroughly discredited when you look at what else came out of the all-white Legislature in 1956. Its members passed laws making it a felony to teach at an integrated school, and state parks and bus stations became segregated for intrastate passengers. Police officers who refused to enforce segregation laws could lose all their retirement benefits.
As Zell Miller said, "They were prepared to eliminate our public schools and even prohibit our college football teams from competing in bowl games -- in order to maintain segregated schools, segregated public transportation, segregated drinking fountains and segregated recreational facilities."
All of those remnants of Georgia's segregationist past are gone, including the flag. Does Perdue want to be in the history books as the governor who brought back the emblem of slavery and segregation?
Perdue defeated Roy Barnes in part because he tapped into the resentment of rural whites who felt left behind by Georgia's march into the 21st century. He promised disaffected Georgians a vote on the state flag, and they intend to hold him to that misbegotten vow.
The diehard "flaggers" care more about the flag that flies over their children's school than the quality of education occurring inside. They will never be satisfied unless the Confederate battle emblem reigns once more.
An example is the Sons of Confederate Veterans chapter in Mableton, which embarrassed itself and its cause with its infantile and insulting treatment of state Rep. Alisha Thomas (D-Austell). When Thomas, an African-American freshman legislator, attended the Feb. 24 meeting, the members pledged allegiance to the 1956 Georgia flag, saluted Confederate battle flags and hooted and hollered to a member's rendition of "Dixie."
Thomas endured the Old South hootenanny and then stood up to explain that ". . . the symbol that you love is a symbol that for African-Americans is hateful and represents a dark past for our people." She left only after the chapter commander launched into an attack of the NAACP, for which Thomas had worked as a college student.
Clearly, these are not folks open to dialogue or compromise, and Perdue should give up any illusions of placating them. Instead, he should concentrate on the majority of Georgians, reasonable voters who don't want to revive the Confederacy but only want a say-so in the flag that flies over Georgia.
As the state's first Republican governor since Reconstruction, Perdue has already earned a mention in the history books. Surely he doesn't want those texts to associate him with a divisive and racially charged flag flap that set the state back decades.
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I believe he drew it to lead a repulse during The Wilderness, but his men insisted he stay back. I think one of the generals under him volunteered to go instead. He did the same thing again at Spotsylvania, but again his men insisted he stay back.
Your timeline is inaccurate. That is the day Virginia's legislature decided to send an ordinance of secession to the people for a referendum. Secession did not take effect until May 23rd when the referendum passed.
You do the exact same thing, Walt, every time you trash the writings of another abolitionist, Lysander Spooner. Spooner was one of the most committed abolitionists - even more so than Garrison. He devoted his political advocacy prior to the war to the end of abolishing slavery but also practiced what he preached by giving legal defense free of charge to fugitive slaves. The philosophical depth of Spooner's abolitionism was second to none - a fact that often led him to object to philosphically impure and immorally attained causes such as the war. This often put him at odds with the less thoughtful ranks of the Garrisonian following and the politically corrupted realm of the radical Republicans. One cannot legitimately question or deny the devotion Spooner made to abolishing slavery, yet you dismiss him and call him names for no other reason than that he philosophically objected to the immoral war waged by your false god.
Sir, or madam, this statement above is a misnomer. THIS IS NO SUCH THING AS A PURE RACE!!
Your ‘politically correct’ definitions of race hold no water here.
Everyone and I do mean everyone, has ancestors that were of different races. Also, what you consider ‘pure caucasians’ actually are a mixture of SEVERAL European races, to name a few, English, Scottish, Irish, Wales, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Greek.
Race and culture are defined by shared ancestry, shared political beliefs, shared work ethic, shared religious beliefs and shared history.
I pity you because the ‘politically correct’ education system has brainwashed you of this fact.
However, there is no and never has been a "Southern" race. That is just more nonsense from you. Why you would say such a stupid thing is beyond me. You are free to do so but don't expect any serious person to accept it.
See my above statements.
Apparently you are incapable of distinguishing between a statement and a question. Since when is it "racist" to ask a question.
It is not just what you say, but how you say it.
Are you really Jesse Jackson? You make up lies just like him and are trying to horn in on the race baiting he has perfected over the years.
You have more in common with him than I do. You both share a hatred for Southerners.
You don't think calling someone a racist is namecalling?
Name calling is when someone BASELESSLY accuses other people of being something that they are not. I am merely calling what you are BASED upon your actions and statements here on Free Republic.
Are you claiming I am a racist against the white race, my own race?
You certainty have shown the venom and hatred that is associated with racism.
You do the exact same thing, Walt, every time you trash the writings of another abolitionist, Lysander Spooner.
Even if I had dishonored Lysander Spooner, that would be no excuse to libel William Lloyd Garrison.
Whatshisname indcated that every person in the ante bellum U.S. would be considered a racist by today's standards. That is simply false, whatever I think of Lysander Spooner.
In point of fact, I know little of the guy. All I ever suggested was that it was ludicrous to think his opinion could overbear the opinion of the Supreme Court.
Walt
Your timeline is inaccurate. That is the day Virginia's legislature decided to send an ordinance of secession to the people for a referendum. Secession did not take effect until May 23rd when the referendum passed.
Great; you help make my point about Lee being a traitor stand out even better.
Virginia troops were seizing federal property at Harper's Ferry in this time frame were they not? That's treason too.
But the point is moot, as no state has ever been out of the Union for a single second. The so-called CSA never had a single day when it could guarantee its borders against "foreign" troops.
Walt
No, but neither do you have an excuse to do the same to Spooner.
All I ever suggested was that it was ludicrous to think his opinion could overbear the opinion of the Supreme Court.
And that is nonsense if and when the Supreme Court is wrong.
Nope, you just have been so twisted by 'political correctioness' that you lack any logical thought process what so ever.
I pity you.
I dare you to go to Scotland or Ireland and call the locals there British; you'll be lucky if you get out of there alive.
Hey GOPcapitalist, wasn't my post (post 324 of this thread) logical and easily understood.
Sure, didn't you know? The white southerners are the 'Massa Race'.
Your above statement proves that you are a leftist "political correctness" worshipper.
Scottish is the description of a people not a race.
If you ever want to win the Darwin Award of the Year, go to Scotland and tell the Scottish people that to their faces.
Also, check out GOPcapitalist post (post 330).
They are not as loony as yours. Your obsession over skin color is both unhealthy and bizarre.
You are one to talk, you have been shoveling BS for the last 60 posts.
You are one to talk, you have been shoveling BS for the last 60 posts.
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