"Southern Heritage" = Racism

Does anyone really believe this?

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The Rebel battle flag means many things to many people. Most of all, it is a symbol of rebellion against a country which was moving towards abolishing slavery,  There were many good men caught up in this battle, brother fighting brother, and a way of life destroyed. But can anyone say with a straight face, that flying this flag is not a slap in the face to any Black person who sees it?

In Germany, the non-museum display of the Nazi flag is highly regulated. In most cases, it is banned. But even the Germans know when the Hackenkreutz can be displayed - when the Swastika's extremely bad taste is used for humor, as in "The Producers" when it played in Germany.

Outside the theater, the Pretzel banner flew - a little bit of humor, spoofing the former symbol of the Reich.  Inside the theater, the Nazi banner flew - where there was no way that it could be taken to honor the values of the Reich.

This was an elegant way to deal with a sensitive issue in Germany - they know that the seeds of hatred are easily sown, and they know that symbols as powerful as the Nazi flag can be easily abused.  Sadly, our 1st amendment in the Bill of Rights gets in the way of dealing with the most important symbol of American treason, racism, and hatred - the CSA battle flag.

If many in the South wanted to celebrate "Southern Heritage", they could just as easily flown one of the other flags of the Confederacy - such as the one below:

Why isn't this one flown?  Because behind all the politically correct and sanitized talk lies a background of racial hatred.   

In two books I've read that included trips across the American South ("The American Home Front: 1941-1942" by Alistair Cooke, and "Travels with Charley - In search of America" by John Steinbeck) the authors both got disgusted with the attitudes of most Southerners they encountered, and couldn't wait to be out of this land. Although things have changed a lot since the 1960's when Steinbeck wrote his book, we still have far to go.

When I was last down South in 2001, I visited a couple of friends from the AOL chat group for Widows and Widowers. While there, I ended up chatting with the woman of the house. She complained that "them N----rs" are getting everything from the state, leaving us poor. (Of course, the 2 of them could have saved a lot of money by kicking their 3 pack a day cigarette habits - but that wasn't going to happen.) This lady loved to blame Black people for the problems that she and her White friends were having. Although this was 14 years ago, it left a very foul taste in my mouth when it comes to the values of our South.

Recently, 9 people were killed by a lone wolf terrorist inside a church.  One of those people was an elected representative in South Carolina's legislature. And it was amazing how quickly many people in the government realized that they needed to remove the Rebel Battle Flag from the Capitol. Yet, when members of the GOP POTUS candidate "Clown Car" were asked about whether the flag should be taken down, most of them hemmed and hawed - not wanting to alienate the racist lunatic fringe that makes up a goodly number of loyal GOP voters in the South.

In a recent article in Der Spiegel (International), they wonder why it is only now that America is addressing its long history of racism.  Der Spiegel notes that we have a prominent museum dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust in Washington, DC (which I've visited, and discussed in another blog entry), but none to remember the evils of slavery.  They go on to note that Thomas Jefferson has a big monument in our nation's capital, but only when you go to Mount Vernon, his homestead, do you find out about the abuse of slaves that went on in his era. 

I am glad to say that former POTUS candidate Mitt Romney said in unquestionable terms that the flag MUST be taken down - something most of the "Clown Car" won't do.  And I am even more glad to see that Strom Thurmond's son, Paul, has taken an honorable stand and will vote to remove the Confederate flag from South Carolina's Capitol.  Knowing his father's pro-racist stance for most of his political career, it's good to see that the son will do right by history - and help to get the flag removed before the Black legislator killed by the terrorist lies in state in the Capitol building. And this gives me hope for the future....