Take it down
The image above is from Saturday's rally in South Carolina calling for the flag of treason to be removed from the state capitol (more images here). This person's sign speaks for me. Whatever "heritage" that flag represents is a shameful one. The Confederacy was all about preserving slavery -- its founders proudly and unambiguously proclaimed that fact at the time. Any claim to the contrary is a flagrant lie, and yet we've tolerated and indulged that lie for decades.
Enough is enough. For a century and a half that lie has bloodied our country with too many murders to count. Last week it fueled nine more. The lie must be smashed.
Not by censorship, but by response. From now on, every display of the Confederate flag, every defense of the Confederate cause, every invocation of "heritage" or "states' rights" or any other garbage calculated to legitimize that flag and what it stood for, must be beaten back with the flamethrower of unrelenting condemnation and truth. Hit back with facts and history and righteous outrage, until that flag and that "heritage" are so despised and embarrassing that not even the vilest Republican dares defend them.
Green Eagle has expressed the imperative eloquently in this post, which I urge everyone to read. Please also read this essay and this one, both of which I endorse.
We cannot bring back the nine who were murdered. But we can honor their memory by finally purging our national consciousness of the lie that helped egg the murderer on.
posted by Infidel753 at 6:08 AM
11 Comments:
Excellent! We all have to continue to spread the truth about that vile flag. Too many people have tried to make a symbol of repression, torture, and murder into something about southern pride and heritage. It looks like people like Huckabee, Cruz, Jindal, and other moral cowards are going to have to face reality. And really soon.
Another thing that should be pointed out was that after California became a free state, thereby cutting off the possibility of further westward expansion of slave states, there was an effort to create new slave states in Latin America via filibuster expeditions like William Walker in Honduras.
Shaw: The righties are already objecting that the flag didn't cause the murders. Well, of course not. But it is a symbol of racism, and having it at a state capitol suggests official endorsement. And, of course, as I suggest here, it's not just the flag but all efforts to rehabilitate the Confederate cause that must be debunked.
Tommykey: I'd heard of that too. If the Confederacy had become independent it would likely have become an expansionist, imperialist power embroiled in wars of conquest in Latin America.
PS: I'm aware, of course, that the US too was an expansionist, imperialist power embroiled in wars of conquest in Latin America. But things would likely have been even worse with two countries competing for dominion there, one of them a slave-holding theocracy.
It boggles my mind that any modern person could revere the Confederate flag, a symbol of national division and slavery. "Heritage"? Baloney.
Actually I'm confused Infidel, how long this is being challenged or debated ... it's saturated mainstream news for at least a week, the point and solution is very simple ... the point is that a majority of people want this flag removed from whatever this state property is (cant recall where it is) ... there is no debate, no reason for politician's to use it to cover up more of their backdoor crap, etc. I find it weird that this is being stalled with all this political controversy, what it means to some?, what it means to others?, etc, etc ... it's a media distraction if anything, folks want it removed, plain and simple ... so no need for politician's or any support groups to spend endless dayz and hourz on this crap ... and someone should just climb the damn pole or whatever way and remove it or whatever. I need to come back and check out some more of your last links, have to run.
Ahab: For some, it's ignorance of real history. For others, the division and slavery is what they like, but they know stuff like that sounds better if you call it "heritage".
Ranch: It's because the Republicans were suddenly put in an awkward position when the spotlight hit their usual low-profile pandering to racists, and they need time to figure out how to dodge.
Forget history. No matter how proud I might be of my dad's service, if I lived next door to someone whose mom was killed at Mai Lai I wouldn't display his Vietnam campaign ribbon. I won't fly the confederate flag for pretty much the same reason.
Exactly. They've been throwing that thing in the faces of millions of black people all over the South.
I appreciate Infidel's will to not ignore the facts in this debate.
But as he knows, I know that their are many facts, and a liberal-American view seems to not approach many facts that do not sit easily with the prohibition of one flag.
The people, the majority, these are things that stand out to push government and policy decisions and if the majority American view is that this flag should come down and stay down and not be lied about to progress a racist agenda, then yes, that's the kind of national thinking needed in our countries. As much as normal life and media and things differ in western countries outside of America, I agree with democratic policy that does not allow bigoted loosers to gain points from.
Quite naturally, i'm also curious, should not (in light of this worthy view) a large number of existing national flags and territorial designs be completely outlawed at the same time. In an army surplus store not far from me Nazi flags and items are for sale.
Soldiers of my country have fought to their deaths under the union jack (if you are not aware of the foul history of Irish slavery then look it up).
Anzacs have fought and died alongside allies including those flying the union jack, including those flying stars and stripes. I must admit I am completely unaware of how much slavery happened under the stars and stripes but those who know the answer can add it to their own thoughts, because i'm not here to say that YOU are as bad as ME, only that thinking, kind hearted people like us should really have all of the facts together, the factors involved and the historical evidence before we go banning things that many other kind hearted people have served under and fought for.
I had to get all of that out of my system and I appreciate Infidel's indulgence in allowing me to express my thoughts here. Please feel free to correct anything I've said which you feel needs correction because I still love to learn and even if my knowledge of the facts doesn't grow, my knowledge of others' opinions does.
keen to know what you think,
Woody
Nobody has suggested outlawing the Confederate flag. We're saying remove it from government sites where its display constitutes official endorsement of racism, and recognize the fact that displaying it on private property, while legal, is a declaration of support for racism and treason.
A national flag represents the nation as a whole, good and bad. The Confederate flag was never a national flag because (a) it was a battle flag, not the Confederacy's official flag, and (b) the Confederacy was never a real nation. The flag was revived in the 1960s as a symbol specifically of resistance to the black civil rights movement. That's what it stands for.
The US, Australia, and any other real nation has stood for both evil and good. The Confederacy was never about anything but slavery.
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