Quote:
Originally Posted by jgaiser
Save your Dixie cups. The South will rise again.
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Heaven forbid! But some are trying. Two examples:
- Recent case in point: In July 2014, two Florida policemen were found to have KKK ties.
- An ongoing issue, even in the 21st Century (and not just in the South): sundown towns.
RE:
Quote:
Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8
Yes, it was very much tongue-in-cheek.
You are right about some Southerners, though. I've lived in the South for much of my life and there are quite a few individuals who are still "fighting" the Civil War, nearly 150 years since its end (over 150 years from its beginning), evidenced by bumper stickers, t-shirts, Confederate battle flags flying from poles in the beds of pickup trucks, window stickers, license plates, et al. There are some who genuinely feel like what Hank Williams, Jr. sang facetiously, "If the South had a won, we'd have it made" (or something to that effect).
In the defense of others, I think that this is just the way that some Southerners choose to express their pride in being Southerners. These displays are usually not racist in nature--like one bumper sticker, with a Confederate battle flag on it, says, "Heritage, Not Hate." Still, I know that this kind of display is genuinely offensive, and maybe even hurtful, to some people and I wish that these Southerners would find some other way to express their Southern pride.
The South is interesting.
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Using the phrase "Heritage, Not Hate" in conjunction with the Confederate flag is
disingenuous. Those who don't think so and defenders of those who use that phrase and/or display the Confederate flag should make it a point to learn or refresh their understanding of
the reasons why the Confederacy (aka "
slave states") seceded from the Union and fought the Civil War, the
actual history and symbolism of the Confederate flag, and ways that flag has been used even recently to
protest school desegregation. Here are some salient, fast facts about that symbol's history and intended meaning:
- The flag's design underwent multiple iterations. The first ("The Stars and Bars") was deemed too similar to the Union flag and was replaced by the second ("The Stainless Banner"), which the Savannah Morning News described as follows: "As a people we are fighting to maintain the Heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race; a white flag would thus be emblematical of our cause."
- The second design was abandoned in favor of the current "Blood Stained Banner" because "the pure white field of the Second National flag could be mistaken as a flag of truce: when hanging limp in no wind, the flag's Southern Cross canton could accidentally stay hidden, so the flag could mistakenly appear all white."
Here's a respected book on the subject:
The Confederate Battle Flag: America's Most Embattled Emblem by John M. Coski (2005)
Current Kindle Price: $12.60
Book Description:
In recent years, the Confederate flag has become as much a news item as a Civil War relic. Intense public debates have erupted over Confederate flags flying atop state capitols, being incorporated into state flags, waving from dormitory windows, or adorning the T-shirts and jeans of public school children. To some, this piece of cloth is a symbol of white supremacy and enduring racial injustice; to others, it represents a rich Southern heritage and an essential link to a glorious past. Polarizing Americans, these "flag wars" reveal the profound--and still unhealed--schisms that have plagued the country since the Civil War.
The Confederate Battle Flag is the first comprehensive history of this contested symbol. Transcending conventional partisanship, John Coski reveals the flag's origins as one of many banners unfurled on the battlefields of the Civil War. He shows how it emerged as the preeminent representation of the Confederacy and was transformed into a cultural icon from Reconstruction on, becoming an aggressively racist symbol only after World War II and during the Civil Rights movement. We gain unique insight into the fine line between the flag's use as a historical emblem and as an invocation of the Confederate nation and all it stood for. Pursuing the flag's conflicting meanings, Coski suggests how this provocative artifact, which has been viewed with pride, fear, anger, nostalgia, and disgust, might ultimately provide Americans with the common ground of a shared and complex history.
Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01722-1.