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| Don't mind this, it isn't racist,. It stands for sweet tea, NASCAR, chewing tobacco, and humping your sister |
Recently, the State of South Carolina finally agreed to take down the Confederate Battle Flag that had been flying on the grounds of the state house since 2005 after it was removed from atop the state house dome. This came about after the church shooting in Charleston which killed 9. The killer was known to proudly wear the battle flag and other racially charged flags. The state assembly decided they no longer wanted to be associated with the kind of racism that incites violence.
The rest of the country promptly exploded.
Across the South there were rallies held to protest removing the Confederate flag. Read that last sentence again. I'll wait...
When I said "across the South" I meant the South, not the State of South Carolina. In fact, there were no rallies at all in the entire state of South Carolina for or against the Confederate battle flag. Gawker published this story a little while ago.
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| click me |
On top of that, the president recently went to the State of Oklahoma. Now keep in mind, Oklahoma shares no borders with South Carolina, and wasn't even a state until 1907 (the Civil War happened between 1861 and 1865. Oklahoma was actually too busy relocating and murdering Indians at the time). But when President Obama stepped off Air Force One, there was a picket line of Confederate protesters holding battle flags.
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| this actually happened |
This whole thing makes no sense, none at all. This should be a non-issue for everyone in the country who is not a citizen of the State of South Carolina. The decision made by the South Carolina state assembly affects no one outside of that state (and it could be argued it doesn't affect anyone in the state either).
Furthermore, the president had nothing to do with this. There has been no call to ban the battle flag the way Germany has banned the swastika. Obama had nothing to do with South Carolina's decision, and certainly has no plans to promote a federally backed boycott, ban, or moratorium on commercially sold, or personally flown Confederate battle flags.
Basically, this is just more proof that the Bible Belt is stupid, and is holding the rest of the country back with it's idiocy. I wrote about this on my blog before.
Not only do all these flag rallies make no sense, defending this 154 year old symbol of a failed rebellion is ridiculous. The actual flag for the actual CSA is below. The Battle Flag, the one shown in the picture above, flown by stupid Oklahomans, was originally the flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, and later was adopted by the Army of Tennessee.
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| the actual CSA flag, actually |
There has been plenty written about the Civil War in this country. We've studied it more than any other time in our country's history. It is massively important politically and socially, and impacted how our country behaved domestically for the next hundred years or more. What we do know, beyond any doubt, is the war was ignited because of slavery. Even if this fact embarrasses us, or makes us feel disgusted with ourselves, it is factual. That is basic US Civil War history. And even though we spent decades trying to gloss that fact over, actual history doesn't change.
There were so many slave owning states, and so many free states. And for a time, there was a balance of economic power in government between slave holding states and free states. This was important to the South, because they wanted federal economic policy to protect this form of labor and therefore the slave-model economy. The Missouri Compromise tried to stop slavery from expanding into the new territories to the west, but The Kansas Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise and ended in crazy bloodshed all over the Kansas Territory.
Eventually, with the election of Lincoln in 1860, the seven southern slave states seceded from the Union because of the Republican platform to stop the expansion of slavery into any future states, and therefore would end the balance. Some would like to believe that the war was fought over states' rights, protecting the individual sovereignty of the State over the Federal government. This is true, I suppose, but those slave states were seceding to protect their states' rights to own people (that means slavery, in case you aren't paying attention).
Eventually, with the election of Lincoln in 1860, the seven southern slave states seceded from the Union because of the Republican platform to stop the expansion of slavery into any future states, and therefore would end the balance. Some would like to believe that the war was fought over states' rights, protecting the individual sovereignty of the State over the Federal government. This is true, I suppose, but those slave states were seceding to protect their states' rights to own people (that means slavery, in case you aren't paying attention).
The Confederacy disappeared after 1865. The government was never officially recognized by the Union, nor by any other world power. The slaves were all emancipated and those slave states were allowed to rejoin the Union as free states with full representation in Congress. Basically, the rebellious state governments were granted amnesty. The Union could have recognized the Confederacy and occupied the southern states after the war as enemy territory, but instead the USA allowed them to rejoin the nation as if nothing happened.
The Battle Flag continued to linger, however. Mississippi adopted a new flag in 1865 with the Battle Flag appearing in the Canton. They discontinued it in 1906, only to readopt it in 2001. Georgia adopted a flag in 1956 with the Battle Flag taking up two thirds. This was an obvious reply to the Civil Rights movement that was beginning to gain momentum. This is also around the same time the State of South Carolina began flying their Battle Flag atop the state house. (Just as an aside, there are other southern states that have incorporated pieces of the actual Confederate flag in their state designs. Georgia, Texas, and North Carolina have designs that bear a striking resemblance).
What I don't understand, and what no one seems to be talking about in the mediasphere, is why this symbol of the CSA has been allowed to fly at all ever. It was a symbol used by a rebel army whose only purpose was to defy and break away from the legally elected government. They were terrorists, and deserters. The leaders of the Confederate Army went to West Point, trained and taught by the American Military. They commandeered federal munitions, forts and other properties. State militias set up by the Militia Act of 1792 were also commandeered and repurposed for Confederate controlled duties.
That all sounds like it could be considered acts of treason. So, flying the Battle Flag, or any symbol of the Confederacy, could be seen as an act of treason, or at the very least, an Anti-American act, and one not seen as patriotic at all. These Confederates were the enemies of the state of the 1860s, and no amount of excuses, or explaining, or thinly veiled metaphors can change that.
It is not a symbol of heritage. It is not a symbol of pride (southern or otherwise). It is not a symbol of American free spirits. It is and has always been a symbol of separation, division, segregation, and racism. It is the symbol of a group that tried to destroy the Union of the United States of America because they wanted to own people as property. It is not patriotic, or American. And it certainly does not belong flying on government property, local, state, or federal.
