Controversy over symbols and racism .

[RedBean]

[ QUOTE ]

however, i believe that 5% (or less) of the people who are flying that flag today have gone through that line of thinking and come to this conclusion.

[/ QUOTE ]

Every day on my way to work I drive past one of the many Confederate National Cemeterys that line the south.

Did it ever occur to you that the majority of people who fly the confederate battle flag as a symbol of their heritage do so in honor of the nearly 100,000 brave souls who gave their life fighting for the South, and while you may be right that they each don't have a detailed understanding of the underpinnings of the war as it related to state's rights, that doesn't necessarily mean that its use is racist or they are celebrating a treasonous secession that almost destroyed our country, but merely honoring the troops that fought and died beneath that flag, because whether or not the reasons were justified, some people believe in supporting and honoring their ancestors who died in war.

[Voltron87]

[ QUOTE ]
Did it ever occur to you that the majority of people who fly the confederate battle flag as a symbol of their heritage do so in honor of the nearly 100,000 brave souls who gave their life fighting for the South

[/ QUOTE ]

no.

[ChipWrecked]

[ QUOTE ]
Thatpfunk/Wacki/Evan - Are you from the South or live in the South now? Is the Confederate flag shown outside of the South?

My observations of that flag have been limited to the South. I don't recall ever seeing it outside of a Southern state. I have lived in Georgia my entire life (36 years). I haven't done any polling, but the idea that virtually all of the use of the Confederate flag in the South is not racist is laugh out loud ridiculous to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

I live in California. One of my neighbors is using the Stars and Bars as his bedroom curtain right now.

[odellthurman]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Did it ever occur to you that the majority of people who fly the confederate battle flag as a symbol of their heritage do so in honor of the nearly 100,000 brave souls who gave their life fighting for the South

[/ QUOTE ]

no.

[/ QUOTE ]

Me neither. Mostly I just observe rednecks who dislike black people.

Several southern states seceded right after Lincoln's victory in the 1860 election because his platform included stoping the spread of slavery in to the west. So I ask the southern sympathizers what "rights" were the south fighting for.

[RedBean]

I live in Mississippi, and I see just about as many blacks flying or displaying the flag as I do whites. It is displayed on state buildings, post offices, police cars, virtually everywhere, and even made it's appearance in Iraq this summer emblazoned on every armored vehicle in the 155th Regimental Battalion from Camp Shelby, Miss.

Many native mississippi blacks will tell you that the flag is not a symbol of racism at all in their eyes, and they find it more troubling when the northern suits who talk long and hard about how much they loathe racist symbolism then turn around and refuse to hire someone to work with them based on their skin color.

Southern Blacks get real tired of hearing white people from the north come tell us what is and isn't racist about our flag.

Mississippi is also the blackest state in the nation, with 36% of the population being black, three times the national average. In fact, until about 1950, blacks outnumbered whites.

When they had northern outsiders come in a few years back and hold a referendum to oust the flag from the official state flag designation, it was voted against handily, with blacks and whites alike asking outsiders from the NAACP and the David Dukes of the world to get the heck out of our state with their racism mumbo jumbo and leave our history be.

Of course, it is actually a heritage thing here, considering the prescence of a large Confederate Memorial, the Confederate Veterans Home (now vacant, obviously), and the Confederate "White House", and the large lineage of native Mississippians who can trace ancestors who fought and died in the war, black and white alike.

[thatpfunk]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

however, i believe that 5% (or less) of the people who are flying that flag today have gone through that line of thinking and come to this conclusion.

[/ QUOTE ]

Every day on my way to work I drive past one of the many Confederate National Cemeterys that line the south.

Did it ever occur to you that the majority of people who fly the confederate battle flag as a symbol of their heritage do so in honor of the nearly 100,000 brave souls who gave their life fighting for the South, and while you may be right that they each don't have a detailed understanding of the underpinnings of the war as it related to state's rights, that doesn't necessarily mean that its use is racist or they are celebrating a treasonous secession that almost destroyed our country, but merely honoring the troops that fought and died beneath that flag, because whether or not the reasons were justified, some people believe in supporting and honoring their ancestors who died in war.

[/ QUOTE ]

Flying the American flag has the same ability to honor fallen soldiers. It thanks them for contributing to build the country that we have today.

That's a complete BS reason, imo of course.

[ QUOTE ]
I live in Mississippi, and I see just about as many blacks flying or displaying the flag as I do whites.
I lived in Mississippi for a year and never saw a black person displaying the flag. This outrageous statement seriously discredits your earlier arguments

[odellthurman]

I didn't realize Mississippi was such an oasis of racial harmony. My mistake.

[RedBean]

[ QUOTE ]
Flying the American flag has the same ability to honor fallen soldiers.

[/ QUOTE ]

Flying the Union flag honors those who gave their life fighting under the Confederate flag?

[ QUOTE ]

That's a complete BS reason, imo of course.

[/ QUOTE ]

You think it is BS to honor the memory of soldiers who die in war?