We should be asking why it has taken so long to finally strike the Confederate Battle Flag. Excuses often include claims that it represents a matter of pride about the southern heritage. Such a curious claim.
The flag was raised to defend the institution of slavery. It represented the right of the plantation owners to hold people against their will, murder them if they chose, beat them and rape them without consequence. That is hardly a heritage to be proud of.
And the people who benefited from the institution were only an elite class. My father’s family lived in the deep South, especially Mississippi, for many generations. They owned no slaves and worked hard to maintain themselves, often in a climate of deep poverty.
My father gave me an assessment of the meaning of the war to his family told to him by his grandfathers both of whom fought in the Confederate army. Going to war was not their choice. In effect they were impressed and had to leave their families behind to tend the farms as best they could. In a real sense it was not their war. The results of the war only deepened poverty.
Is this a proud heritage? Certainly there are things the people of the South can be proud of but slavery is not one of them.
The question remains why it has taken so long for us to question the display of this flag. Were the nine people murdered in Charleston really the cause for a collective reassessment? The lynchings, bombings, murder and violence have been going on for a long time. And politicians have wantonly defended this flag.
At this time we are discussing the need to gain control of racial hatred. Nowhere in the discussion have I heard a realistic discussion or debate. In fact a major part of the reason for the existence of racism is our social nature. We cleave to our social group and its culture. In so doing we put up a barrier of attitude and feeling to the “others”. What we have to do is recognize our tendencies and separate them from distorted or excessive attitudes. Being social in nature is generally a benefit but not when unexamined attitudes yield consequences that are routinely negative.It takes awareness and understanding of a very human attribute to derive the benefits and to live productively with the other people in our society.
The Confederate Flag, in fact, represents an attitude in regard to the “other” and it is time to recognize it for what it is and that it fuels counterproductive and ugly tendencies. Let’s hope that we have a productive national discussion and bring about the needed changes in how we view and treat each other.
It appears to be time for the discussion. Something significant is happening in our country. We have a major wave of immigrants taking up their place among us, LGBT rights are suddenly being supported, gay marriage is taking its rightful place, we are facing the failure of the second prohibition (marijuana) and now in a matter of days there is a movement to face the issue of the Confederate flag. Altogether it points the way to the fact that suddenly there is a marked maturation process underway in our national culture. And in that context it behooves us to ask why now and what do these events mean.
joe diamond says
Roger,
I think you have identified the correct question. The sad history of slavery in America has enough guilty parties and not just southern slave owners.. If it could be said that slavery was unique to the south the associated racial prejudice has been dispersed and found in many setting, held by many races. There is no exact date or place where these attitudes ended or were replaced. It has taken repeated generations to abate the racial polarization that has plagued this country.
So to ask your question in another way we might identify those who are now using the battle flag of northern Virginia (Used by Robert E. Lee). Who are these individuals who would use this flag? What do they say the old flag now represents? We must end this confusion. Just banning the flag will do little.
Joe
Gren Whitman says
Please. Stop using “plantation” to describe the southern slave-labor camps that were eliminated by the United States in the Civil War. It’s such a Margaret-Mitchell-Fantasy-South kind of word!
Ed Plaisance says
I was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, and remember as a kid drinking out the White water fountains next to the Colored water fountains in Pizitz and Loveman’s department stores. I asked my mother if the water was different and why were there two fountains for the same purpose. Her answer was “that’s the way it is…” I even snuck a taste to see if the water was the same…it was.
Maybe it is time to put other vestiges aside.
Good comments…well said…maybe this “cleansing” will extend to other “honorings” which seem misplaced today.
Example: every time I pass thru Centreville, I cringe a bit at the Jeff Davis lodge of the American Legion. Or the numerous Jeff Davis Highways in the South. In reviewing the history and objectives of the American Legion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Legion it seems incongruous that they should name a post for a Confederate leader.
Regards,
Joe Diamond says
Ed,
I know what you mean about that post name. I had heard that objection before and received the following answer from the post site .
The No. 18 Post of the Legion was organized in 1919 and named for Jefferson Davis, who had been the first Queen Anne’s County solder killed in WW1. . E. Hall Covell was named the first commander. Post 18 was officially chartered in 1930. Jefferson Davis was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Davis, of Price. Jefferson Davis was better known as Dick he was one of seven children. He was born on May 20, 1892 at Price. He entered the Army on September 25, 1917 and was killed in France on July 25, 1918, he was 26 years old. Existing at the time in Centreville was an informal community consisting of former World War I Veterans. . . .
So they didn’t name a post for a Confederate leader. Since this veteran was born in 1892 his parents could not have missed the connection when picking a name. It certainly does have that chilling effect.
Joe
Ed Plaisance says
Thanks for the detailed explanation on the naming of the post.
It would be a simple thing to make sure the right Jeff Davis is honored in the naming of the post by changing the sign to read: Jeff “Dick” Davis.
There should be no confusion with the Confederate leader…one wonders whether the post quietly rejoices in this confusion?
Seriously, people, who knows the legacy of the the Jeff Davis for whom the post is named? I feel it is major disservice to the real Jeff “Dick” Davis.
Regards,
Ed