Locals split on meaning behind Confederate flag

[struggle4progress]

24 minutes ago • By Sarah Grothjan

... “I’ve always had a Confederate flag next to an American flag. It’s pretty much all the same flag,” said Randall, who has patterns of both flags tattooed on each shoulder ...

Mark Bergeson, a now-retired Lower Columbia College professor who organized a diversity march in 2007 to counter a neo-Nazi rally, has a much different view of the flag.

"The Confederate flag is not a flag like a national flag, nor is it the state flag. It’s a war banner, and it stands for slavery, racism, and those who take pride in its heritage — its heritage is slavery," he said. "Their heritage is flawed" ...

"This isn’t heritage at all. This was slavery for economic purposes. This was terrorism if we look at it in today’s terms," he said. "I think putting that concept out there is important. It’s an alternative way of looking at the 19th century" ...

http://tdn.com/news/local/locals-split-on-meaning-behind-confederate-flag/article_c0755116-883d-5bd7-a359-ac50058828ab.html

[struggle4progress]

1. Difficult conversations needed on Confederate flag

Posted: Tuesday, July 14, 2015 10:29 pm
By Matthew Hipps

... On some level I get the fervor surrounding the influx of Southern support for the flying of the Confederate flag. I can appreciate the belief that it is a sign of your heritage and a reminder of your ancestors who you believe fought nobly and bravely to defend their convictions and beliefs. I can appreciate why you would feel that the sudden national focus on the Confederate flag has come out of nowhere and that the atrocious acts in Charleston, S.C., have perverted a symbol of history and pride that you have long held dear. I appreciate your sincere belief that repeating the mantra of “heritage not hate” will take away the painful memories that the Confederate flag invokes in many people. I appreciate your acknowledgment that there are minorities who fly the flag proudly and that illustrates that the flag is not, cannot be, a symbol of hate ...

I think there is a misunderstanding that because you personally don’t believe a symbol is hateful that it, therefore, is not. On the contrary, your personal beliefs or dedication to a particular symbol or idea does not negate the historical, political and social context that symbol exists in. While you may not associate the Civil War and Confederate flag with slavery there is little historical evidence to prove or support your point. William Thompson, the designer of the Confederate flag (and the one who would most accurately be able to speak to its symbolic intentions), said the following in George Preble’s “Our Flag”:

“As a people we are fighting to maintain the heavenly ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race; a white flag would therefore be emblematical to our cause ... Such a flag would be a suitable emblem of our young confederacy, and sustained by the brave hearts and strong arms of the South, it would soon take rank among the proudest ensigns of the nations, and to be hailed by the civilized world as the white man’s flag.”

The belief that the Confederate flag was not born out of a desire to indicate superiority is simply inaccurate. That was the very intention that the creator of the flag envisioned ...

http://www.daltondailycitizen.com/opinion/difficult-conversations-needed-on-confederate-flag/article_7c183efa-2a99-11e5-a824-6f6cf8548f98.html