Reply #63: hmmmm [View All]

[loyalsister]

"I have no doubt that it symbolizes Southern pride to some southerners, but why should we care about one thing the flag represents and not the other? The two things are both extant, and both VERY important to a significant group of people. Why ignore the feelings of blacks to court white southerners? Why not have a strategy that brings them both in?"

I think one starting point is to stop assuming that every person who has one has bad intentions and is unworthy of our attention. There are even people who have malleable racist attitudes. The thing that has happened is the message has been that there is an group, protected and represented by Democrats, who are going to take your jobs and who are taking the tax dollars for your kids' schools, etc. These are people who do not carry a rabid hatred. They have just come to believe one of the big lies- Democrats are unfair to them because they "cater" to minorities.
So, in order to address this, it is a reasonable starting point to give people the benefit of the doubt regarding their intentions and character. A person who has this symbol on their truck, may have fallen into this propagandistic trap.
A place to start is to show them that they are in the same boat with minorities when it comes to education and health insurance, let them know that this is about everyone and MAYBE they will get it.