I stopped to get gas today and my car was at a pump behind a big truck with a HUGE Stars and Bars sticker on the back window. I cringed when I saw it. Shuddering, I wondered WHY anyone in this day and age would display that symbol with pride. To me, it symbolizes: intolerance, division, separation of our United States, and racism. Oh yes, also slavery, bigotry, and ignorance.
Then I pondered... while pumping my over-priced gasoline...
What do the Stars and Bars mean to Southerners? Who teaches their kids that this symbol is OK and something to promote with pride? Do the schools endorse it? Parents? Churches? I'm sure that not all the people wearing or displaying this flag are racist or intolerant or secessionists, so what's the scoop?
I was raised in Michigan and I'll tell you what, if you wore that flag within 300 miles of Detroit, you'd get beaten to a bloody smear. It never showed up EVER on clothing or as a bumper sticker, or as a flag or a poster anywhere that I recall. It's just not a Northern State thing.
So tell me, all you Southerners out there... what am I not understanding about this symbol of Southern pride? What do you see in it that I don't?
3 comments:
Monchichi sent me:
Couple of points:
The flag you have on your page is not the "stars and bars"; that is the First National Confederate flag:
http://www.confederateflags.org/national/FOTCs_b.htm
The flag above is actually the Confederate Naval "Jack":
http://www.confederateflags.org/navy/FOTCnavy63.htm
Similar patterns were also used by land forces during the war.
So ironically, many of the people flying these flags have no clue that it never represented the Confederate "nation", only military units. It has become a "de facto" symbol of the South, yet the history is so much more complex than that.
For some Southerners, the "Confederate flag" is a symbol of heritage and the sacrifice of Southern soldiers in the Civil War. Their arguement is, and it is a fairly historically sound arguement, that the US flag stood for slavery and racism much longer (and long after) than the "Confederate flag" did. If you look at photos of KKK rallies in the 1920's, the Klan marched under the "stars and stripes", not the "stars and bars" -- it wasn't until the 1950's that segregationists began "adopting" Confederate symbols as their own. (BTW, the largest concentration of KKK members in the US during the 1920's was in the Midwestern states -- Indiana, Ohio, etc.)
For a very balanced account of the history behind the "Confederate flag", I recommend John Coski's "The Confederate Flag: America's most embattled emblem".
I hope this helps.
T.
And to think we put up with the verbosity on a daily basis
Thanks, T! I appreciate the info, although I still get the willies when I see the (correct) flag. Partially cultural upbringing, I'd guess.
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