The Confederate Flag and Racism

Karen Russell writes the following in her article on Huffington Post this morning:

On what planet is the Confederate Flag NOT racist? Here on Planet Earth, the Klan uses the Confederate Flag as symbol of white supremacy. Get a clue. If the Klan is using your symbol, it's racist.

To deny that it is racist is to deny common sense and to ignore recent history.

The flag enjoyed a huge renaissance during the Civil Rights era. Angry, white Southerners brought it back to show they weren't going to take this whole desegregation thing lying down. They adopted it again as a symbol of hatred and defiance. They dusted it off to terrorize blacks who had the audacity to fight Jim Crow laws.

Read the entire article here.

plez sez: i rarely pull someone else's post into plezWorld, because you can just as easily go to their post and read it yourself. but this one really resonated with me and i wanted it on my blog, as well.

i've lived in the south for over 25 years, so i've seen my fill of this offensive symbol (for a small fee, you can even have one on the license plate for your car). and i have not met one confederate flag waving yahoo who i would say is not a racist! this confederate flag issue is so wrong and so offensive on so many levels, it is hard to put emotions aside and write my thoughts coherently. but here goes:

• the "it's my heritage" argument: guess what, buddy, it's part of my heritage, too! it's just a slimy and dirty and hateful heritage: it's a heritage where hate was used to subjugate and KILL Black people, it's a heritage where Black peoples rights were abused and ignored, and it's a heritage that gives the flag waver tacit approval to speak his/her hate in public without saying a word. when you say that you are not a racist for wanting to wave or display a confederate flag, you are pissing on my leg and saying that it is raining!
  
  
• the "civil war memorabilia" argument: guess what, buddy, the civil war was fought to destroy this country and preserve the institution of slavery. i don't care how many stories about the number of slaves who fought for the confederacy, because those slaves did not know what they were fighting for (similar to our troops who are currently in Iraq, but that's for another post).
  
  
• the "you want your history, but you want to destroy mine" argument: guess what, buddy, the civil war was fought to destroy this country and preserve the institution of slavery. that is something that we should never forget and it should be part of every child's educational development. don't teach children about the nobility of the Lost Cause, teach them about the folly of the southern states judgment.
  
  
• the "states rights" argument: guess what, buddy, no state has the right to promulgate hate against its citizens. in most southern states, the Black population is very sizeable and everything possible was done to keep those citizens in check (anyone remember Jim Crow?). the people who lamented the end of Jim Crow were the same ones who were waving the confederate flag while they were doing it! this is no different than a group of skinheads waving a nazi swaskita, it is no less hateful or threatening.

South Carolina should not have been given the opportunity to host neither the Republican nor the Democratic debates on national television. i specifically wrote nothing about the debates because i did not watch either debate, it is part of my personal boycott of the state (i only go there or go through there if necessary).

[hat tip: The Huffington Post]

Ramblin' Wreck Roundtable II

plezWorld participates in the Ramblin' Wreck Roundtable, which features a series of questions that are answered simultaneously on the different Georgia Tech blogs during the offseason.

1. A group of playoff proponents have a questionable theory on how to break out of the bowl system and get a D-1A playoff: Boycott the Rose Bowl. What's your take on the never-ending playoff vs. bowls debate?
   
   It's just that, a never-ending debate which will continue until NCAA takes control of the Bowl System and forces the hands of those conferences that continue to profit off of the setup of these antiquated bowls. The bowls were set up when there were only 3 or 4 major conferences, now there are probably closer to 6 or 7 conferences that could realistically place a contender in a championship playoff series. I would love to see how a Boise State or even a Georgia Tech would fare when given a chance in a 2 or 3 game playoff series that selected the TRUE National Champion in Div 1-A football.
   
   
2. What change to our football personnel makes you happier this year: Taylor Bennett at quarterback, or John Bond as offensive coordinator?
   
   I am cautiously optimistic about the emergence of Taylor Bennett at quarterback; from his debut in the Gator Bowl, I could see that he has good talent and can really lead the team. I'm a bit worried, though, about the change in offensive coordinator/quarterback coach with the departure of Patrick Nix. I'm not familiar with John Bond.
   
   
3. Last weekend, Steve Spurrier spoke out against South Carolina's practice of flying the Confederate flag over the state capitol. Should football coaches get political like that, or just stick to coaching?
   
   College football is a business and I have no doubt that certain political issues will have an effect on the success of certain football programs. In the South, the Confederate Flag carries unsavory and unwanted political baggage that more than likely affects the decisions of some student-athletes who would otherwise come to college in that state. Steve Spurrier is a great recruiter who knows that the Confederate Flag Issue is just one more thing that diminishes his competitive advantage when it comes to a visiting recruit who may be offended by the imagery evoked by the waving of that flag. In all honesty, I wouldn't want my son to play sports or even attend college in South Carolina or Mississippi, in part because of the Confederate Flag's prominence in those places.
   
   
4. There are always rumors at Georgia Tech of expanding our varsity athletics programs. What programs would you like to see added next? One for men, one for women.
   
   I'm not interested in seeing any additional varsity sports at Georgia Tech, but if I had to pick some, it would be soccer for men and field hockey for women. Or do we already have these teams?
   
   
5. The matchups were just announced for the 9th annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge in basketball, and GT plays at Indiana (the teams' first meeting since 1969). In the history of the challenge, the ACC has won 48 out of 75 games, and has "won" the challenge every year. Is this a tradition you care about, or would you rather see something started with another conference (e.g. an ACC/SEC Challenge or ACC/Big East Challenge)?
   
   I'm kind of torn on this one, since the Big Ten teams would rarely get to play an ACC team unless they met in the NCAA Tournament. But allure of a regional rivalry with the SEC or Big East may be just as appealing. And the way things have played out of late (with Florida, Georgetown, Kentucky, Connecticut, etc.), winning the challenge would no longer be a "slam dunk" for the ACC.
   
   
6. Lightning Round!! Other Conferences Edition!! (Cue "The Matrix" fight music)
   Name the first thing that comes to mind:
   
   Big East: The ACC should've taken West Virginia (football) instead of Boston College.
   
   SEC: Leading football conference and almost tied with the ACC for basketball!
   
   Big Ten: Why not change the name, since they have 11 teams?
   
   Pac-10: Those USC National Championships were a fluke... the SEC was locked out each year that they won.
   
   Big XII: An SEC wanna-be.
   
   Sun Belt: You're kidding, right?!? I had to look this one up on the Internet... can you say: Mid-Major!
   

Check out the rest of the Ramblin' Wreck Roundtable:

Ramblin' Racket

GT Sports Blog

What's the Good Word?

YellowBlazer's World

moderated by Jeff at www.RamblinRacket.com

Georgia's Confederate History and Heritage Month

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran an article on how a panel of the Georgia State Senate passed a measure that would permanently establish April as Confederate History and Heritage Month. This bill comes up a week after the NAACP asked the Georgia Legislature to consider making an apology for slavery.

Excerpts of the AJC article follows:

A bill that would permanently establish April as Confederate History and Heritage Month in Georgia sailed through a Senate committee Thursday without any opposition.

Sen. Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga), the sponsor of Senate Bill 283, told the Senate Rules Committee that the proposal would help promote tourism in the state and preserve an important part of the state's and the nation's history.

"I'm not doing this for controversial reasons, but to commemorate a struggle that happened," said Mullis, whose North Georgia hometown was the site of a major Civil War battle in 1863.

The proposal has offended some civil rights leaders, who last week asked the Legislature and Gov. Sonny Perdue to offer a symbolic apology for the state's role in slavery. The Rev. Francys Johnson, the NAACP's Southeast region director, said the organization is "vehemently opposed" to Mullis' bill and finds it hypocritical.

"At the same time that the proponents of this bill want to deny any responsibility for state sanctioned and sponsored slavery from 1755 to the end of the Civil War, they still feel the responsibility to honor the treasonous conduct of the Confederacy. It doesn't seem like you can have it both ways.

"You can't honor the past and not take responsibility for it."

Mullis said he has been working on the bill for several months, long before lawmakers and civil rights groups asked for the apology.

Senate Bill 283, if approved by the Senate and the House, would encourage Georgians each April to honor the Confederacy, its history, soldiers and the people who "contributed to the cause of Southern Independence."

The bill also encourages the Georgia Civil War Commission to develop a curriculum to teach Georgia's Confederate history in elementary and high schools, as well as colleges and universities.

Reginald Bohannon, 46, of College Park said that he has no problem with a curriculum that teaches state Confederate history in schools as long as the lessons include both the good and bad parts of history.

"Yes, teach how Georgia had the second-most Civil War sites," Bohannon said. "But also teach that Georgia was on the wrong side of black people's freedom. Teach how some Georgians were Christians, yet condoned lynching, murder and Jim Crow."

The next step for the bill is for the Senate Rules Committee to decide if and when the proposal should come up for a vote by the full Senate.

Click here to view Senate Bill 283 which would establish the month of April as Confederate History and Heritage Month.

plez sez: Here we go again, first it was the Confederate Battle Emblem on the Georgia State flag and now it's this. It appears that my slack-jawed-tobacco-chewing-Confederate-flag-waving-trailer-trash-loving-treasonous-miscreant neighbors, also known as the inbred occupants of the Georgia State Senate, have taken it upon themselves to leave their indelible stain on the fabric of Georgian history.

Despite the fact that the formation of the Confederate States of America was an act of treason against the United States of America, despite the fact that the Civil War was bitterly fought to preserve the institution of slavery (in spite of their ceaseless drivel about taxes and states' rights), and despite the fact that Confederate President Jefferson Davis was a cross dressing fairy (look it up, when the Union army caught up with him, he was captured wearing a dress and patent leather pumps!)... the mindset of those in the Georgia State Senate who support this measure is the same mindset of those who - 146 years ago - split and plunged this country into Civil War.

Personally, I'm having trouble understanding why ANYONE would find any honor in glorifying an ancestry that wrought such misery, hate, bigotry, war, the KKK, and treason! And to think that these cretins want the public schools to incorporate Confederate History into their curriculum; I'm sure their version of history is in stark contrast to what I happen to know is true (there were no happy Negros shufflin' and grinnin' in the watermelon patch). The scars and cancerous lesions of the Confederacy continue to plague and badger the Black community to this day, yet these same people scour in disbelief when the NAACP asks for a token apology for slavery!

I'm not big on apologies, especially from people who had absolutely nothing to do with the "Peculiar Institution," but by the same token, I don't feel that they can have it both ways: honoring their past while dishonoring mine!