i've always wondered about this. i just graduated from a very country high school where many people wore rebel flags. i brought it up with teachers in the past about how it shouldn't be allowed, but it was accepted at my school. i was considering wearing a swazitka just to see the response. i remember my friend was forced to change shirts when he wore the Make 7 (front side) Up Yours (rear of shirt) shirt to school. i don't see how the rebel flag is acceptable and the 7up shirt isn't.
There is a man in my area who stands on certain overpasses and busy intersections with a large confederate flag. He believes that the flag has cultural relevance and dosn't always mean support of racism. He is a black man. Maybe you should talk to him about it.
Clarence Thomas? This is THE LAMEST argument, but it doesn't stop morons from using it. Over and over again. Next, we discuss Jews for Adolf...
Here is the kicker. In their minds it's not a hate thing. They really do ignore the ideas of other people outside their circle. To them people outside their circle should ignore them and what they do. They think that NOT helping someone, or at least not considering them, is the same as not hurting them. In their minds, they've done no harm and if the other person has a problem with whatever they do then that's their problem.
Back in the Pleistocene, my brother wore a Dead Kennedys "Nazi Punks - Fuck Off" shirt to school. The administrators called him in and said, "Look, we agree with you, but we have a policy against the 'Fuck' part." So they let him put a bit of masking tape over the "u." I think it was understood he wouldn't wear the shirt to school again. Fortunately, there weren't Confederate flags around, so there wasn't anyone my brother could point to and say "But you allow those guys to wear their racist second place banner."
I'd ask him if he's heard of the rich and varied history of the swastika, and then comiserate with him about how the meaning behind symbols can change dramatically. Then I'd ask if he could remove the confederate flag.
The real issue here is, did he get your windshield clean enough? Yeah, the Confederate flag has cultural relevance. But the opinion of a man who stands around on overpasses and intersections with it has none, regardless of his color. I'm sure there are people who display the flag without any racist intent. But no amount of "heritage" can erase the fact that it glorifies a culture that would have continued slavery for at least a while longer if they'd won the Civil War. I'm not certain I'd like to see it banned from schools. If nothing more, it can serve as a topic of discussion about what can happen when a region neglects to define itself by its most obvious characteristic.
Oddly enough, in this particular case, I think that this is likely to be exactly right. Problem for those folks is just what happened; someone moved in from outside their circle of ignorance and was disgusted enough to challenge them on it. Good for her. There are much worse things to be suspended for. And while she's suspended, and after she gets back, she ought to continue to collect signatures - just off of school property, and get everyone else who signed to do so too. Surround that *#*#*#*#*#*# institution with energy that forces cognitive dissonance. Keep the Movement movin'.
I'm not surprised you're the only one that got that one Mel. And you know what the solution is, don’t you? I have my opinion. I'd like to see if it matches yours. What do you think is the solution?
The only point I'd make is that this sort of thing pretty much reflects how the right wing in England appropriated the Cross of St.George which represents England to their own ends http://www.bnp.org.uk/ However, over the past few years, great efforts have been made by reclaim 'our' flag from the fascists and racists. Are there any efforts being made to do the same for the confederate flag? I realise the historical context of the flag but it must be possible to have it represent a symbol of pride for the south whilst rejecting any connection to racism... maybe with a revised symbol of some sort. Just a thought from an outsider.
No, not really. The flag in question has been linked with racist groups for so long I dont think it can be extricated. Problem is, this particular flag is not really the flag of the confederacy, but rather, a sort of "battle flag". Thus it has a cultural "relevancy", however, from a purely historical perspective, not enough consideration is given to other flags that represented the confederacy. Having said that, as a white guy who grew up in Mississippi, the underlying sense of these flag wavers is a cryptic way of saying "The blacks have gotten all this help from the gummint, so we are gonna wave this in their faces."