Can the confederate flag stand for states rights?
I have been driving through the southern states the last few days and have seen a lot of confederate flags. To me, it is a symbol of oppression and racism. How do people see it as anything else?
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Answers ( 1 )
Since I grew up and live in the South, I can give you a perspective. When I was small, the Rebel Flag, as we called it, was a generic symbol for the south to most of us. It had no political connotation that I was aware of until I was in my 20s. That is not to say it did not have one, but in the pre-internet days we're talking about, we have to remember that information did not flow as freely as it does now. It's also true that Southerners traditionally had a lot of pride in themselves and their region, and frankly we still do. I think part of that is genuine, I really do feel it, and part comes from an interiority complex (which I think we subconsciously feel in a number of ways.) The flag is now used by horrible people for horrible reasons. When I was younger it was used by perfectly decent people for perfectly non-objectionable reasons, as a symbol of the south. It has also been used, a lot, as a sign of rebellious nature itself. "You tell me I can't use it so I will use it just to prove to you I can." So my final answer - it did not ALWAYS mean oppression and racism and all the rest, but nowaways in an age of much greater information and much greater awareness of how that symbol has been used by many to oppress, the use of the symbol today is really just not acceptable for any reason except purely in an historical context. I do still see folk use it who I believe do not understand this, so in ignorance, but most who use it today just don't care about how divisive and wrong the symbol is. This is coming from somone who casually used the rebel flag symbol myself for many years, frankly in ignorance.