If you are automatically tagged a cross burner because you are a white guy that shows up somewhere in a beat up 62 Chevy pickup with Iowa tags, is that racism? Damn right it is. You don't have to be white to be a racist and you don't have to be black to be a victim of it.
The Southern Cross, more accurately known as the Tennessee Battle Flag (which is very similar to the Army of the Potomac's Battle Flag) is a symbol of the Confederacy because it shows up in so many paintings and movies (mostly because many of the more famous battles were fought in Virginia where the AoP operated). It was never an official flag of the Confederate States of America, although it was used as the union in the second and third Confederate flags and was also used as the second Naval Jack and Ensign.
South Carolina should either use the first Confederate flag or its own Sovereignty flag over the war memorial on its Capitol grounds to get rid of the strawman that the Southern Cross has become. Changing the flag won't change attitudes, but as long as we concentrate on the symbols I guess we can ignore the substance.
Amen. Also, keep your eyes open. Whenever the media fixates on a (fabricated) "issue", its usually akin to a magician waving one hand around in a dramatic flourish: the other hand is quietly performing the trick, flipping switches and pulling strings and sneaking its way into your pocket.
ReplyDeleteI am starting to think that we're in an ass/arse situation. Ass was originally coined because arse was the cuss word. Now they've flipped.
ReplyDeleteI think I remember reading that the battle flag is on the memorials precisely because it represented the army that fought bravely rather than the nation that represented the values of slavery.
Putting the stars and bars on those memorials would be such a reversal, and yet the justice warriors would likely be mollified.
I mean it already worked when they did it with Georgia's flag in 2003... I think it bears mentioning that in 1956 when Georgia added the battle flag to their state flag, it was a Democrat what done it.