I don't know why this bothered me so much today. I met my dad at the gas station off Exit 303 next to Smithfield's bbq to let him take my girls for the night. I remember the Brad Paisley concert is tonight. That place was full of rednecks. What struck me the most was this truck pulled up and a guy took a HUGE rebel flag out and put it on the back of his truck. Now, I was born and raised in the south and I'm very proud to be a southern, but the flag offends me to the core. There was a black lady sitting in her car next the flag and all of the sudden I felt really ashamed. I know those rednecks are not representative of all whites, but I couldn't help but feel weird. I seriously wanted to cry. I hate that flag. I hate what it represents. I know there are some people in this community that say the flag only represents their southern heritage and not slavery, but the rest of the world, including me, sees it as representing slavery. Have they no shame or respect. I pray for these ignorant people. By the way, I love country music. I know that not all rednecks go to see Brad Paisley. There were just a bunch of them at this particular gas station!
I'll probably get hate responses but I must ask, what is the attraction with this particular flag? The USA does have a flag that represents us all; the one with 50 stars - one for each state in the United States. This confederate flag used to represent the Southern states before and during the Civil War, correct? Slavery was abolished as a result of this war, so wouldn't this flag be, in essence, defunct? Just asking a question, not trying to be a smart arse... :?:
First of all, you can hardly speak for the "rest of the world." Secondly, The Civil War was half over before the flag you saw came to be. If you want a flag that represents slavery, perhaps you should refer to the American flag or the first official Confederate flag.
I am speaking for the rest of the world. There are rednecks who insist on defending this ridiculous flag and then there is the rest of the world. Are you denying you are a redneck? Some people, however strange, are proud to be rednecks! Look at the people who fly this flag!!! I hate to be stereotypical, but in my 33 years in the South, most every single person I've known or seen flying this flag is a proud redneck. The bumper stickers prove it on their cars. Then they get out and their T-shirts prove it. Yeee haaaa!
Edit- Can't read First of all, I agree with you on one thing. There are people that use the flag as a symbol of disrespect. Quite honestly, it wasn't until AFTER The Civil War did this flag gain its popularity as a symbol of white supremacy. On the other hand, there are others that are proud of their Southern heritage which is NOT synonymous with supporting slavery. Perhaps the folks you saw today felt this way, as opposed to using it as a symbol of hate. That is what yankees and other people fail to recognize. You can toss around the term redneck all you want. There are proud Southerners and there are rednecks. There are "rednecks" all over the country. If you don't believe me, I'd like you to meet some relatives of mine in SE Ohio. Oh, and you can't speak for the rest of the world no matter how many times you type or think it.
I thought Crazymom stated that she was born and raised in the south. This does not make her a Yankee. I thought I would point this out. Not all Yankees are anti-southerners; it seems to be the other way around I would think. I was looking at this website: http://www.usflag.org/history/confederatestarsandbars.html and found it to be educational. The one paragraph does explain what you have mentioned: Note: It is necessary to disclaim any connection of these flags to neo-nazis, red-necks, skin-heads and the like. These groups have adopted this flag and desecrated it by their acts. They have no right to use this flag - it is a flag of honor, designed by the confederacy as a banner representing state's rights and still revered by the South. In fact, under attack, it still flies over the South Carolina capitol building. The South denies any relation to these hate groups and denies them the right to use the flags of the confederacy for any purpose. The crimes committed by these groups under the stolen banner of the conderacy only exacerbate the lies which link the seccesion to slavery interests when, from a Southerner's view, the cause was state's rights. (Note contributed by BJ Meksikatsi) And yes, I am a Yankee (DAMN Yankee, I am reminded, since we bought property here), but I don't think that should matter. We all live together here, and I feel the need to say that I never did anything to any Southerners except move here because of husband's job. So why the negative stereotype about people from the North? :?
I have friends and family from all over the country and I agree. But you are living in a dreamland if you believe Southerners aren't stereotyped (some justifiably, most not) in a negative fashion, which explains the sensitivity towards the term "redneck" being tossed around.
This thread is making me laugh...Not the original post, but just the north/south/redneck/not-redneck stuff. Sounds like middle school all over again! :lol: Anyway, I agree with the OP about the flag, I hate what it stands for as well, and I always am tempted to ask people when I see it on their cars if they are flying it for the south, or because they're racist. Seriously, I always wonder that. Now, my husband and I were both raised in the north (sorry) but have lived here for 13 years, and to us this is our home. But I will be honest, before I moved here, I had never heard the "n" word in my life, never seen the rebel flag in my life, and never even thought about racism, it just didn't exist where I'm from. So it makes me sad to see it is alive and "well" here in the south. I'm not saying everyone here is racist, not even close, but there are a few that still feel that way, and it's sick if you ask me. As far as rednecks go...my husband is a huge redneck, very proud, is from upstate NY, loves beer and nascar, but does not and would not every fly the rebel flag...oh, and we love Larry the Cable Guy too! :jester:
Slavery was perpetrated under the U.S. flag. Is the admiration for our nation's flag as detestable? There are hate groups and other negative members of society that adopt well-known symbols for their own (the Star of David) is one that comes to mind. What is one man's symbol of hate, is another's pride in his heritage. Who are we to second guess or judge a man's sincerity? I have no problems with the confederate battle jack, when its not rubbed in the face of those who dislike it. At the same time, I hate to see people take such a symbol of history and associate it solely with slavery and not the oppression that our southern forefathers felt from a congress that was controlled heavily by the northern states. Also, FWIW...did you know that the current North Carolina state flag is based on the true confederate flag?
DMJ....next you will tell us there is no racism in the North. Spare us "kuntry folk" the holier than thou BS.
Confederate Flag I don't normally post, but thought this was an interesting subject with deeper roots. I can't deny that some use the Confederate flag to represent their groups, but it truly only represents the confederate states. I would hope noone would pass judgement on anybody who flies the flag as they really might not mean any disrespect. But I feel the subject has roots from what is considered politically correct. Even if the person meant disrespect, they have the right to freedom of speech(and indirectly, expression). I know there is a fine line between having the freedom of speech and being responsible with your speech, but I'm just afraid that this whole obsession with being politically correct will eventually lead to censorship. I'm sure we've all been offended more than once, by language or by symbols, but please let's not further the cause of censorship. And sort of on a tangent, is the "n" word a banned word? I'm not sure, but once we start banning words from our language, censorship begins. Wow, I just censored myself by not typing a word out.
I am sure that the offspring of folks that were held as slaves would not mind a banner that stands for States rights, after all those states that wanted those rights would never consider slavery as a right. Would they?
This is a fair point and I one I can understand even when defending Southern Heritage. It's a double edged sword.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_the_Confederate_States_of_America a pretty good read, with lots of pictures. the battle flag and then the union jack were actually patterened after the st andrews cross http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Andrew
In 1860 in north carolina, only about 5% of white males owned a slave. it's true that slaves made up a large percentage of the population, but they were generally owned in large numbers on rich men's plantations. and, it's true that those who did own slaves were often rich and politically powerful. but 95% of the white people were too poor to own slaves, so they had children. i can show you geneaologies for my four direct surnames (ie my grandparents last names, including grandmothers maiden names) that go back, in one case, to the first census done in north carolina in 1783-1785. some of them were lucky enough to own some land, but none of them ever owned a slave that i could find. hell, some of them were sharecroppers in wake and granville county before the war. and i've searched every census since the nc census done before the first federal census was done in 1790. point is, these people did not leave their homes and their children and their livelihoods to take up arms for the purpose of saving slavery. Of the 34,658 families who owned slaves in North Carolina, only 4,065 owned twenty or more and qualified as planters http://ncmuseumofhistory.org/exhibits/civilwar/about_section1a.html In 1860, North Carolina's free Negro population was 30,643, a number exceeded in only one southern state, Virginia, and four northern states, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Ohio. http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/larkins/larkins.html 1860Total Population992,622Whites629,942Free Colored30,463Slaves 331,059 http://www.sgarner349.com/north_carolina/index.htm if you figure half the white people were women, you get about 310,000 white men, of age, in north carolina in 1860. you got 35000 "families" who own slaves. figuring that there would be two adult white people per family, that's about 5% of the total population of white people in north carolina in 1860. why did they fight, then? because the federal government showed up on the coast and took over new bern and wilmington and our ports so they could attack south carolina. north carolina was next to last to join the confederacy. the federal government in essence said to north carolina, either join us or we're coming through there anyway. while many north carolinians may consider south carolina to be dead weight well shed, they didn't take kindly to having their state rights suspended over an issue they might have agreed with. so they fought back. for my next novel, how the emancipation proclaimation only freed slaves in places where lincoln had no authority, but not in any of the union states....
I'm sorry, I know this is a very serious subject, but this line just made me LOL: but 95% of the white people were too poor to own slaves, so they had children.
"What is one man's symbol of hate, is another's pride in his heritage." I think to compare the star of David to the confederate flag in like comparing apples to oranges. The Star of David is a religious symbol. I didn't know it represented a symbol of hate? My orginal intent with posting this was not to argue whether it's right or wrong to fly the conferderate flag. It was to show how it made me feel when I saw the flag. No history lesson will make me feel any differently. Whether it's right or wrong to associate the flag with slavery, I've found that most of the time it is. As proud as I am to be from the South, I still would not display that flag because of it's association with slavery. I also embrace that we are Americans first. I'm very proud of the American flag. I don't want to fly a flag that seperates the south from the rest of the country. I've never considered myself politically correct. I just try to follow my moral compass.
