Love and the Confederate Flag
From my house I must take a two-mile access road to reach a
country road of the standard two lanes.
It is very rural and very nicely scenic.
Horse pastures and even a golf course.
Not so much upscale as
backcountry Virginia. It’s not unusual
around here to have a trailer park at the same intersection as a church and the
access to a seriously wealthy country
club.
There is a lot of identity
confusion around here though. Half
of the local long time residents would tell you they were southerners classic Johnny
Reb types –( a.k.a. red necks). Even though the state is home to a major
portion of the nation’s legislators. Or,
members of the Federal Government. Paid
and living pretty high on the hog owned by the general taxpayers. Still
… big pride in Southern History.
Now my heritage is old
west. Rocky Mountain high-yi. Cowboys and cattle and sheep and dusty
western farming. So the whole Civil War
brain set is really beyond my understanding.
In my mind it’s like, “There was a war between a bunch of bigots who
were profiting immensely by standing on the necks of a whole race of people. They
believed that the Bible and their white God gave them that situation by divine
right – even as a duty. And they did not want that to change. They were willing to dissolve the entire
nation to keep it that way. And, a bunch
of folks who thought that condition – called slavery – was immoral, plus they wanted to keep the country
together as a Unified country. “
So that was history.
It was a war that happened a
very long time ago. The southern bigots
lost. The war ended. I’ll say it again, the bigots lost. They
fucking lost the war! So
pack up your gear, go home, live with it.
Move on already. World War II (two) – we fought and died by
the millions, on all sides, with Germany and Japan. Now we’re all the bestest buds. (?) Even Viet
Nam, where tens of thousands of my generation fought and died – along with just
as many Viet Namese – and we go there for fucking
vacations now! I have young Viet
Namese students at the school where I teach.
What is the issue with the American Southeners? Still full of bigotry and hate. And the state motto is “Virginia is for
lovers” !!! ??? The flag symbolizing all
that bigotry and hate was taken down from a couple southern state
buildings. A good move, to my mind. But why was it even there in the first place? After those states lost , why was it
even allowed to be flown? WTF? But all that aside, even after a huge tragedy
that could be directly tied to that 150 year old symbol of hate,
bigotry and flat out failure was
deemed to be in violation of basic human and racial respect was removed, a lot of these local yahoos started putting it up everywhere.
Sure museums are fine.
It is history- yes, a major big thing.
Like just about the biggest part of American History after the
Revolutionary War – or, say WW II.
History is important.
Vital – in my mind. I love to
study history. So, to me, the question
is not whether local cultural pride in one’s heritage is at issue, but whether the issue of slavery and
bigotry are really part – a major
part – of what that flag truly represents historically. Or, are you actually, truly, proud of what
your local cultural heritage believed
in – fought and died to preserve?
To be so proud of it would, logically, mean, you would
return to that belief, those beliefs, if you could. (?)
Yes, of course, think Germany and the Nazis. I have been there, many times. You will never see a Nazi flag flying from
any public building anywhere in the entire country. Yes, you will see it in Museums. You can see the Nazi flag in thousands of
museums in the United States, as well as much of Europe. But NOT
in public as reminder of proud local
cultural heritage. Nor will you see
Japan’s “Rising Sun” flag anywhere.
As you enter the state of Virginia, on any major highway –
interstate highway – at the first public highway rest stop, you will see,
spelled out in ten foot tall letters, the word “LOVE”. Huge!
“L O V E”. In the parking lot, right there in the same
rest stop, parked right in front of this huge declaration of affection and
tolerance, you can also (frequently) see numerous cars and pick up trucks with
Confederate flag decals. Some of the
pick-up trucks even have huge, full sized – as in might fly from the dome of
the state house – Confederate flags.
AND, the license plates are registered in VIRGINIA? Where the state motto is stamped right on
those same license plates, “Virginia is for lovers”. (???)
Am I missing something?
I don’t get it.
No comments:
Post a Comment