Black college student hangs Confederate Flag in his dorm room

[KBCraig]

It's not terribly uncommon in the South, but I'm sure it's more of a shocker on a college campus.

Now, if a white kid put one up and had the same reasoning, I wonder if the story would end the same way?

That was my first thought as well; I suspect we know the answer.

I have a friend who was born in South Africa, and later emigrated here and became an American citizen. Now, he's one who can put "African American" on his documents and really be correct.

Screws with people's minds when they find out he's white.

I made the acquaintance of a fellow in his late 20s, born in South Africa but now a naturalized American citizen, who tried the same thing. Turns out that the Census, U.S. Department of Education, and any other "official" government racial classification disagrees.

From the 2010 Census: "'Black or African American' refers to a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicated their race(s) as 'Black, African Am., or Negro' or reported entries such as African American, Kenyan, Nigerian, or Haitian."

Afrikaaners can't officially be African-American.

The funniest PC brain twist I've ever seen was a few years ago, on a news report about a group of American students making a human aid trip to Africa. They could not grasp the concept of white Africans, and kept trying to distinguish the "African-American Africans" --in Africa!-- from the "white Africans".

 

[MilProGuy]

Please read your history. The War was much more about States' Rights than it was about slavery. You've heard of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, have you not? Would you care to hazard a guess as to which of the two argued in favor of slavery?

The greatest stain on the honor of the Confederate military was Andersonville. But no one remarks on the stain put on the Northern military by Rock Island prison. Not to mention the excesses of the butcher, Sherman, and his armed mob.

Ignominious defeat? The legend has it that when Lincoln heard that Lee had surrendered, he ordered the band to play "Dixie" as a tribute to a valiant and honorable foe. The South retained its honor. What the North did during the war and afterward not only left a vile taste in the mouths of the Southerners, but stained whatever honor the North had indelibly.

We still see the evidence of that stain today.

Yes, the stain is still there.

Thank you, sir, for sharing a thoughtful and historically-correct post.

 

[Brimstone Baritone]

*poof*

Late to the party, as usual.

 

[since9]

I question the point of displaying a symbol of not just despicable values...

Well, that's just it. It's a symbol of despicable values only to those who misunderstand the symbol. Both sides agree that certain values are despicable. The difference is not which values are despicable, but the values the two camps ascribe to the symbol.

That's a common problem with symbols. Last year we had a gent here who myopically held a certain widely-heralded symbol as despicable, thereby ruining a truly wonderful event, simply because one of his arch-enemies embraced the symbol. To him, because an enemy embraced the symbol, that meant the symbol was bad. Never mind thousands of others around the world, also enemies of his enemy, embraced the symbol as well. Not only was he unable to see past the nose on his face, but he rather pathologically set out to destroy an good event for us all.

The symbol isn't the problem. The problem lies in both the meaning which we ascribe to the symbols, as well as level of idiocy to which we're willing to stoop to eradicate the symbol while ignoring the underlying issues.

Although I grew up in the South, I never ascribed to a reverence for the Confederate flag. Nevertheless, I've know well those who do, and none have been supportive of restoring practices like slavery.

As my brother used to say, chill.

 

[DangerClose]

Damn right it's about pride and not racism. Watch them Duke Boys make that jump! Yeeeeee-hawwwwwww

 

[Daylen]

Then he's an idiot, because the "rebel" flag was never used by the confederacy.

Right, just the: Battle flag, Naval Jack and myriad army flags...

 

[Tawnos]

Right, just the: Battle flag, Naval Jack and myriad army flags...

It was not the battle flag nor the naval jack

Those were square

 

[georg jetson]

The rebel flag wasn't a battle flag, either. The battle flag was square, not rectangular. What is commonly flown as "the confederate flag" is most close to the second confederate navy jack. However, it was _never_ the "confederate" flag. If people are going to say "heritage not hate", they'd better damned well know the heritage, and it's certainly not in flying a sign that was never officially what they claim to represent, and most certainly represents the fighting more than anything else.

You had trouble with the round peg/square hole thing didn't you?

A rectangle is a four-sided polygon (a flat shape with straight sides) where every angle is a right angle (90°). Also opposite sides are parallel and of equal length.

A square is ALSO a RECTANGLE.

 

[Tawnos]

You had trouble with the round peg/square hole thing didn't you?

A rectangle is a four-sided polygon (a flat shape with straight sides) where every angle is a right angle (90°). Also opposite sides are parallel and of equal length.

A square is ALSO a RECTANGLE.

So I suppose you'd be cool if we just cut the American flag to a square, and started selling it as the "united states flag"? I mean, they're the same thing, right?

 

[KBCraig]

So I suppose you'd be cool if we just cut the American flag to a square, and started selling it as the "united states flag"? I mean, they're the same thing, right?

Both are rectangles, yes, but a square would not be a United States flag.

The U.S. Flag specifications declare that it has a 1:1.9 ratio; it is always a rectangle, but it cannot be a square.

 

[Tawnos]

Both are rectangles, yes, but a square would not be a United States flag.

The U.S. Flag specifications declare that it has a 1:1.9 ratio; it is always a rectangle, but it cannot be a square.

My point stands. You can't just alter the shape and size of a flag, call it the same thing, and then say you're "protecting heritage" or "promoting heritage" or any other such thing. If someone really wants to promote history, they should be holding up the blood-stained banner.

 

[SavageOne]

My point stands. You can't just alter the shape and size of a flag, call it the same thing, and then say you're "protecting heritage" or "promoting heritage" or any other such thing. If someone really wants to promote history, they should be holding up the blood-stained banner.

Right.... and all those gold fringed flags in courtrooms across the country makes them "military" courts.

 

[Deanimator]

Please read your history. The War was much more about States' Rights than it was about slavery.

"States' Rights" to WHAT???

Perpetuate slavery.

Slavery was the central driving force behind secession, and the secessionists said so.

 

[Deanimator]

Well, that's just it. It's a symbol of despicable values only to those who misunderstand the symbol. Both sides agree that certain values are despicable. The difference is not which values are despicable, but the values the two camps ascribe to the symbol.

Sorry, personal experience tells me different.

I've had neo-Confederates try to justify slavery to me. They didn't even waste time on the fairy story that the Civil War wasn't about slavery.

Can there be any more stupid, futile endeavor than to try to justify racially based, chattel slavery on the basis of biblical reading, to a Black agnostic?

 

[Tawnos]

Slavery is bad, yet nobody ever gets all over the Africans that captured and sold other Africans to whitey. Let alone do anything to stop it. Now, a bunch of rich white guys in our own backyard.....that's different.

I say both are bad.

So who's this "nobody" fellow?

 

[Tawnos]

The usual suspects in the Civil Rights movement.

And who might those be, oh deleter of his comments?

 

[Deanimator]

And who might those be, oh deleter of his comments?

Have you noticed that whenever somebody tries to defend the indefensible, they fall back on "everybody does it!"?

Nothing can turn a neo-Confederate into a Marxist faster than the futile attempt to defend slavery or deny the fundamental beliefs of its proponents.

 

[tim12232]

I just love reading when Tawnos gets his panties or thong up in a bunch over squares and rectangles

 

[Deanimator]

Have you noticed that liberals never see hypocrisy in action when liberals exercise their right to be hypocrites.

And speaking of hypocrisy, were states allowed to secede from the Confederacy?

 

[georg jetson]

My point stands. You can't just alter the shape and size of a flag, call it the same thing, and then say you're "protecting heritage" or "promoting heritage" or any other such thing. If someone really wants to promote history, they should be holding up the blood-stained banner.

I don't think your point still stands... unless you can show a requirement contemporary to the CSA that the battle flag MUST be the special triangle called a square.

There was not much held to stringent requirements in the Confederate world at the time... the urgency of war does such things.