When Southerners fly the Confederate flag, they say...?

Question

...it's not about racism, it's about PRIDE IN THEIR SOUTHERN HERITAGE.
But Southern heritage is ABOUT RACISM. That's what the legacy of the South is. I want to know exactly what they are so proud of. Slavery? Racism? Lynchings? "The Dukes of Hazzard"? I know there are many decent people in the south, but what in Southern history is there to be proud of? Shouldn't there be nothing but shame when considering their past????

Answer 1

Wake up to the fact that everybody under the AMERICAN flag was pretty low on moral standard. The reason you pin the label on the Confederate flag is that is all you know to do, and really it is what pop culture has done to the symbol.

Why be ashamed of that flag only when Indians were slaughtered under Old Glory? Remember Custard? Come on people that happened shortly after the Civil War by a UNION general. You ask what part of SOUTHERN history we should be proud of, what part of our NATION"S history should we be proud of?

The South was no different than the rest of the USA. There are good points and bad points to all our pasts. This question shows what the connections of knowledge are. We connect the dots of slavery, Dukes of Hazzard, and race, because thats a simple minded way of thinking. Its easier to live with the notion that we as a country did no wrong because all the wrong happened in the South. Its a lot harder to come to facts that we let slavery take root in our country as a nation. That after the civil war the governemnt let issues slide and that civil rights did not catch up untill almost 100 years later. Its easier to look at the KKK and see only the confederate flag when they also use other flags as well including the American flag.

Its easy to blame a piece of cloth when people in L.A. know more hatred about race crime on all colors than most of the South will ever see.

Yes the Confederacy had slavery and fought to preserve it. It was wrong, just like it was wrong when we fought for that right in the Revolutionary War. It was wrong for the North to buy slave produced goods and denounce the act in the same minute. It was wrong for New York to sell slaves. It was just as wrong for the U.S. to free the slaves and then to give them little rights to protect themselves. History is full of wrong.

The South before the Civil War was part of the USA which means that as a country we share the shame. The South as a country lived for five years, but in those five years people fought and died for different reasons.

America is not bad, but we have done really bad things. Yet we still wave the flag without remorse for any of them. Why should the South be any different in that freedom?

We usually define racism by discrimination based on a belief or color of the skin. This question reflects the very root of that meaning. It is the most humorous thing in the world that someone so opposed to racism, is often commiting the act.

This person asked the question, but has already made up his mind based on what he believes. "If you fly a confederate flag, you must be racists." seems to be to focus but this is not true.

That being said............

There is just as much to be proud of in Southern history as American history.

Answer 2

one i am from the south and i have a confederate flag that flies in my yard under the great US Flag do you want an answer or do you want people to just agree with you?
but if you want an answer Blacks and Whites both fought under the Confederate Flag and by choice infact there is a black man that marches everymorning to the confederate historic marker in North Carolina in his great great grand fathers uniform it is not about slavery not about racism infact its about southern pride black and white. dude do you live in the south? the only way it got turned into racism is because of whites and black that do not know their history it was about state rights South carolina was making trade deals with England with out the Federal goverment knowing when they found out they wanted to tighting the central goverment and the states in the south opposed it mostly south carolina the north started throwing in other factors like slavery into the mix this was right after the kansas blood bath over if it was a slave state or not so south carolina took a stand against the federal goverment and other states followed and the north fearing they would lose their raw materal production of goods (which would bankrupt the northern states) Like so many other things the civil war was over money, power and control the people in the south still fly the flag to say we still remember and dont ***** with us too much its a pride thing is that good enough junior

Answer 3

Racism has been apart of almost every culture since the dawn of time. It's people like you that keep salting the wound. If a bunch of people want to ride around with an old confederate flag and piss you off and it pi$$es you off, guess what? They're gonna keep doing it. Drop the small minded crap and let this go. Everyone will find something wrong with something. The confederate flag is part of American history, history is the operative word. It's roots are not in hate. Ignorant people have associated that with it needlessly because they had to have something to blame.

That's in the past. This is the present. Where will you live and what will you leave behind?

Answer 4

You think slavery was only about racism? If you think so then you need to read histories about pre-colonial Africa. African warlords were only too happy to sell out their rival tribes as slaves . . . not just to whites, but other African tribes. And you think racism is limited to the south? I think you'll find that folks are racially intolerant everywhere.

And why should people be shamed by the past? We didn't make those choices. Times were different then, and societies (and their philosophies) have changed, evolved and progressed. Things that were once accepted, like slavery, are now viewed to be undesirable. Things that were once unacceptable. like gay marriage, are now becoming more tolerated.

So what does that leave you? Well, I suppose Southerners are proud of their heritage as folks of great self-sufficiency, military prowess, and certainly artisitic, literary, musical (and let's not forget culinary) accomplishment.

Answer 5

There is nothing to be proud of. The only good thing that came out of the south is the traditions and culture African Americans brought with them. And the southerners can say they aren't "racist" all they want.

Ironically, after the 14th and 15th amendments were passed, the southern whites STILL kept it alive by instituting "Jim Crow Laws" which basically oppressed African Americans without breaking the laws. They got away with it because they didn't use the word "race"

Answer 6

When you look into any country or region's history there are going to be bad things, that's all humans. Southerners are expressing pride in the good and noble things of their heritage, same as any one that claims pride in their history.

Answer 7

Ya know its like this. You dont have to like it but it is a part of our history. Let them fly it if they so choose. Racism is not what it is all about.
So would you rewrite the history books because you do not like a particular area in it?
Or maybe the constitution because you feel that one part of it shouldnt be a freedom?

Answer 8

Why should I be ashamed of being from the South just because you have a bigoted, shallow, and ignorant view of the region?

JMB

Answer 9

i'm not proud of our past, but i do love my heritage. i'm not one to wave around confederate flags, but i know people that do, and i don't believe that it's an act of racism. yes, i think it's stupid, but people do it because they're stupid. i can't stand it when people put that steryotype on us though. we're not racist, and we're not dumb either.

Answer 10

maybe you should read some history and the south aint the only racist bigots canada is also go read pierre burtons books they will open your eyes