I don't understand....?

Question

Okay, I am a southern girl and i proudly fly my heritage flag(confederate/rebel), i always get told that it is racist, disrespetcful, mean and all things of that sort.
I actually got told take it down or get shot, well it is still flying,and it aint comin down wether we like it or not our Ancestor's did fight in a war and loose there lifes so if they will willing to stand there ground i am to.

Why do black(african american) people think it is so bad...Go read a history book, if you look on my chevy truck you will see the(bumper sticker) rebel flag and if this offends you GO TAKE A HISTORY LESSON, seriously if it does you dont know your history.

I actually had cable installed in my house, and the guy(black/african american) would not let me sign the release form till i told him what it ment, so i said okay and gave him a history lesson, he had thought it was hatred, its really not..
Sorry if it offended, but cut the crap, Its heritage.

WTF... Alot of people make bad desicions in life, Yeah we lot the war,you think we might know that, don't judje people befor you know them, and no the flag dosent stand for slavery......everyone is always mis concivig what it means thats what furiates me...

Like i said wether we like it or not.....Most of you people on here are so rude, i ws nice about it wanting a simple anwser and yo call me tralor tras, and claim we are incest.......Umm,,,who has the racism issue, i dont but by the way some of yo are judging, out of ignorace i is you..

another thing, what they don't teach you in school is that slaves were owned by black/african americans, and then sold to whites....we did not have the firat say in the idea........most people don't know that because they don't care they just think they know evrything, assume and judge......
To let you know another thing how do you know i am white i could be a 50yr old black man... exactley, no matter what my profile says or what my avatar looks like you don't know me

Well why do you think i put rebel/ confederate,or black/african america...some people preffer to be called diffent, and alot of people even know what the confederate flag is thats why i used bth ters...and for the people who judged and said all those bad things...i go to your profle and it say this user dosnt accept message....STAND UP if you have the nerve to talk to someone like that have the nerve to listen to what i have to sayou wus, and yeah i can call you a wus because yor actions through the wesite say othrwise, so therefore i am judging, but i have statment that draw me to that conclusion @$$ HOLE.....Dont anwser this unless you know what the he!l you are talking about , i am tired of reading ignorant peoples $hit...

Answer 1

jcboyle makes some very good points and there are even more in this complex and emotional issue. It is not suprising that controversy still surrounds the War Between the States today as it was complicated enough to have brothers raised in the same household fighting against each other on bloody battlefields. It is further complicated by the use and misuse of the historical context of the war itself by groups motivated by political grandstanding and simple vile hate.
While slavery became an issue in the war, the causes were many. A lot had to do with economics. The South was producing 75% of Federal income through export taxes on agricultural products while receiving only a fraction back. Since only 5% of the population actually owned slaves to say that the average poor Southerner on the battlefield was fighting for slavery would make little sense. The highest cause of desertion within Southern ranks was by men who needed to get crops in to feed their family and had no slaves to do it for them. Like all wars, the true political causes and the actual driving motivation of the men on the battlefield are two very different things.
If you examine the contemporary letters to friends and families when it bacame obvious the war was going against the South, the biggest fear expressed was not a loss of slavery but the loss of 'states rights,' that is the supremacy of the individual States to the Federal government for matters not expressly requiring cooperation. The fear was that an overarching Federal entity would develop which would impose its will on all States and take away their individual culture and value choices.
It is also widely known that Lincoln emphaticly declared he had no desire to interfere with slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation was actually an empty political gesture which only freed slaves in Southern territory he had no control over while maintaining it in Northern areas which had the practice. Hardly a bold commitment but it did serve the purpose of gaining him political support from abolitionists at a time when the North was growing weary of the war. Not many people are aware that several Union units deserted and declared they would not fight for slaves while riots broke out in New York over the idea of fighting to free slaves.
While the war itself was not the simplistic case 'Good free North' vs. 'Bad slavery South,' the matter of the flag is further clouded by the post war history of the Confederate Battle Flag. Shortly after the war ended, white men that had fought in the war and were excluded politically under Reconstruction laws began a terror campaign aimed at achieving their viewpoint outside the law. It was under the flag you fly that they lynched blacks and 'carpetbaggers.' Now think about that for a moment. Much like Al Qaeda today, since they could not obtain their goals peacefully they broke into peoples homes at night, dragged them from their beds and family and murdered them defensesless and in cold blood. All while this flag was often waving over the proceedings. When you consider this it might be easy to see why some people get the wrong message from your flag.
I share your pride in my Southern heritage. I read with great emotion of my ancestor standing his post at the fall of Richmond and writing to his wife of how he fears the tyranny of a Federal state and wonders how God could allow a people who only wanted to ensure that their children would remain free from the fear of this tyranny to lose. He never owned a slave, nor considered the issue of slavery in any of his letters except to state that he was glad the south had offered emancipation to any who served in the army (and there were quite a few slaves/former slaves who did). It was his hope that it would be the first step to ending slavery as he felt it hurt the South morally and economicly. At the same time, to fly this flag is to trample on the heritage and pain of others to a point that many will never be able to hear why you are proud. It might be best to switch to one of the many other Southern flags (such as the Bonny Blue) that have not been corrupted into multiple and opposing meanings. Since it is not so well known, people may even ask you about it and give you the chance to explain the source of your pride as a Southern girl who loves freedom and equality andhow that is what many of our ancestors were really fighing for as individuals regardless of what the collective political reasons of governments may have been.

May I say to all, whatever your feelings about this flag are, history is always a source of pride, shame, comfort, and pain. The key is to learn from our history and to acknowledge that each of us has much to be proud of and very much to learn not to repeat the mistakes of misunderstanding, blind predjuduce and plain stupidity. But just as the men who fought Vietnam were not blind caricatures who fought to opresss the Vietnamese or to spread the gospel of capitalism, so in any war are the ones who bleed there for the reasons left in history books. Let us be generous in our respect for each others ancestors in their intent if not the outcome of their actions.

Answer 2

I think that it is unfortunate that the Confederate Battle flag (NOT the Confederate flag) has come to be thought of as racist. However, it may have something to do with how it has been used, and the kinds of people who have used it. I don't think the KKK or many of the neo-nazi parties that use the flag are people with whom I wish to be associated.

The "Bonnie Blue" was the first unofficial CSA flag. It was a white star on a blue background. There were three "official" CSA flags of which the first did not contain the battle flag. Why do you, and many others, insist on calling the battle flag the confederate flag, when it is not. By the way, the battle flag is square, not oblong, as it is shown most times.

And last of all, the heritage of the south, where I live, is for all southern people. Southern blacks outnumbered southern whites by at least 3 to 1 during slavery, so I guess the confederate battle flag is not part of their heritage of which they are particularily fond.

Now ther's a history lesson.

Answer 3

If you are proud of being an en-slaver of human beings, raping and pillaging their rights. Then obviously your relatives didn't learn much. Maybe you should read a book like Uncle Tom's Cabin and not just the history as written by the lily white power structure. The flag represents that time, that era and that struggle for freedom.

If you are so sore you lost the war, then why did your family stay in the "new" America....and for that matter where would they go....no other civilized country would tolerate that crap.

Answer 4

You're the one who needs a history lesson.
The reason blacks dislike the idea of confederate pride is because the south that you love so much was fighting to keep slavery, and let me just say you guys got your behinds handed to you.
Don't take your flag down, they don't really care but if you'd like to know what they think of you, they think you're redneck hillbillies that sleep with your sisters.

Answer 5

You are trailor trash. Wow you need to wake up and realize you lost the war. That flag stands for slavery and it is one reason the south will never amount to anything. or should I say southeast. You are the low of the low. I can't stand ignorant people like you.

Answer 6

Yes i understand the thing which you are trying to make me understand in an understandable way which is quite un understandable but still understandable which makes me to say UNDERSTOOD..

Answer 7

It may be your heritage - but your heritage (and
mine) included enslaving other people.

Is that something you want to be proud of?