What exactlly is the confederate flag still used for? That war was over long time ago.?

Question

Back south ive seen it still on peoples walls and in their cars. Is it a sign of rascism? Towards black people?

Answer 1

It's a matter of opinion. It all depends on the context of how it's displayed. the Confederate flag was created to distinguish sides between the North and the South during the Civil war. The flag we all know as the Confederate flag was the South's battle flag. Slavery was one of the several key issues that was being fought over. Slavery of course being the biggest issue but really did not come into play until later in the war. The North needed to find a "stronger cause" to fight for and elist more troops. Adding slavery was the answer. But remember the flag that everyone loves an honors today (Old Glory) was the flag created when slavery was condoned and practiced by many people (including blacks) and our congress. So (in my opinion) if you are displaying a Confederate flag in your home because your great-great grandfather fought and died for the south and it was your way to honor him than I would not consider that racist. I can understand because of the lack of history that's taught in our schools people would actually compare the Nazi flag to the Confederate flag. Most people don't know all the facts about where, how or why the flag was created.

Answer 2

First, the flag you see is not the flag of the Confederacy. What you see is called the "Confederate Battle Flag". Very few people would recognize the real Confederate flag, even people in the South.

Today, it is an open sore that remains a point of contention as to what it means and the reality is, it means different things to different people. There is little doubt that to most African Americans this is a flag that is a symbol of slavery and racism. End of discussion. To whites, however, it is a good deal more complex. First, remember, at the beginning of the Civil War the North was not fighting to free the slaves and the South was not fighting to keep the slaves. It was Lincoln who changed the vocabulary of the war half way through. For most whites in the South the flag they show is a statement in regional pride. It has, for them, absolutely nothing to do with wanting to go back to the old days of slavery. Most whites in the South never, ever, owned slaves, not even one. (and by-the-way, there are some blacks who did own slaves ... check out William Johnson or Natchez, he's one of many). For a person from the South, a defeated area, it is a matter of pride to have a Southern flag, just like for many African-Americans they wave a pan-African flag, even though it was their own people who sold them into slavery, it was Africans selling Africans. Still, it is a statement of personal acknowlegement of who you are and where you come from.

Answer 3

The 'stars and bars' is not a military flag but was the official state flag of the former southern Confederacy. It is now a symbol of nostalgia and a historical anachronism.

The Confederate flag, the 'stars and bars', was never a symbol of racism nor does it connote racism but a nostalgia for the old south and a wish that the Confederacy was never defeated. Slavery was doomed in America and would have died out without the civil war, the USA had outlawed in 1844 the importation of new slaves.

The southern Confederacy never contained a racist policy nor any racist ideology as, say, the German Nazi party. As history has proven, no Southern officer or soldier during the American civil war was fighting for slaves nor did any Confederate politician claim the seccession was over the ***** slaves, and none of the Confederate states seceded over slavery. Economic, financial, banking, monetary and state-rights issues have been accepted as the primary reasons for Southern succession with no racial or racist reasons in evidence.

Massachusetts ended slavery in 1755! Some free-negroes owned ***** slaves, the Cherokee Indian Nation had ***** slaves, so it wasn't just so-called 'white' people who just owned slaves as the black history revisionist propaganda would like to have everyone believe.

Answer 4

I still live in a confederate state, and take much pride over it. The Confederate flag was never actually disbanned, and is technically still in observance, however, you'd find many people to disagree with me on this. I beleive we acknowledge our confederate flag because it was time in history that we don't want to forget. ( A good time, a very profitable time as well.) Some people confuse the confederate flag with racism. That just goes to show you how small their minds really are. I've said it once, and Ill say it another million times if I have to. Heritage, not hate!

Answer 5

The flag that most consider the Confederate flag isn’t the Confederate national flag. Rather, if is a form of battle flag. Most of those who fought in the civil war on the Confederate side never owned slaves not dealt in the slave trade. They fought for their State to be left alone. That battle flag represents that commitment to ideals and self sacrifice. In that sense it is representation of our history.

For me, it represents my antecedents and those of my family who fought for their State.

Keep in mind, that war was taken to the South by the Union. Nearly every fight was in the South. Further, it was the Union North which worked to destroy Southern culture with such as Sherman’s March to the Sea through Georgia. A march that destroyed civilian food, attacked old men, women and children and took some of these civilians North never to let them return home again.

It was the North (through Lincoln and out side of the Constitution) that suspended Habeas Corpus, jailed Northern politicians for speaking against the war, had the worse race riots of the time.

Those who fly the Confederate Battle Flag do so in remembrance of those who fought for principle and not simply to gain ground.

Answer 6

Some Southerners are still hanging on to the past. They call it the "good old South," because whites had a comfortable lifestyle and didn't have to pay for it. It is also another way Southerners separate themselves from the northern Yankees. I consider it a sign of racism because of what Confederacy stood for but I don't think everyone who has the flag feels that way. They see it as a sign of pride for the South

Oh I forgot one thing... some whites had a comfortable lifestyle but there were many poor whites during this time too. Slavery kept them from receiving work because plantation owners did not want to pay someone for work when they could get it for free.

Answer 7

In many ways it's taken as a sign of racism.

However, there remain many southerners who believe that, regardless of the war, the CSA (confederate states of america) is still a country, just an occupied country. There's a lot of pride in the southern way of life and remains a lot of bitterness over the war and especially over Reconstruction.

So, basically...a sign of the south, the reluctance to surrender, and not necessarily white supremacy (but it deeply offends many black people, for obvious reasons)

Answer 8

the confederate flag is used to represent the heritage of the south and where they came from. it isnt a sign of racism nowadays but maybe back in the civil war era.

Answer 9

To some, it represents southern pride and a fond memory of the "lost cause" (i.e., rebellion).

To some, it represents white pride and a bitter memory of the loss of slavery.

To some, it is a symbol of hate, pure and simple, and is no more appropriate then putting up a Nazi flag.

I personally think the latter, although this said, do not believe that everyone who displays it is necessarily a conscious racist, merely someone who believes in the southern myth of the civil war and it's justifications.

Answer 10

Not always. Sometimes it is a matter of family pride. However, organized anti-rascist groups will tell you otherwise.