what does the rebel flag stand for racism or heritage?

Question

im doing a report on the rebel flag and i need some opinions?

Answer 1

Racism for some, heritage for others, depends on who you ask.

Answer 2

The big red "stars in bars" flag is the confederate war flag. Anyone that says they support southern heritage should know that and then fly the actual confederate flag which is totally different. Racism is a huge sign of ignorance.

Answer 3

Actually there were many Confederate flags. The famous "Stars and Bars" is not the only Confederate flag and was in fact a battle flag. it would be impossible to explain the history of Confederate flags here in this short space. I suggest a good web site http://www.confederateflags.org/.........I personally dont believe it stands for racism. 95% of the men in the Confederate Army never owned a slave and were fighting mainly for their rights as they viewed them. Slavery was ONE of the institutions of the Confederacy and as such I suppose you might say they were fighting to protect it but it was by no means the only or even the main reason men fought for the South.

Answer 4

Neither. It stands for the Confederate States of America, which no longer exists. People can attach whatever they want to it, but in the end, it's a flag. People are the ones who give it a meaning. In the dominant culture, it's taken to be racist, and that has to be respected.

I always thought a better symbol for Southeastern heritage would be something indigenous, like this:

http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/tejas/fundamentals/images/sanders_gorget-sm.jpg

These sorts of patterns are from the Southeast, and are usually carved onto shell gorgets (a large type of pendant.) This one's a four directions pattern, and if you notice, everyone from all the directions meets in the center. That's a pattern that was in the South before it was even CALLED "the south."

Answer 5

I am glad you asked that because I was at the court house today and they have a big stature in front of it with a woman in a greek looking dress and she is holding a rebel flag (confederate flag) up. It is a old statue. I live in Va. and Tn is right down the road. My dad and alot of people have one flying outside. For us it is a matter of heritage, but many black people see it as racist because it is meaningful to the South and that was a place of slavery for them. But here in the south it is all over the place. It doesnt mean to us what many get upset about, it is our ride in the south that we live in .

Answer 6

I don't know how it relates with heritage, but consider how it is most commonly used today. When I see the rebel flag in the hands of a klan member, I assume they're making a racist statement. When I see it on a decal or bumper sticker, the caption is usually a racist remark. I would imagine that the majority of people using it for racism don't know story of the flag itself. You might throw that in the report. How people use a symbol without knowing what it really means.

Answer 7

anything can have evil meanings if we look at them right the bible for example with waco chaos ,computers-child porn guns-va tech shooter no it depends on how u look at it historically the rebel flag was made because the the people couldnt tell the difference between the old cof flag and the unions so that was why it was changed and civil war was over more things than slavery

Answer 8

For me it's heritage. My father's family is from the south (closer to the appalachian mountains) and it would have been their side in the war. Beyond that, I do support the portion of our country that refused to let the government dictate what they could do and how to make their livelihood. Don't get me wrong- I hate the thought of slavery and it was immoral, but to those whose way of life it was they stuck up for it. It would be like having our President suddenly declare that computers are immoral (or can be used for immoral actions) and that they are all banned. That would definitely have me exercizing my amendment right to pick up a rifle to defend my online business and way of life!

Answer 9

its sort of for heritage, people are stupid and naive and think its for rascism, its for a country that shouldve been great and the damn north did us wrong on that, yeah we had slaves but the people fightin for our freedom from the north forcing us to be poor and not get anywhere, learn your history, the war is taught wrong in most places, as the saying goes, its the winner of the war that writes the history, the people fighting for us were too poor to own slaves and most people couldnt afford them either, only a select few with money. i have one up in my living room and have a black roomy who helped me put it up. **** the north, the south'll never be the same and we're still recoverin, i dont thinkit'll ever happen but if we fight it again i'll be there on the field for it,, i'm not a rascist and am as mixed as it comes so please research the war and you'll see why we still support our home, i support the us but i dont agree with how the war turned out

Answer 10

Regardless of what some think it stands for, it is seen as racist by many, particularly blacks. Here's the analogy I use: There are 2 forms of the swastika--one stands for life, the other death. But which is which is lost to most folk, the overriding association is Nazi. Same with the rebel flag--the overriding association is racism, imho.

I'm a Virginian, and would no more display the rebel flag than I would a swastika.