Confederate flag is racist?

Question

I'm curious as to why the confederate flag is equated with slavery and racism. Slavery only became illegal AFTER the civil war. Many northern statesmen owned slaves right through the war. Also, the Civil War was never fought about slavery. (look it up) it was fought over state's rights and taxation without representation. Slavery only became an issue towards the end of the war. Not only that, but the confederate flag was NOT the flag of the confederacy. It was a simple battle flag. Any ideas? (doing research for thesis)

Answer 1

The War Between the States was fought over the same issue that has caused most wars through the millennia, MONEY! Riches and power are the root of most human conflicts if you step back and look.

The economy of King Cotton relied on expansion because crop rotation was almost unheard of and the constant planting of cotton depleted the soil relatively rapidly. Result: You need new land for your crops. You also needed cheap labor to work the fields because this was pre-mechanization of farming. What is cheaper than a slave?

You now have two compelling economic reasons for the expansion of slavery, the need to move to new land (west) and the need for slaves to work the fields.

These needs just ran into a Federal law limiting the spread of slave territories. This effectively told the cotton growing States to go to you-know-where. These States now had two choices, fight a war and win or lose the basis of their economies.

You can fill in the rest.

The taxation was WITH representation, by the way. The other was from the American Revolution.

Answer 2

I would say, from a modern perspective, that slavery is so OBVIOUSLY wrong and immoral, that any connection to it, despite its "legality," is seen as representing racism.

Furthermore, the states right battle was all fought over whether individual states had the right to have slavery, when the federal government wanted to do away with it. The "states rights" issue was the right to own slaves. Because we did away with the Articles of Confederation (a strongly pro-States Rights document), and replaced it with the Constitution, which has more of a centralized government role, this issue was wholly settled philosophically, already, and the South hadn't complained about it in the 70 years from the adoption of the Constitution to the Civil War. Thus, it was about slavery, and the adverse effects of outlawing slavery on the South.

Thus, the battle flag of the Confederacy basically became equated with the flag of those who were fighting for an immoral, and unexcusable practice (again, despite its legality), in the view of most modern people.

And let's face it. Most of the people who hang a Confederate flag these days don't really like black people. The people who still use the flag are the ones who instill it with that racist notion. If every Southerner hung the Confederate flag, the John Edwards and Al GOre's and the millions of African Americans who live in the South, then you could argue it's just a Southern Pride thing.

Answer 3

A few thoughts:
It's a little far-fetched to say that "the Civil War was never fought about slavery". I understand that slavery is overemphasized in history classes, and certainly state's rights were central, particularly the disputed right to withdraw from the Union. But the only other right particularly at issue was the state's rights to determine the course of slavery in their territories. Yes the states seceded because they were disgusted that Lincoln got elected without winning electoral votes from any of the southern states. But they wouldn't have seceded if that candidate had been someone they approved of - then it would have been an historical anomaly, a trivia question. Lincoln's election without their support drove the South to secession because Lincoln represented the end of slavery in the USA. The southerners who fought the battles were fighting for state's rights. But the politicians who seceded were trying to preserve slavery, because it was the basis of their wealth. So let's say that the CW was partially about preserving/ending slavery. That's one reason the flag is considered racist.
The flag was adopted as a symbol of the KKK. Corrupting symbols isn't fair to those who want to display the symbol in its original intent, but it happens. Any display of a swastika in the west in racist, even though it once represented positive values, because the Nazi flag carried it.
At the greatest range of relation, that flag is now the primary symbol of the oppressive state. People display the flag to invoke values of the CSA other than racism, but that intent doesn't free the symbol of its ideological baggage, which is all the values of the CSA.

Answer 4

There are alot of reasons. Mainly, ignorance towards History. The majority of the soldiers from the South did not own slaves. People have the misconception that everyone in the South had a dozen slaves. But it was only the plantation owners that needed and could afford to have them. Alot of Yankees hated Lincoln because he wanted to free the slaves.

And you are correct about it only being the battle flag. Fly the Stars & Bars (First National Conf. Flag) and no one will be offended....just shows connotation means more than definition sometimes.

EDIT - It's erroneous to refer to it as the Civil War anyways. A civil war is two entities fighting over control of one government. The South wanted nothing to do with the American government anymore because of how it was neglecting the cotton states and their rights. The Confederate flag should be a symbol of States rights - and that's an idea that needs to be revived in this time of an overbearing federal government.

Answer 5

Let's be honest about it. Nathan Bedford Forrest founded the Ku Klux Klan as a direct response to the idiots who invaded the South after the Civil War and put former slaves in office as mayors and sheriffs just to stick it to the Southerners. That's what fanned the flames of racism. The KKK started flying the Stars & Bars because they were mostly Confederate Veterans who fought under it during the war. That's how it became associated with racism. If the slaves who had been emanicipated were allowed to just blend into society naturally, I believe that the last 145 years would have been a whole lot calmer.

Answer 6

there are a number of ignorant people who will respond with lack of expertise, or emotion, to the question. it quite is real of any question related to the accomplice conflict flag (no longer the "Stars and Bars", which replaced right into a very diverse flag). the reality, nevertheless, is that the flag is by no capacity "racist". that's uncomplicated to place a label like that on something at present. that's in trouble-free terms a term that rather has no meaning, yet is used to silence people who disagree with you. examine what Charles Dickens, Lord Acton, and others had to declare relating to the conflict. It wasn't approximately slavery. It replaced into relating to the main appropriate of self selection--the comparable factor that the Colonials fought the innovative conflict over.

Answer 7

No even a few African-Americans will agree but most are chastised for doing so.

This can apply to any flag that represents an enemy.

To Native Americans the current US flag can be seen as racist.

The Nazi's destroyed the meaning of the Swastika
http://www.crystalinks.com/swastika.html

Answer 8

The swastika was a symbol of peace, and a symbol for many tribes. Genocide of a people is what it is KNOWN for. So, nobody looks at it that way anymore. But to say that the flag doesn't REPRESENT hatred is foolish. Take a look at ANY white supremacy website, and you will find that flag. It Isn't what it was, it is what it became.

Answer 9

I can certainly understand why people think the Confederate flag is racist, since one of the most hated institutions of the South was the enslavement of the black man. But for me the bigger problem is that the Confederate flag was a banner of rebellion against the United States. I think it's far more associated with treason, failure, and betrayal than racism.

Answer 10

Confederate flag > South > Slave Owners.