^^^“His financial acumen saved this country from ruin after the Revolution. But he is to be replaced by a woman.”
Hamilton died 211 years ago. I think we can switch him out for a few years in favor of a woman and while we don’t yet know who, there are plenty from the past two centuries who are worthy candidates.
While we appropriately focus on negative symbols (the confederate battle flag, for one), we shouldn’t underestimate the importance of positive symbols IMO. I think very few people now discount the huge step this country made in electing a black president, and the symbolism was not lost on the rest of the world. The fact that it will not be a white president mourning at Rev. Pinckney’s funeral is huge.
Taking down the flag is an appropriate reaction to a terrible event. But Governor Haley and politicians in states across the US need to go a step further and show genuine leadership by promoting positive symbols simply because it is the right thing to do, and not in reaction to a tragedy.
“The Byrd street sign isn’t pasted on bumper stickers, worn on t-shirts, or waved at rallys.”
I find it very telling that some people cannot tell the difference between the Confederate Battle Flag and street signs or statues. I think it just shows that those who bring things like that up as argument have jumped the shark."
No kidding. Anyway, no one is talking about abridging the rights of private citizens to fly the Conf flag on their own property, wear it on clothing, or erect 25 statues to Jefferson Davis on their front lawn if they so desire. And no one is talking about making the Conf flag illegal to wave at a rally. All the, uh, “southern heritage celebrators” are welcome to wave the flag as private citizens as often and as much as they like. We’re talking about public acts conducted by the state.
It’s also being taken down by the state governments, not the Federal gov’t. It’s funny how those whose battle cry on almost every issue is, “State’s Rights,” are the one’s having the biggest hissy fits. I’m sure if any statues or street signs are taken down it will be because the state feels it’s appropriate. If the citizens of a state don’t like the action their state governments are taking - they can vote them out of office.
Well, there’s Mississippi, whose state flag contains the CSA Army of Northern Virginia battle flag, and Georgia, whose state flag is the CSA’s first national flag with some Georgia symbols added within the ring of stars.
I certainly wouldn’t hold my breath for action in Mississippi any time soon. Georgia, OTOH, might begin to feel a lot of pressure from corporations in their state.
I haven’t had a chance to read the Ta-Nehisi Coates column yet, but Jelani Cobb had a good one in the New Yorker a couple of days ago. I thought his point about whose “Southern pride” exactly the Confederate flag is celebrating and memorializing was spot on:
I’m not familiar with the authors of the articles. Are either of them Southerners? I am curious to read a Southerner’s perspective on what the flag means today. I didn’t think there was really any dispute about the Civil War being over the Southern states’ rights to own slaves.
I don’t necessarily dispute anything that is written. I just see “The Atlantic” and “The NewYorker,” and think, uh oh, more Northerners telling us what Southerners think and do.
I want to believe that Southerners don’t fly that flag intending to communicate hate. I could be wrong, but I’d be really interested to hear it from a Southerner’s point of view.
Did you watch the Paul Thurmond video @Bay? That would give you the perspective of a southerner. Of course people in the south will have many different takes on the flag. The thing though is to “unpack” the meaning within the “proud symbol of our heritage” narrative.
I understand that southerners are proud of their hospitality and ideal of a genteel life of sundresses and linen suits and fans and sweet tea on porches. They’re proud of their independent spirit and refusal to culturally assimilate and flatten out to some bland middle American model. No problem.There’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve watched enough Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta to know that a fair number of southern girls want Mason jars, lace and burlap as symbol of southern style. Maybe we should get them to design a new flag working in those themes. Go ahead and celebrate those cultural features that really are singular to the south in a positive way. Knock yourselves out. However, you don’t get to add the happy slaves working away with smiles narrative to that vision without a challenge.
Below is a link to an article from Southerner Rod Dreher that appeared in The American Conservative.
Dreher writes,
"On several occasions in the past, I have defended the display of the Confederate battle flag. I have never displayed it myself, and would not display it. I believe the Southern cause in the Civil War was wrong, and I know that the Confederate flag’s display during the Civil Rights Era was a sign of racist resistance. Yet I have known white Southerners who really do consider the flag to be a symbol of Southern heritage, culture, and identity, and who mean nothing racist by it. On this blog, I have tried to tell people that not every display of the Confederate flag is meant as an expression of racism. I still think that’s true.
He goes on to say:
“The widespread use of the Confederate battle flag during the Civil Rights era, to defend white supremacy, removed the benefit of the doubt that might have been extended to those displaying the flag in memory of the war dead. In other words, modern white supremacists robbed the flag, as a symbol, of a plausible claim of innocence. True, Dylann Roof did not display the Confederate battle flag in his rampage inside the church, but it can’t be denied that the Dylann Roofs of the Civil Rights era, and their fellow travelers, did openly associate that flag with their cause. In light of what just happened in Charleston, and considering things from the point of view of black Southerners, I believe that the Confederate battle flag is simply too tainted as a symbol to be displayed in good conscience anymore.”