<p>[Fraternity</a> bans Rebel uniforms - 4/22/10 - Raleigh News - abc11.com](<a href=“http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=7401075]Fraternity”>http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=7401075)</p>
<p>Shame they had to succumb to political correctness.</p>
<p>Shame people still wear Confederate uniforms and fly Confederate flags in this day and age. You guys really don’t get that honoring the Confederacy is about on par with honoring the Third Reich, do you? The Confederacy – built on the concept that blacks are inherently inferior to and destined to be subservient to the white man. And then you “wonder” why the rest of the country looks down on you. Gosh, try to figure that one out.</p>
<p>The Confederacy does not equal the Third Reich. But, that is besides the point. People should be able to honor their heritage.</p>
<p>Blacks weren’t able to honor their heritage during the 1800s and before.</p>
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<p>Neither were the Irish in the Northeast during the late 19th/early 20th century. Both are able to now, however.</p>
<p>And then you “wonder” why the rest of the country looks down on you.</p>
<p>Who is “you”???</p>
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Not when their heritage is dishonorable.</p>
<p>I think it’s fine to honor the positive aspects of one’s Southern heritage, but reprehensible to celebrate a movement that considered an entire ethnic group to be chattel. I wouldn’t want to take the Nazi-Confederate analogy too far, but they did share the belief that certain people are subhuman. To most of us who don’t live in the South, and to many who do live there, that belief is embodied by the Confederate flag and uniform, which should be displayed solely in a museum.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>The people that actually owned slaves and worked to keep Blacks down, by and large, did not fight in the Confederate Army. Most of the soldiers were poor conscripts or yeoman farmers who were compelled to join the army and could not desert, under pain of death. It is easy for us now to acknowledge that slavery is wrong, but 150 years ago things were much different. Southerners bought Africans who were slaves to other Africans. Many Northerners were just as racist, but the North’s economy was more industrial and wasn’t as conducive to slave labor as was the South’s. It is difficult to condemn all Confederates and to deify all Unionist troops when, mostly, they had no differences aside to the territory that they pledged their loyalty to.</p>
<p>One should recall that slavery was legal in some Northern states too. I think that slavery is one of the worst things in the history of the entire world, not just that of the Southern states or the US in general. </p>
<p>While I do attend the University of Alabama, I am not a Southerner or a Northerner, though I feel that even if I was one or both, in no way would that invalidate my opinion. Similarly, the fact that I’m a non-Greek student does not affect the validity of my opinion. I’m just stating this as a precaution.</p>
<p>In all, I feel that the students should be able to wear CSA uniforms just as people should be able to wear Union uniforms or Viking costumes as it is their right. Yes, the Civil War brings back some terrible memories, but I don’t think that we should forget our history, otherwise, as the saying goes, we are doomed to repeat it. While I might not like or may even be offended by the wearing of CSA uniforms, I respect their right to do so. Some free Blacks did own slaves and some also fought for the CSA without having been coerced to do so. Their descendants have just as much a right to celebrate their history as anyone else. IMHO, the bigger issue here is racism and other forms of intolerance. We can’t control where we were born or who are biological parents are, but we can change our hate/dislike into love or at least mutual respect. If AKA wants to hold their own parade, they can do so, just like KA should be able to do with the uniforms. Maybe the two groups could even parade together as the past and present South working together for a better tomorrow.</p>
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lol . Gosh, try to a get a grip on reality. I think your cheese is slipping off your cracker. ;)</p>
<p>Y’all ain’t perfect, either. Never were. Read a little history of modern oppression of African-Americans in your neck of the woods. Skokie anyone?</p>
<p>Unbelievable attitude, but I have to admit, you are consistently insulting to Southerners. It’s obviously part of some deeply held inferiority complex. ;)</p>
<p>last edit: I didn’t care much for the KA’s I knew. Back when I was in school they gave Confederate uniforms a bad name. Heck, they’d have given Nazi uniforms a bad name. ;)</p>
<p>If this were a group of people dressing up to reinact Civil War battles by pretending to shoot back and forth in a historical reanactment, pew pew, then I would say, “Sure, it’s History. Go ahead and dress up.” But forgive my cynicism if I think differently of a group that caused . . . </p>
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<p>Hmmm, dressing up in Confederate uniforms . . . marching over to a black sorority . . . and standing there. Sorry, when you show you can’t behave yourself, expect to get your wrist slapped.</p>
<p>This reminds me of the (Protestant) Orangemen group in Northern Ireland who dressed up in the traditional gear and marched through Catholic neighborhoods at the height of the Troubles, to rub their past victories in the Catholics’ faces.</p>
<p>If that happened, ban them. Cancel their charter, raze their house, and salt the earth where it stood. If that happened.</p>
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<p>They only stopped to pick up girls from the sorority house next door. There were no ill-intentions.</p>
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<p>Then you have pity for those people, who were compelled to fight for such a reprehensible cause. (And don’t even pretend that the Civil War wasn’t about slavery.) If you want to celebrate great-great-great-great-grandpa Clem for being a good father and husband who lost his life at a young age, go do so. But please don’t expect the rest of the country to celebrate along with you when gggggpa Clem fought for a dishonorable cause. </p>
<p>It’s completely irrelevant that the actual soldiers who fought the battles weren’t, themselves, slave owners. The actual soldiers who fought for the Germans in WWII weren’t personally flipping the switch to gas Jews, either – doesn’t make it any better. </p>
<p>And Cuse – no one is deifying Union troops. No one claims that there hasn’t been racism in the north. See, here’s the thing. This was a war that we all thought was over 150 years ago, and now we were unified, and we’re all friends and one big happy country. OK, it took you guys about 100 more years to get to the point where you didn’t relegate blacks to the back of the bus and separate water fountains. But we cut you all some slack and figured old habits die hard and all that. But now … we kind of wonder why at this point, you still haven’t let it all go, why you still cling to it.</p>
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<p>“They dressed in the uniform of the Third Reich and waved swastika flags, but they were only trying to pick up chicks. There were no ill-intentions.”</p>
<p>Sure there are. What girls find Confederate uniforms attractive? It’s not exactly a happenin’ look these days, Cuse. Of course there were ill intentions. The intention is to thumb one’s nose at black people and at them northern lib’rul elites who dis the South. Don’t be naive. You don’t think that we don’t get that wearing Conf uniforms, waving Conf flags, etc. is a way of showing defiance and saying F you?</p>
<p>I went to a school with KAs and I’d like to explain a little about why I believe they were there to pick up girls. Old South week is a week in April when they dress up in Confederate costumes. The pledges are privates, the ranks increase until the president is dressed as a general. On our campus he usually rode a horse. The pledges pulled a cannon. They had long, rolled up invitations tied with ribbons, to the Old South Ball. So they all marched around to all the female housing units (both dorms and sorority houses) and each girl’s (who was going) name was called out. The guy in the costume presented her with her scroll and a red rose. It was done is many different ways but always ended with a kiss. This was a big draw and everyone came out to watch. </p>
<p>It’s been done on campuses for decades and my only question is why are they just now finding it offensive?</p>
<p>And then you “wonder” why the rest of the country looks down on you.</p>
<p>I’m still trying to figure out who “you” is?</p>
<p>People who celebrate the Confederacy by wearing uniforms and waving flags, of course.</p>
<p>The reason it is now offensive is because people are now more empowered to complain. It has always been offensive but there was an effective code of silence in place because these are “traditions.” </p>
<p>I’m of mixed feelings about confederate worship. I am an avid student of the Civil War and respect those who try to understand what happened. But I don’t think that kind of thing belongs on a campus.</p>
<p>I lived in the South and did not have any difficulty identifing the “you”. Those were and are those individuals who were still upset that the South lost the Civil War and therefore regreted the difficulty in openly treating people of color as inferiors. After the Civil War, it still took another century to start to break down those behaviors. It is much improved but nothing to celebrate. And yes there are plenty of “you” still left in the Northern States.</p>