I guess by now most folks have heard about the giant Confederate flag which will be erected in South Mobile County, in a location where countless people - local and visitors - will see it as they pass by. I don't understand people who deliberately do things that they know will be divisive and generate negative feelings and rationalize it as being a part of our heritage that needs to be constantly in people's faces.

There are reasons that people in other states still harbor the misconception that Alabamians are ignorant racists, and this is one of them.

-nab

http://www.al.com/news/press-register/index.ssf?/base/news/1200737719323990.xml&coll=3

(snip)

The local Sons of Confederate Veterans plan to install a 12-foot-by-18-foot Confederate Battle Flag on an 80-foot pole built close to the eastbound side of Interstate 10 in south Mobile County.

Ben George, SCV commander of the Lee-Moses-Dixon Vindicator Camp in Saraland, said that the flag installation -- which includes two light poles with 2,000-watt halogen lamps -- cost between $15,000 and $20,000, which was raised largely through contributions.

George said the flag will be on private property, but he would not say who owned the property.

The project has been in development for more than a year, said George, whose organization is scheduled to dedicate the flag at 1 p.m. today to mark the 201st birthday of Robert E. Lee.

Confederate history, George said, is "part of the gumbo that refers to the diversity of Mobile. This is one part of that diversity that's not getting the proper respect."

Clarence Mohr, professor of history at the University of South Alabama and author of books and academic papers on Southern history, including the Civil War, said he believes that the flag will repel and polarize rather than attract.

"It's time that Alabamians realize we live in a global community," Mohr said. "If we are to be full participants in a society in which everything is interconnected, we need to step away from symbols that invoke a narrow and backward-looking view of the Southern past.

"There's no doubt in my mind that the overwhelming majority of Alabamians, black and white, understand that the Civil War is over, and the time has come to move on.

"If we want to attract businesses like ThyssenKrupp and other businesses, if we want the port of Mobile to realize its full potential, we want to show the positive, not negatives of our history.

"A giant Confederate battle flag will do little to enhance the state's image in the eyes of tourists or investors."

The county's only black commissioner, Merceria Ludgood, who represents District 1, said of the SCV's flag project: "It's certainly their right to do it," but "they're out-of-step in where people are in this issue.

"My district is very diverse, some parts rural. People are looking for the things that we have in common and embracing those things, rather than (those that) divide us.

"I think it takes us backward." In response to the commonly used maxim about Confederate history, "heritage, not hate," Mohr said, "It's impossible at this point to disentangle the Confederate flag from the many negative causes it's been associated with since the Civil War, especially states' rights, resistance to the civil rights movement, and frequent displays of the Confederate flag at neo-Nazi rallies and Klan rallies.

"It appears consistently in these settings, and there's no use pretending it doesn't."

(snip)

Ahhhh.......the ignorance of some people. People spout off about how important it is to celebrate the diversity that makes up our country, yet when a segment of that very diversity completes a project to celebrate their special heritage it is derided for being some horrible act! Does diversity mean that it is fine for one ethnic group to celebrate their ancestors and heroes while it is not acceptable for another group?

The heritage of the Confederate descendant is just as important to members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and other organizations that celebrate a like connection to those valiant soldiers.

Those who constantly complain about the Confederate period and the display of any of the icons of that period
are simply ignorant of history and have been brainwashed into believing fabrications and fallacies touted as truth.

Now if you have read this far and wonder if this is written by a certified nut I challenge you to visit the Mobile public library and do some research of records of the 1850 to 1817 period. I am sure you can discover many interesting facts regarding that period that will at the very least enlighten your individual understanding of that history. You may even want to visit the following web pages:

http://www.issues-views.com/index.php/sect/1007/article/1100

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Johnson_(American_Colonial)

http://www.blackconfederates.com/

Your interest piqued yet?

Im a descendant of a Confederate Veteran. All total, 12 men from my family fought and died in the Civil War, and I STILL DONT APPROVE OF THIS! Its fine to be proud of your heritage. I bet there are still some Germans who are proud of their Nazi ancestors too. But you dont see them flying the d@$í Swastiki on the AutoBahn.

The Confederate flag may represent the remembrance of a proud heritage for some whites, but I'll bet you'd be hard pressed to find any black folks who see it as anything but a symbol of hatred and racism.

Though we've come a long way toward healing the hurt and division between blacks and whites, I'm pretty sure any honest person would agree that racial intolerance and yes, even hate, still exists in this country and still exists in the south. But I also think that the vast majority of Americans want peace and harmony between the races and agree that the intolerance some whites feel for blacks (and other ethnic groups) is ugly and ignorant and would like to see it banished. Seriously, who but members of radical groups like the Ku Klux Klan see any valid reason whatsoever for any group of of people to disrespect another based on nothing more than the color of their skin?

And so, if we know that a symbol - in this case a flag - generates hatred and hurt for an enormous number of fellow Americans, and too, divides us geographically between Southerners who can't let go of the past and the entire rest of the United States, then why would one want to keep that symbol as a reminder of everything bad that it represents to so many people?

Personally, I think Southerners who proudly display the Confederate flag know exactly how it's perceived to the majority of Americans but simply pretend it's their "heritage" to excuse behavior and opinions that would otherwise brand them as what most people know they truly are.

-nab

Obviously none of the other people that posted bothered to read the information I provided.

Unfortunately their closed minds will never allow them to learn and accept the truth!

purveyor-of-truth - 20 January 2008 08:12 PM

Obviously none of the other people that posted bothered to read the information I provided.

Unfortunately their closed minds will never allow them to learn and accept the truth!

The flag is seen by MOST blacks and MANY whites to be a symbol of hate. The Swastiki was and still is considered a good luck charm in India and Nepal, but put it anywhere else in the world and it will be seen as a symbol of hate, ignorance, and genocide. Im very proud of my Ancestors who fought for their COUNTRY on the Confederate side. I have even participated in re-enactments of the battles of Shiloh, Gettysburg, and Manassas. But outside of that arena, TO ME AND MANY LIKE ME, it is seen as a symbol of hate bandied about by Ultra right-wing hate groups such as the now Defunct Aryan Nations, American Nazi Party, The National Socialist Movement, and The White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Not to mention the hate mongers rumbling around in their pick-ups around here who dont have the courage to say what the feel in front of a black man.

I have ancestors dating back to the Revoluntionary war, and many who fought in the Civil War, this flag is a part of history and a part of my heritage, I say display it proudly!!

I have to chuckle whenever someone talks about Confederate "heritage." After all, the Confederacy was only around barely five years and most people who fought in the War of Northern Aggression identified with their state. General Lee fought for the Confederacy because the land he considered his country—Virginia---was being invaded.

I would seriously question whether Lee would have considered the Confederacy his "heritage."

I have an ancestor who was a Cherokee. Her father was forcibly relocated west during the Trail of Tears, one of the many ways native Americans were oppressed and persecuted by the US government. In an effort to honor my heritage, I might get up in arms about seeing the Stars & Stripes, which could be taken as a hate symbol and a reminder to me of the American Holocaust.

But I let it go.

If my next door neighbor decided to fly a big Confederate battle flag on his front lawn, I can't say I'd be terrifically pleased. But it is his private property, and it is his right. In the larger scheme of things, I'm much more concerned about the guy down the street who has a sofa on his porch and various old kitchen appliances sitting around his yard. The latter make excellent homes for all types of pests and varmints.

"There's no doubt in my mind that the overwhelming majority of Alabamians, black and white, understand that the Civil War is over, and the time has come to move on. "

Should this statement not apply to ALL? Slavery is brought to my attention daily by the press or through my son's school work, but when will we move on? None of my friends, black or white, have ever been personally affected by slavery, meaning they or anyone in there families, that they know of, have been or ever owned a slave. Why do we have the topic of slavery brought to our attention everyday? Is it to bring up pain and hurt to the black or guilt to the white? All are negative emotions and we will never "move on" as long as we have to re-hash the issue daily.

Of course, before someone takes offense to my statement and wants me banished from the forum, this is my OPINION and I have a right to it. If I have to endure the constant reminders of slavery, I have a right to fly a flag that means something to me and my family.

You certainly do have that right.

But let's look at this from a different perspective. In America, and I guess the whole world, perception is everything. What people perceive about a group of people is their reality, true or not.

If we're walking down the sidewalk and pass a young girl wearing hardly any clothes but lots of makeup and a cigarette dangling out of the corner of her mouth, what will most people think about her? They'll think she's a slut or a hooker. They will not say to themselves, I'll bet she's an honor roll student who only dresses that way because she's quirky. What if in the next block we pass a black man, walking with similar-looking friends, high-fiving, saying MF this and MF that, with teardrop tattoos on his face? Are we going to assume he's a stockbroker?

The young man I saw down at Dauphin Island recently with a Confederate flag that covered up the window of his pickup truck MIGHT be studying for his real estate license and spending his free time volunteering at a homeless center, but the likelihood is that he is instead a redneck who thinks black people are beneath him.

That is the perception of people who proudly flaunt the Confederate flag in public. If one does not mind others thinking of them in that way, then certainly, let the flag fly. It is your right to do so. But the fact that one would not mind bearing that label, even if it's innacurate, says something about them just the same.

-nab

The young man I saw down at Dauphin Island recently with a Confederate flag that covered up the window of his pickup truck MIGHT be studying for his real estate license and spending his free time volunteering at a homeless center, but the likelihood is that he is instead a redneck who thinks black people are beneath him.

whoa now, you seem to be judging this young man because he is driving a pickup and waving "the flag". I thought you were above that. This is southern heritage to me nothing more nothing less. Sorry if it causes so much pain for everyone who did not live 100 or so years ago. This is America, freedom of speech and religion are part of the reason this country is so great. If you folks don't like the images the flag seems to bring up for some folks from the south....leave. Some people just look for reasons to play the race card to get special attention from the government. Have 10 more kids, so the tax-payers can support them.