The Confederate flag has a long and troubling past. For decades now the burning question has been is the confederate flag racist? Depending on who is being asked, some will say the flag is a symbol of their heritage others will say it is a symbol of hate and racism. If a person were to take a look back in history and really educate themselves they would see that the flag that is flown today came out with pure racist intentions.
The Civil War was fought amongst the Union and the Confederates also known as the North versus the South. The issues of states rights’ and slavery were among the main issues that caused the friction between the two sides and they eventually went to war. The North wanted the South to stop using slaves, but the South …show more content…
The Confederate symbol got a new meaning, it did not represent the old south or the Confederate style military but rather the new contemporary South (Springer 1993). After World War II, the Confederate flag reemerged in the south but with a negative meaning. The flag no longer stood for Southern heritage and pride but rather as a stance against integration. In 1948 when Harry S. Truman wanted Civil Right, the Southern Democrats called for an Anti-Truman campaign (Springer 1993). Those Southerners who opposed Truman became known as ‘Dixiecrats’ and eventually adopted the Confederate flag as their symbol. That is the turn in time when the Confederate flag solidified its racist meaning. Confederate flags started rising and racial tension did too. There was an instance in 1963 when Alabama Gov. George Wallace raised the flag over the state Capitol in protest against desegregation (Hanson …show more content…
There is a saying that some Southerners use and it goes, “If this flag offends you, you need a history lesson.” If one were to look back into history they could see plenty of reasons to be offended by the confederate flag, the Confederates were viewed as slave owning traitors to the United States, why would anyone want to be proud of that? There is no bravery to be proud of, nor is there a heritage to be proud of. In the South, they often hold Civil War reenactments and ‘slave beatings.’ The Civil War reenactment is often twisted to show the Confederacy as the good guys who were in the right. Why would people reenact such a terrible time in United States history? There is no reenactment of the Holocaust or any other terrible time in history if there was people would horrified and demand immediate stoppage of it (Malveau 1999). The Klu Klux Klan a white supremacy group has adopted the Confederate flag as their symbol as well. The Klan displayed the flag during their many marches. In 1963 Thomas Blanton Jr, a one-time Klan member was found guilty on the account of first-degree murder for the bombing that cause the death of eight little black girls (Davidson 2001). It’s safe to say that the link between racism and the confederate flag is uncanny.
The racist symbol should not be allowed to fly, why should people have to be comfortable with a
The Civil War was fought amongst the Union and the Confederates also known as the North versus the South. The issues of states rights’ and slavery were among the main issues that caused the friction between the two sides and they eventually went to war. The North wanted the South to stop using slaves, but the South …show more content…
The Confederate symbol got a new meaning, it did not represent the old south or the Confederate style military but rather the new contemporary South (Springer 1993). After World War II, the Confederate flag reemerged in the south but with a negative meaning. The flag no longer stood for Southern heritage and pride but rather as a stance against integration. In 1948 when Harry S. Truman wanted Civil Right, the Southern Democrats called for an Anti-Truman campaign (Springer 1993). Those Southerners who opposed Truman became known as ‘Dixiecrats’ and eventually adopted the Confederate flag as their symbol. That is the turn in time when the Confederate flag solidified its racist meaning. Confederate flags started rising and racial tension did too. There was an instance in 1963 when Alabama Gov. George Wallace raised the flag over the state Capitol in protest against desegregation (Hanson …show more content…
There is a saying that some Southerners use and it goes, “If this flag offends you, you need a history lesson.” If one were to look back into history they could see plenty of reasons to be offended by the confederate flag, the Confederates were viewed as slave owning traitors to the United States, why would anyone want to be proud of that? There is no bravery to be proud of, nor is there a heritage to be proud of. In the South, they often hold Civil War reenactments and ‘slave beatings.’ The Civil War reenactment is often twisted to show the Confederacy as the good guys who were in the right. Why would people reenact such a terrible time in United States history? There is no reenactment of the Holocaust or any other terrible time in history if there was people would horrified and demand immediate stoppage of it (Malveau 1999). The Klu Klux Klan a white supremacy group has adopted the Confederate flag as their symbol as well. The Klan displayed the flag during their many marches. In 1963 Thomas Blanton Jr, a one-time Klan member was found guilty on the account of first-degree murder for the bombing that cause the death of eight little black girls (Davidson 2001). It’s safe to say that the link between racism and the confederate flag is uncanny.
The racist symbol should not be allowed to fly, why should people have to be comfortable with a