The Confederate Flag: AFootball Coach and The Tragedy of America
Steve Spurrier, former Heisman Trophy winner and coach of the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, has come out against the Confederate Flag. The Confederate Battle Flag flies on the grounds of the South Carolina state Capitol building in Columbia. Spurrier said that the use of the flag is an embarrassment to the state and his football team. Spurrier is quoted on espn.com as saying, “My opinion is we don't need the Confederate flag at our Capitol."
I give kudos to Steve Spurrier for taking a stand on the issue. It not is something Bear Bryant nor Vince Dooley nor Adolph Rupp ever did. The football or basketball coach at the state’s largest public school has an amazing amount of power and clout in states that have few professional teams. The 2000 House of Representatives race for the 3rd district in Nebraska is case in point. Tom Osborne, the former football coach at the University of Nebraska won the race with 82% of the vote – 82!
Perhaps Spurrier’s announcement will make southern whites think about the use of the flag. To Blacks and non-Southerners the Confederate Battle Flag stands for three things:
1. Slavery – There are compelling arguments for the Civil War to be fought for may things other than slavery. But, the fact of the matter is simple. Slaveholders throughout the 1840s and 1850s resisted technological change in the plantation economy and sought to get slavery expanded to the Northern free states. Victories in the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the compromise of 1850 and the Dred Scott Case all led to slavery becoming protected even in states where it was illegal. When the Republican Party, which was staunchly anti-slavery, took control at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, White Southerners rebelled against the United States.
2. Rebellion – The truth of the matter is that the flag was used in rebellion. The same Southern Whites who tell me I’m unpatriotic because I do not blindly support the imperialist war in Iraq wave their confederate flags in support of the day when instead of accepting the democratically elected government in Washington the South rebelled from the United States. My Southern compatriots you cannot have it both ways.
3. Segregation – In both Georgia and South Carolina the Confederate Battle Flag was invoked during the Civil Rights Era. In 1956 Georgia put the Flag on its state flag; while, in South Carolina the flag was placed above the Capitol building in 1962. These were specifically done to show that the South was standing by George Wallace’s feelings: “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation for ever!”
In 2000 there was a political firestorm regarding the Confederate Flag and its use on both state flags and above the South Carolina Capitol building. Politicians – who to a man claim that it was not for racist motives – defended the use of the Confederate Flag.
John McCain called the flag over the South Carolina Capitol as not racist but as a symbol of heritage. Yeah, as spelled out above, it is a symbol of heritage of Slavery, Rebellion and Segregation. President George Bush deftly avoided the issue by declaring that it was best left up to the states – like slavery, Jim Crow and segregation were. In Georgia governor Roy Barnes tried to placate the issue by making a new state flag that had the Confederate Battle Flag but wee on the bottom. It was one of those compromises that nobody liked and the flag was changed again without the battle flag but based on the National Flag of the CSA – the Stars and Bars. Finally in Mississippi it was discovered that there was not a law on the books regarding the state flag. So, instead of taking the chance to remove the racist tint from the state, an overwhelming number of voters (2:1) voted to make the flag official!
You may argue that the Confederate Flag is nothing but a symbol of being Southern. . The Sons of Confederate Veterans have tried to face down groups that try to use it for hate – such as the Ku Klux Klan. I accept the argument that you can be proud to be Southern and not racist – many Southern Blacks are proud Southerners and enjoy their regional distinctions. What I do not and cannot accept is that the Battle Flag does not conjure up emotions of White Supremacy.
Saying that the Confederate Flag should be used to celebrate Southernism without racism is preposterous. By that token could not someone fly a Nazi swastika claiming it was only a part of his or her history? Or could a white person in Zimbabwe do the same with the flag of Rhodesia from the Unilateral Declaration of Independence era? It could be merely part of Zimbabwe’s history.
The flag must come down from the state Capitol building. Find a new symbol of Southernism rather than one that celebrates anti-American values of slavery, rebellion and segregation. If you fly the Confederate Battle Flag non-Southern whites, Blacks and people from other countries assume you are racist. Of course, you probably are and maybe should rethink your patriotic pro-American stand on things because you are not part of my America.
I give kudos to Steve Spurrier for taking a stand on the issue. It not is something Bear Bryant nor Vince Dooley nor Adolph Rupp ever did. The football or basketball coach at the state’s largest public school has an amazing amount of power and clout in states that have few professional teams. The 2000 House of Representatives race for the 3rd district in Nebraska is case in point. Tom Osborne, the former football coach at the University of Nebraska won the race with 82% of the vote – 82!
Perhaps Spurrier’s announcement will make southern whites think about the use of the flag. To Blacks and non-Southerners the Confederate Battle Flag stands for three things:
1. Slavery – There are compelling arguments for the Civil War to be fought for may things other than slavery. But, the fact of the matter is simple. Slaveholders throughout the 1840s and 1850s resisted technological change in the plantation economy and sought to get slavery expanded to the Northern free states. Victories in the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the compromise of 1850 and the Dred Scott Case all led to slavery becoming protected even in states where it was illegal. When the Republican Party, which was staunchly anti-slavery, took control at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, White Southerners rebelled against the United States.
2. Rebellion – The truth of the matter is that the flag was used in rebellion. The same Southern Whites who tell me I’m unpatriotic because I do not blindly support the imperialist war in Iraq wave their confederate flags in support of the day when instead of accepting the democratically elected government in Washington the South rebelled from the United States. My Southern compatriots you cannot have it both ways.
3. Segregation – In both Georgia and South Carolina the Confederate Battle Flag was invoked during the Civil Rights Era. In 1956 Georgia put the Flag on its state flag; while, in South Carolina the flag was placed above the Capitol building in 1962. These were specifically done to show that the South was standing by George Wallace’s feelings: “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow and segregation for ever!”
In 2000 there was a political firestorm regarding the Confederate Flag and its use on both state flags and above the South Carolina Capitol building. Politicians – who to a man claim that it was not for racist motives – defended the use of the Confederate Flag.
John McCain called the flag over the South Carolina Capitol as not racist but as a symbol of heritage. Yeah, as spelled out above, it is a symbol of heritage of Slavery, Rebellion and Segregation. President George Bush deftly avoided the issue by declaring that it was best left up to the states – like slavery, Jim Crow and segregation were. In Georgia governor Roy Barnes tried to placate the issue by making a new state flag that had the Confederate Battle Flag but wee on the bottom. It was one of those compromises that nobody liked and the flag was changed again without the battle flag but based on the National Flag of the CSA – the Stars and Bars. Finally in Mississippi it was discovered that there was not a law on the books regarding the state flag. So, instead of taking the chance to remove the racist tint from the state, an overwhelming number of voters (2:1) voted to make the flag official!
You may argue that the Confederate Flag is nothing but a symbol of being Southern. . The Sons of Confederate Veterans have tried to face down groups that try to use it for hate – such as the Ku Klux Klan. I accept the argument that you can be proud to be Southern and not racist – many Southern Blacks are proud Southerners and enjoy their regional distinctions. What I do not and cannot accept is that the Battle Flag does not conjure up emotions of White Supremacy.
Saying that the Confederate Flag should be used to celebrate Southernism without racism is preposterous. By that token could not someone fly a Nazi swastika claiming it was only a part of his or her history? Or could a white person in Zimbabwe do the same with the flag of Rhodesia from the Unilateral Declaration of Independence era? It could be merely part of Zimbabwe’s history.
The flag must come down from the state Capitol building. Find a new symbol of Southernism rather than one that celebrates anti-American values of slavery, rebellion and segregation. If you fly the Confederate Battle Flag non-Southern whites, Blacks and people from other countries assume you are racist. Of course, you probably are and maybe should rethink your patriotic pro-American stand on things because you are not part of my America.
posted by Eucleides of America at 12:38 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home