Last week, I wrestled with an idea that admittedly made me very uncomfortable: the possibility that for many defenders of racially loaded symbols like the Confederate battle flag and the Washington Redskins' brand, their affinity for these icons may be more understandable and — crucially — more relatable than many of us might like to admit.
"There are few symbols so inelastic and so static that they cannot be stretched to accommodate our own complicated, personal histories in ways that feel genuine and worth protecting," I wrote. "That's true even for loaded symbols like the Washington team's logo, and yeah, even the Confederate flag."
More than a few readers told me they were wholly unpersuaded — until they got to one specific anecdote in the story. It was about how a group of mostly black lawmakers in New Orleans quietly declined to change the name of New Orleans' first high school for black students, even though it bears the name of a notorious slave owner. It appears the school's name was spared because for many black folks in New Orleans who have passed through its doors in the generations since it was founded, changing the name would mean taking away some part of their cherished teenage memories. As I wrote, "It just happens that McDonogh 35 was named for a powerful racist, and so the solution seems clear: Pick something else, and move on.
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14 comments:
how dare the US flag have 13 stripes on it. That's not right.
From the main article, "The Washington Post's Alyssa Rosenberg riffed on the ideas in our post at her blog on Monday. "Even though we might enjoy an OLD MOVIE (emphasis added), feel pride in an old high school mascot or get a tinge of rebellious pleasure from an old television show," she wrote, "we should have the good sense to recognize that our most private reactions to powerful images aren't necessarily available to anyone else.""
So does this mean we shouldn't watch "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE" on TV at Christmas because minorities can't relate to it or it might upset those who are feeling suicidal during the holidays.
When are where will this type of attitude end?
Since when is the Confederate Battle Flag an racists symbol? When ignorant people keep saying it is over and over again. It is not!
Why isn't the red, black and green flag offensive? Guess what idiots!! I am very offended and that flag has always been racist. It has always been anti-white and anti-American. All I can say is you guys are brain washed idiots!!
He mentions keeping a New Orleans high schools racist name because it has a different meaning for the black students who go there. This is all basically meaningless. Locally when integration took place in some local counties every black school that ever existed disappeared and in others most did as black kids were integrated into the white schools where whites could remember their past.
The majority race in this present day case, which continues to be white people, often don't care anything about the feelings of the minority. they just want an excuse to keep the battle flag and the Redskins. Their child-like beliefs,feelings,and play come first over any deep serious thought and consideration. If it wasn't so wrong it would be funny. Actually it is amusing and a lesson on the little intelligence and the shallowness of thought possessed by so many humans to this day.
(For 12:42)
A little about this red green and black flag:
The three Pan-African colors on the flag represent:
• Red: the blood that unites all people of Black African ancestry, and shed for liberation;
• Black: black people whose existence as a nation, though not a nation-state, is affirmed by the existence of the flag; and power
• Green: the abundant natural wealth of Africa.
The flag was created in 1920 by members of UNIA in response to the enormously popular 1900 coon song "Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon,"[4] which has been cited as one of the three songs that "firmly established the term coon in the American vocabulary". A 1921 report appearing in Africa Times and Orient Review, for which Marcus Garvey had worked, quoted Garvey regarding the importance of the flag:
Show me the race or the nation without a flag, and I will show you a race of people without any pride. Aye! In song and mimicry they have said, "Every race has a flag but the coon." How true! Aye! But that was said of us four years ago. They can't say it now....
There is more to learn about this flag. But did you ever stop and think that maybe we cause our own problems?
Proud southerners can't be held responsible for neo nazi skin heads highjacking their flag. REMEMBER?
"Since when is the Confederate Battle Flag an racists symbol?"
Since it was the symbol of murderous traitors who fired on a US military base to start a armed insurrection to maintain the right to own other people as property?
I'd guess that's when.
And those beloved states' rights you're about to remind me? The main states' right they were fighting for was the right to own people as slaves. Go look up the Cornerstone speech by the CSA vice president, where he described slavery as the cornerstone upon which their new nation was built.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
(For 12:42)
A little about this red green and black flag:
The three Pan-African colors on the flag represent:
• Red: the blood that unites all people of Black African ancestry, and shed for liberation;
• Black: black people whose existence as a nation, though not a nation-state, is affirmed by the existence of the flag; and power
• Green: the abundant natural wealth of Africa.
The flag was created in 1920 by members of UNIA in response to the enormously popular 1900 coon song "Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon,"[4] which has been cited as one of the three songs that "firmly established the term coon in the American vocabulary". A 1921 report appearing in Africa Times and Orient Review, for which Marcus Garvey had worked, quoted Garvey regarding the importance of the flag:
Show me the race or the nation without a flag, and I will show you a race of people without any pride. Aye! In song and mimicry they have said, "Every race has a flag but the coon." How true! Aye! But that was said of us four years ago. They can't say it now....
There is more to learn about this flag. But did you ever stop and think that maybe we cause our own problems?
July 23, 2015 at 1:34 PM
HUH?? WTF! You must be a racist black guy who hates white people.
There is no compromise. I only saw the headline. Won't read any article titled like that. Real simple. I worry bout myself, family,property. I stand for my beliefs and convictions. Which luckily hasn't been gone against to much by government over reach. I will defend these things wholeheartedly and am willing to kill and or die for them.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
"Since when is the Confederate Battle Flag an racists symbol?"
Since it was the symbol of murderous traitors who fired on a US military base to start a armed insurrection to maintain the right to own other people as property?
I'd guess that's when.
And those beloved states' rights you're about to remind me? The main states' right they were fighting for was the right to own people as slaves. Go look up the Cornerstone speech by the CSA vice president, where he described slavery as the cornerstone upon which their new nation was built.
July 23, 2015 at 2:58 PM
So you are saying the Colonists who declared their independence against a tyrannical government in 1775 weren't murderous traitors? Well then you are a special kind of stupid!
Cornerstone Speech or not by 1 person does NOT mean that he spoke for 93% of the Southerners who fought to keep a tyrannical government from invading their land! You are a special kind of STUPID!!
I guess you didn't know that Northerners owned slaves as well? You are a special kind of stupid!
I guess you didn't know that the American flag flew over all the states that had slavery you are a special kind of stupid!
If you didn't know that slavery existed in all of America for 245 years you are not only STUPID you are quite IGNORANT!!
The "majority race" has bent over backwards to mollify, soothe, and pander to the minorities and their fragile feelings. It has been a one way street, that's coming to an end. No thought is given to how we feel about it, but that card has been played right out.
Your broad statement that we "just want an excuse" to keep the battle flag reveals your lack of understanding and respect for our heritage and our symbols of independence and rebellion. We don't need an excuse, and we do not need to justify our pride in who we are.
You have the right to be proud of "your people", but you do NOT have the right to demand I be ashamed of mine.
And by the way...
ALL lives matter.
2:58 Once the State of South Carolina had seceded from the Union they had the right to order the US Army out of their land. When the US Army failed to leave, South Carolina had every right to remove them from their land. Had Lincoln removed the troops as he should have then there would never had been a battle at Fort Sumter. Obviously Lincoln's actions irt Fort Sumter precipitated the War of Separation.
6:28 That is just dumb talk and 4:20 I am not a black guy but a white guy who does not hate any whole race or nationality of people just because they belong to that group because that does not make sense.
And yes, our ancestors who rebelled against the King of England were murderous traitors to the king. The difference between them and the south is the colonists won and the murderous Southern traitors loss and some of their heirs have yet to accept it.
4:20 That so-called "African" flag has no rights here whatsoever. Anyone who carries it with the intent of insurrection or aggression towards American citizens is no less than a traitor, and is committing an act of war on American soil.
I don't care if it's an ISIS flag, an Iranian flag, or an "African"' flag. You march around chanting anti-American slogans and acting aggressively carrying a hostile flag, and your day will not end well.
And once we get a legitimate president in here again, with some pride in this country and a set of balls, that sort of nonsense will be shut right down, and quick.
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