Heritage, not Hate?

You might have heard the phrase a few times in your life. It is one of the most commonly used phrases in defense of the Confederate flag. Many people, especially here in the South, seem to the believe that the Confederacy is a part of our heritage that should be venerated in numerous ways, from flying the flag from rooftops to Confederate bumper stickers.
 
As I travel around the Shenandoah Valley there are many people "honoring their heritage" with the Confederate flag. I see a sign of racism that has endured since the Civil War era. People claim that it is a symbol of a way of life that has disappeared with Northern influences, but that way of life was only possible through the oppression of thousands of people.

It seems almost illogical that anyone would really believe that the Confederacy was a glorious part of our heritage. The Confederacy was a failure in every sense of the word. They broke away from the Union, created their own money and started a war. None of those things worked out in their favor. They lost the war and were accepted back into the Union. During the war they lost valuable history in their foolish attempt to create their own government.

Once the war was finally over the South's economy was in pieces and their money was worthless. Gee, what a great thing to celebrate. It's taken the better part of century for the South to recover at all. The South still has the highest poverty rates and unemployment rates.

In Germany the Swastika is unacceptable and illegal in many places, yet the Nazi era was part of their heritage. I don't see people flying the Nazi flag over their homes proudly and saying witty phrases like "it's heritage not hate," or "hate the deed not the breed." That would be a terrible choice and would have serious consequences. People should not be able to honor oppressive systems or times in history without some kind of repercussions.

For me it seems like an issue of decency and consideration. People should understand that it is a symbol of racism and a poor way to represent their heritage. In the end people need to think about others before they show their "Southern Pride."

- Freeman Bendfeldt

Comments

[Hannah Cranston]

Go Freeman! You've opened my eyes to so many things that need looking at this year, through your writing and fascinating conversation! What you said here is true in many ways.

We should talk about this sometime though, because I know that many people that fly the Confederate Flag believe strongly in states' rights(a cause I think you'd support?)and would argue that the Civil War was fought so that the central gov't would not control the individual etc. etc. They would tell you that the Union brought in the issue of slavery to give their troops a "just war" as motivation, and so that they could use black slaves in their armies. The Confederate Flag means radically different things to different people, and I don't know that it is always "evil"...but then I haven't really talked to you about it, have I?

At any rate, it was beautifully written!

[Aaron Huntley]

as Dusting would say, "the South will rise again!"
however, i highly doubt that.

let's not forget that slavery was not the main cause of the Civil War, as Hannah said the North made
it an issue later on, but didn't necessarily have it as their highest priority.

but i agree, the Confederate flag stands for old immoral ideas, but the question is: do the people who still display them do it for those ideas that made it controversial in the first place.

maybe (excuse me if this offends anyone) rednecks just think the colors look good on their truck

[Dustin Crummett]

Yeah, okay, so the Civil War was *technically* about states' rights. It's important to remember, though, that no one was actually fighting for states' rights just the sake of states' rights; they were fighting for states' rights because they thought preserving states' rights was the way to preserve slavery. There's a reason why the south decided to leave after Lincoln's election.

Or, to put it another way, Hitler greatly improved the German economy while he was in power (at least until the war turned against him.) Does that mean I can proudly display a swastika and, when confronted about it, say that I'm simply supporting economic prosperity?

(And yeah, I know all about Godwin's Law, but I think it's a perfectly fair comparison.)

[Freeman Bendfeldt]

The issue of States Rights' had been around since the formation of the United States was formed. It became an issue with slavery and was used as a reason to leave the Union. Overall these were good comments. Just because you believe that a symbol means something like States Rights' does not mean that no one can be offended by it. It entails so much more.

[Janelle]

the whole germany thing kinda confused me. if the swastika is illegal, then yeah, people arent goint to be flying a flag with the swastika on it. also, the south was about so much more than just racism. there are other reasons to be proud. (I am in no way saying that what the south did with slavery was at all by any means good) many people are proud of being americans, but look at us, we are in an awful war, other countries hate us, we are controling. many people consider these faults, yet americans still have that pride in the US. if we changed our flag and what we stood for, id probably still want to wave the flag that we know now. It is so much easier to see faults than to see the good. and there was good in the south, but a lot of bad too...