The+Confederate+flag+--+Symbol+of+racism?+Or+pride+in+heritage?

media type="file" key="the-south-in-retrospect.mp4" width="720" height="480" align="center" = THE SYMBOLISM OF THE CONFEDERATE FLAG: WHAT DOES THIS ICON MEAN TO US TODAY? =



"RACIAL SUPERIORITY"? OR "PRIDE IN HERITAGE"?
While a freshman in 2008 at Foothill Technology High School in Ventura, California, Dylan M. wore a baseball cap with a Confederate flag to school. One student complained of this to Assistant Principal Jennifer Duston, and she called Dylan in and told him the hat with the flag was a symbol of "racial superiority" and wearing it violated the rules of the school. She suspended Dylan. Dylan, whose family comes from the South, took offense. He did not see it as a symbol of racial superiority but pride in his family heritage in the south. He was angry. Was the school right in suspending him? Or not?

“The Confederate flag, yes it stands for revolution, protection of the Southern lifestyle, old ways, states’ rights, and heritage, but it also stands for slavery!”

“Now, using my example as a cheesy lead-in to the subject of the Confederate flag, I believe that the flag itself represents slavery and racism. Maybe it has become an icon of heritage and pride, but when one actually digs deeper into what it meant during the Civil War, 'pride' meant 'pride in a society which supports slavery.'”

“Really, the only people who wave Confederate flags nowadays are either trying to be offensive or too ignorant to realize they are being offensive.”

“The Confederate Flag is a symbol of hate. Everything the Confederacy fought for was dependent on keeping the black man down; any person who condones the flag and the culture it represents is also condoning hate.”

“To be honest, I don’t see the Confederate flag and think, ‘they hated slaves’ or ‘They were terrible racists.’ It’s not the first thing that comes to my mind and I assume that for Confederate families, this is the same.”

“The Confederate flag was used for the confederacy. Therefore, using the Happy Cow Theorem, we can deduce that the Confederate flag had anti-black stigmas attached to it.”

“If we are going to repudiate a nation’s flag based on the fact that it was founded on the laurels of slavery, should we not stare at our own as a repulsive symbol of a past ridden with slavery?”

“The Confederate flag was waved in the pursuit of racism, and people therefore shouldn’t be displaying as a reminder of their “heritage”, unless they want to be reminded that their heritage was filled with racists and slave owners.”

“The Confederate flag represents what the South believed in: Unyielding loyalty, intolerance towards opposition, and an overbearing traditional way of life highlighted by the institution of slavery.”

“The South has its own unique culture that was deserved of its own flag. I believe this flag could have carried some racial hatred with it along the way, but its main purpose was to glorify a civilization that had thrived for decades in an agrarian society based on the institution of slavery.”

“The Confederate Battle Flag is now a sign of defiance and sometimes displayed in a cowardly attempt to be uncouth, however, I believe that the Stars and Bars more accurately represent Southern hubris and ancestry.”

“The issue some people take with flags seems ridiculous. If you ask me, the Confederate flag is prettier than the normal one. Why shouldn't people be allowed to use it, if they like it better?”