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Originally Posted by Tuna
Slavery was at the heart of the American Civil War, and is the main reason for the South's secession from the North.
^ Do you guys agree or disagree with this statement?
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There is definitely a good argument that this statement is true but it is far too narrow to fully explain the reasons that the US Civil War was waged.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pedestrian
With what little knowledge I have on the topic, I've always been under the impression that the confederate flag is an insult.
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I think "insult" is not the right word for it. The Confederate flag can and is certainly used as anti-black racist propaganda but, like so many other symbols that have taken on new meanings over time, it was not created to be an insult. At least not any more than the US flag was, or than most national flags were.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CanwllCorfe
I've always assumed that to be true. I've seen long winded explanations like this, that say other wise. It's a toughie.
On a somewhat unrelated note, we actually have a stand at my local fair that sells nothing but stuff with confederate flags on it. Kind of weird, considering we're in PA. |
That stand may be run by racists but it also may not. you'd need to talk to the people who run it to figure out why they're promoting the flag.
Here's my general take on it and some personal background:
I grew up in northern Virginia and the public schools there were heavily weighted toward the Union over the Confederacy even though they were technically located in the South. I was taught that racist rednecks are the only ones who fly the Confederate flag.
For a time I went to college in Richmond, Virginia which is heavily Southern. Richmond is really the largest, northern-most, truly Southern city. It was the capital of the Confederacy and there are many people and institutions there who identify with the Confederacy. There is a nationally funded and highly important Museum of the Confederacy there. Certainly that museum has had to deal with the slavery and racism that was inherent in the culture that it preserves. Still, they preserve a culture that a large portion of US citizens were born into and identify with, racist or not. And there are indeed people who relate to the Confederate culture who are not racists. Richmond also has a many more black citizens than where I grew up and it's interesting to note how the city's culture has evolved.
Later in college (not in VA) I majored in US History and I took a class that was devoted to the Civil War. An important book we read is called Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. It won a Pulitzer Prize, it's over 900 pages long and trust me that it explores much more than slavery.
For a second, imagine yourself as a person who lived in Georgia during this era who did not own any slaves (many people all over the South did not) but who was born into a slave-owning culture and economy. Then the war happens and one day the Union army storms your town, kills your family, and burns your home to the ground. This happened to many people. Those people have descendants who are alive today. To them the Confederate flag may mean more than anti-black rhetoric. I hope you can see why.
Anyway, I'll probably bow out of this thread as it will potentially become heated and I'm not going to argue strongly one way or the other. For people who are genuinely interested in the deep complications that caused the South's secession and the resulting war, I urge you to read Battle Cry of Freedom (or at least some of the many other available resources) before your feelings about the war or the Confederate flag are set in stone.
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