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I don't think this is accurate. There are, or perhaps until recently were, a large number of people in the South who flew that flag out of a sense of regional

I don't think this is accurate. There are, or perhaps until recently were, a large number of people in the South who flew that flag out of a sense of regional pride and cohesion, and who had absolutely no problem with black people. Of course, that's not enough to forgive flying it - as a Jew I wouldn't be happy about a German person flying a Swastika, even if the only meaning it had for them was a benign pride in German accomplishments. Still, though, it's important to recognize the wholesome impulse to celebrate the South, as it is a distinct region with its own valuable culture. A few years back there was an attempt to replace the Stars and Bars with a new "Southern Pride" flag [1]. Predictably, it's bland garbage. [1] http://thesouth.us/ http://thesouth.us/

UncleMeat 6y ago
There are definitely people who have been bamboozled into recognizing it as a symbol of abstract southern pride - but the connection remains. Regional pride can be a valuable thing. But "Southern Pride" should not just exist among white southerners. It should include the whole south, and using a symbol of the enslavement of black people doesn't exactly bring black southerners along for the ride of southern pride.
acdha 6y ago
The problem is that this history is rooted in racism: the Confederacy was founded to preserve the institution of slavery (people who claim otherwise need to read the states’ own declarations) and the Army of Northern Virginia battle flag most commonly displayed has a long history from the Jim Crow era of being used to intimidate free Black people. Just as someone proud of being German has a wide variety of symbols they can use other than a swastika, someone proud of their Southern ancestry could pick almost anything else to express that. Choosing a symbol which racists have proudly used to intimidate others for a century in a half immediately calls motives into question and even if someone somehow managed to avoid learning the history until now the only polite response is “I had no idea. I’ll use something else!”
- pathseeker 6y ago
  So the problem is you are conflating southern pride (pride in the culture) with the confederacy. Many people in the south used to view the confederate flag as representative of southern pride (iced tea on a porch while complaining about the heat).
  - acdha 6y ago
    If people want to display pride in the south without supporting the Confederacy, they can do so without using the most iconic symbol of the Confederacy. Nobody has to wonder if you’re not entirely honest when you say your southern pride isn’t secretly about race if you use, say, a Georgia peach or a tobacco barn.

UncleMeat 6y ago

There are definitely people who have been bamboozled into recognizing it as a symbol of abstract southern pride - but the connection remains. Regional pride can be a valuable thing. But "Southern Pride" should not just exist among white southerners. It should include the whole south, and using a symbol of the enslavement of black people doesn't exactly bring black southerners along for the ride of southern pride.

acdha 6y ago

The problem is that this history is rooted in racism: the Confederacy was founded to preserve the institution of slavery (people who claim otherwise need to read the states’ own declarations) and the Army of Northern Virginia battle flag most commonly displayed has a long history from the Jim Crow era of being used to intimidate free Black people. Just as someone proud of being German has a wide variety of symbols they can use other than a swastika, someone proud of their Southern ancestry could pick almost anything else to express that. Choosing a symbol which racists have proudly used to intimidate others for a century in a half immediately calls motives into question and even if someone somehow managed to avoid learning the history until now the only polite response is “I had no idea. I’ll use something else!”

pathseeker 6y ago
So the problem is you are conflating southern pride (pride in the culture) with the confederacy. Many people in the south used to view the confederate flag as representative of southern pride (iced tea on a porch while complaining about the heat).
- acdha 6y ago
  If people want to display pride in the south without supporting the Confederacy, they can do so without using the most iconic symbol of the Confederacy. Nobody has to wonder if you’re not entirely honest when you say your southern pride isn’t secretly about race if you use, say, a Georgia peach or a tobacco barn.