To: WSFAlist at keithlynch.net
Date: Tue, 2 Apr 2002 18:42:50 -0500
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Confederate flags
From: ronkean at juno.com
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

> At 08:22 AM 04/02/2002 -0500, you wrote:

>  My ancestors paid
> in blood
> >to suppress the Confederacy's perversion of the American dream and
> I am
> >willing to allow the descendants of the Confederates to fly the
> Stars & Bars
> >and/or the Battle Jack in a HISTORICAL setting.  I am confident in
> victory
> >and don't see a need to grind the faces of the descendants of the
> >Confederates who have been Americans for many years now.

A Confederate flag sometimes is used as an emblem of racism, and as a
tool of intimidation.  As such, it is not surprising that many people,
and especially blacks, find the display of Confederate flags offensive.
Anyone who finds the flag offensive is well within their rights to
boycott those who display the flag.

But the reality today, I think, is that most displays of Confederate
flags use them as an emblem of Southern culture, rather than of racism.
But still, when I see a Confederate flag, I can't help but think of it as
indicating that the displayer of the flag is at least insensitive to the
feelings most blacks have about the flag.

It is interesting to compare the American policy on Confederate flags
with the German policy on Nazi flags.  In the U.S., public and private
displays of Confederate flags are almost always unconditionally legal.
Controversy in the U.S. mainly surrounds official government-sanctioned
use of the flag.  But in Germany, display of a Nazi flag is punishable by
a heavy fine, and the police respond promptly to any report of a Nazi
flag on display.

Ron Kean

.

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