I want to start this off by saying that I am a true Son of the South. I am Alabama born and bred. I KNOW my heritage. I can name Civil War Battles. I know where there are old Confederate Armory ruins around my neck of Alabama. I can tell you that Montgomery AL was the first Capitol of the Confederacy. That the Confederacy was BORN in Montgomery AL, created by the union of South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas in secession from the United States. My “Rebel Yell” is just as good as anyone’s and I can sing “Dixie” better than most!.
I lived through the troublesome times of racial disparity. I saw the “colored only” drinking fountains. I saw the “white only” restroom signs with my own eyes. I saw the police brutality to African-Americans gathering in numbers to demand their Civil Liberties as Americans. I saw the Southern Cross flown to protest school integration. I saw it on black-and-white television and I listened to it on the radio. I saw the water hoses turned on our brothers and sisters in Birmingham. I saw the dogs released.
I saw the violence in Selma. Did you?
How can anyone with any common sense or any knowledge of Southern History say that this flag represents their heritage only and does not also represent hate? How can folks who claim it as their “heritage” not see this?
I don’t give a rat’s ass about a flag, any flag. Flags are only pieces of cloth, but they are divisive by nature. They set countries and people APART and put them at odds with each other. What I care about is Peace, Understanding and Tolerance. And recognize this; The Civil War, War of Northern Aggression, War to Free the Slaves, whatever you choose to call it, divided families. The rights or the wrongs of the issues that caused that war are immaterial. The fact is that brother was pitted against brother, father against son. This stupid shit has me at odds with my own son!! We were arguing the other day about it and I said “If this is about heritage name me three battles of the Civil War”. He couldn’t do it!!!! If you are supporting the “heritage” of the Southern Cross, don’t you think you should know something about that heritage?
Also recognize that this particular bit of foolishness is accomplishing exactly what the FED wants. They want us divided!!! Remember “United We Stand, Divided We Fall”? This issue distracts us from the REAL issue, which is an overbearing government that wants us completely under its thumb and will accomplish it through DIVISIVE ACTIONS.
If there is not some sanity and reason restored about this, there will be bloodshed over it. That will be played up by mainstream media, which will stir up more emotion. Then there will be more violence and bloodshed. The Guard will be called out first. If they can’t get peace restored, the Feds will step in and it’ll all be over but the crying. THEY want a race war!!!!
There is no RIGHT side of this issue. I’m proud of my Southern Heritage, not because of the Confederacy, but because my people were (and are) good, hard working folks who believe in Freedom, Faith, Family and Friends. I learned to milk a cow when I was 7. I learned to plow a mule when I was 9. I helped my Granddaddy and Daddy farm. I saw how they fed an extended family. I saw the cooperation within that very large family. Our heritage is NOT about that flag. It is about the love that we had for each other, our neighbors and the Good Lord.
We had kinfolk that died fighting for the Confederacy. I’m proud they took the stand they did. But we also have kinfolk that fought for Old Glory in WWII, Vietnam and the Desert and I’m equally as proud of the stand they (and I) took. THAT’s a part of our heritage too.
What I’m saying is “This is a damned silly thing to be arguing over when we have SO many other issues that are SO much more important. Fly your flag if you want to, no matter which one it is, but recognize that others will view YOU in the light of what THEY think that flag represents and that YOU are just walking into the trap the Fed has set for us. America is in distress, and the only way to fix it is to cooperate with each other in a spirit of unification against an oppressive government that knows VERY WELL that if WE THE PEOPLE ever get it together, they are done”.
Having said all that, comment away. If you want to respond either in agreement or disagreement I’ll post it, but I won’t be baited and I won’t respond. This is some of the stupidest shit I have ever seen, on BOTH SIDES. You folks need to take a good, hard look at the South in the 60s. The American People didn’t learn a damned thing from all that racial tension, BUT THE GOVERNMENT DID!!
