Since the Confederate battle flag has been in the news lately--the state of Mississippi is set to remove that emblem from its state flag--it seems appropriate to make a few observations.
It would actually be inaccurate--and perhaps a bit intellectually lazy--to imagine that this flag means the very same thing to all people.
For instance, I frequently see pickup trucks around here, with the Confederate flag displayed on the back windshield. Those who drive these trucks probably see themselves as some sort of rebels--and wish to announce this to the world (or, at least, to all in the surrounding community).
Others see it as a part of their Southern heritage--which they strongly embrace. (Yes, the antebellum South was a slave-holding society; but those who fall into this category are not especially fastidious about this matter--anymore than they are about, say, the matter that women were treated as inferiors at this time, in this place.)
Still others, no doubt, are genuine racists.
But it would be a serious mistake, I believe, to suppose that all who brandish this flag fall into the last of these categories.
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Originally Posted by nathanbforrest45
