I was stunned when I opened Wednesday’s paper and saw, under the headline “Your Guide to Tailgating,” a color photograph of a sea of revelers carousing under the banner of American racism, a Confederate flag.
I rubbed my eyes and looked again, but it was still there, and the caption claimed that this occurred on CMU’s campus. How is this possible? Are public displays of racism normal and accepted at these events?
Since I know also that the vast majority of CMU’s students of all races would not want to have someone wave a Confederate flag over their revels, I have to wonder why this particular flag was tolerated.
What was it in the mind of the person who unfurled it that day in April that made him think the crowd would approve?
Because of what I know about the students at CMU, I must conclude that the public display of this flag was an aberration, the act of one or two fellows they all hoped would just go away soon.
Daniel Patterson
Department of English
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Letter to the Editor
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Please disregard any typos casue I typed it really fast and know I have some errors in the post somewhere with spelling and punctuality. And please note that I’m not saying that Sanity Required is totally ignorant just a great example of how propaganda forms in the minds of Americans early in our schools. The history that is taught in schools is a wrong in many areas. It is much like a lawyer stretching the truth so to speak. Lies are told with false story lines, and sometimes by sheer omission. Most lies are often by omission no matter what the topic or reason. The bottom line is that when we have a horrible educational system that lies and doesn’t tell enough of the real story we as a country will always be seperated in some sense of understanding and level of communication. Again Yaw Weh Bless, all and all whom seek the truth about history that is being covered up in any time frame around the world. God Bless and Shobdin!
the br best answer is this
Black Men say Rebel flag flies for freedom
For an hour, the Confederate battle flag flew over the former site of the Eight Flags Display on U.S. 90.
Dressed in Confederate gray, a black man named Anthony Hervey marched with the banner clutched in his hands. His brother, Harry, accompanied him, wearing jeans and a Robert E. Lee T-shirt.
Hervey’s devotion to the flag began when he discovered that a great-great-uncle, James Hervey, was a black American who fought for the Confederacy during the American Civil War. James Hervey served in the Army of Mississippi and was killed at the battle of Shiloh.
Further research helped Hervey discover records of at least 100,000 black Confederates who fought in the war.
“I am marching for freedom,” Hervey said. “The battle flag stands for freedom and states’ rights. The U.S. flag is the flag of slavery. It flew over 100 years of slavery, and Native Americans were annihilated under that flag.”
For his march, Hervey chose the site where a Confederate flag once stood, one of eight representing entities that have governed the Coast. Harrison County removed the flags because of protests over the Confederate flag, a racist symbol to many, flying on the public beach.
Hervey’s crusade also has taken him to Jackson. In the Jackson City Council chambers June 13, Hervey showed up wearing his battle grays, wrapped in the flag. A scuffle erupted between a Jackson man, who said he supported Hervey, and a city councilman who exchanged words, according to published reports. Hervey was not involved in the shoving match.
Hervey sees a correlation between the past and today’s controversies over the flag.
“We currently live under a psychological form of reconstruction,” he said. “Whites are made to feel guilty for sins of their ancestors, and blacks are made to feel downtrodden. This keeps all of us from communicating. The political correctness of today is killing the pride of the people.”
Spike,
First of all, the overwhelming majority of African Americans who fought on the side of the confederacy had no choice but to fight. Using this as an example of black support for the confederacy is disingenuous at worse, and naive and uninformed at best.
Let’s take Alexander H. Stephen’s, Cornerstone Speech, issued on March 21, 1861 that states:
“But not to be tedious in enumerating the numerous changes for the better, allow me to allude to one other though last, not least. The new constitution has put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution African slavery as it exists amongst us the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. Jefferson in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the “rock upon which the old Union would split.” He was right. What was conjecture with him, is now a realized fact. But whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that rock stood and stands, may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old constitution, were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal with, but the general opinion of the men of that day was that, somehow or other in the order of Providence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away. This idea, though not incorporated in the constitution, was the prevailing idea at that time. The constitution, it is true, secured every essential guarantee to the institution while it should last, and hence no argument can be justly urged against the constitutional guarantees thus secured, because of the common sentiment of the day. Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the government built upon it fell when the “storm came and the wind blew.”
Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner- stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.”
Oh yes, smells of freedom to me.
Mark F is really Mark P.
Your lies didn’t work for adjunct prof stoll and the jax flog, and they don’t fly anywhere truth is told. I’ve already seen victory agaionst your klan in hampton regardless how y’all warped my letter to Harrison and my buddies over at the GHC have been exposing your frauds.
Give me a break. Just because some one has a Confederate flag makes them a rasist? That is absurd. Lets us remember that all things do not have the same meaning to every person.
I’ve asked many people who own that flag what they think it represents. The only response I’ve ever heard is, “country music.”
Americans are not the brightest bunch in the world. In fact, we are ranked almost last when comes to education. Anthony Hervey graduated from the University of London with a focus in Race and Ethnicity. He served in Parliament. He did this after graduating from the University of Mississippi with honors. It is perplexing to view petty angles concerning “The Flag of Dixie.” The majority of Americans born before 1975 know and understand the connatations associated with the Confederacy and its Flag. In the immortal words of Dr. Bill Cosby, “Come On People.” Stop being programmed. The flag is only a symbol, that’s all. The true dilemma is why are Americans so passive. We are as we were in 1945, waiting for another Fuehrer.
I’ll play along with the argument that it represents a “southern political resistance to northern aggression.”
Isn’t that the same resistance which supported segregation and Jim Crow laws?
How then, can anyone attempt to claim there isn’t any connotation to racism in the Confederate Flag (as previously noted the flag being flown is a conglomeration of flags of the CSA which did not experience any kind of wide recognition until WWII)?
Now, while I will never argue for someone’s freedom of speech and, as has been added through SCOTUS-interpretations, expression, be limited except in extreme cases such as shouting “Fire!” in a crowded building, I will argue for people to understand where others are coming from. Yes, you view it as a symbol of your Southern heritage, actual Southern heritage need not apply. Many others view it as a symbol of the South’s historical political resistance so they could continue oppressing a group of people they determined to be lesser and refused, longer than any other Western nation, to apply equal legal protection towards.
So, I have to say, consider how you are representing yourself and groups you associate with (such as Central Michigan University) before making as charged a statement as flying the flag. Acknowledge people still struggling for true equal protection under the law and culture will consider you a racist and supporter of the historical and cultural forces limiting their opportunities. And finally, realize that dismissing something as “just a symbol” demonstrates extreme ignorance towards why symbols are used: they are powerful and evoke powerful reactions in people. Just because the reaction isn’t the one you want does not make that reaction wrong.
If the North hated slavery, why did they still import slave-made goods from the South? The hypocrisies of our modern times are evinced by such stunning precedents as this.
The Confederate flag was bastardized by the Klu Klux Klan; it holds value for Southerners who look upon it as a symbol of defiance against what they considered to be a rebel government. After all, how would you feel if President Obama called up Federal troops to invade your home or community and kill your friends and loved ones?
Personally, I agree with the remarks about the Confederate flag being rasict and am always angry when I see one, too.
But the racist history connected to it isn’t the only thing that bothers me.
There’s one main reason why I think there shouldn’t be Confederate flags flying, at southern statehouses, etc. It’s quite simple. The “southern pride” argument is a bunch of absolute crap as far as I’m concerned.
The Confederate flag represents a bunch of states and people who committed basically the ultimate act of treason in this country’s history by seceding. To me that flag is a filthy reminder of a bunch of dirty treasonous traitors who in no way, “southern pride” or otherwise should be honored or memorialized. I don’t consider the Confederate flag an American symbol or protected by Free Speech, personally.
If there’s a flag in this country EVER worthy of burning, it’s the Confederate flag as far as I’m concerned.
Come down from your high horse and stop judging people you don’t know a thing about.
You’re the problem here, not a couple of tailgaters with a flag.
Take the time to get to know someone, you’re no better than a racist yourself.
Thank you Ryan.
The judgmental citizen of a country of people who allow and encourage corporations to make “slaves” of the poor in third world countries would not only benefit from getting to know someone else, but also getting to know themselves. We all need better mirrors – me included.
There is no need to condemn. The symbols of my star-spangled banner and my confederate heritage are both stained with blood. I am sad for the abuse of slaves in the past and frustrated by the system we support today of slaves who serve our consumer greed. We’ve just managed to mostly hide today’s slaves from our sight.
Professor Patterson, be appalled but don’t be blind. There are many more “flags” of hatred all around you, much more ubiquitous than the occasional tailgaters’ emblem.
Dear Nick Smith,
You are correct when you said some southern states succeeded from the Union. Before jumping on the Obama bandwagon maybe you should check your facts. Southern States succeeded from the Union because their main economy, Cotton, was in grave danger. Without slaves in the south, there would be a huge labor force needed to pick all the cotton. So when Pres. Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation, Southern life came under attack. This is very similar to the outsourcing of American jobs overseas. Take for instance Automotive companies. Detroit used to be known as the Motor City, but as we know now that is no longer the case. My Grandfather worked at a GMC Plant in Flint for 35 years. He would be rolling over in his grave if he knew how things are nowadays.
Am I saying that slavery is just? Of course not, slavery was awful, and should never even be contemplated again. But back in the mid 1800’s, this was their way of life.
The Confederate Flag stands for many things, to many different people. Some it stands for racism, to other people it stands for Heritage. And I’m sorry to burst your bubble but people can display any flag they want. I could hang a Swastika off my porch, and by law no one can make me put it away. If you want oppression, by all means go to China, or any other Communist country.
People continue to find racism in places that were never intended because of what they think the symbol means. While many of these symbols have been used for ‘bad’, they have all been used for ‘good’ also. Give the benefit of doubt, until you actually know the details. Perhaps the flag shouldn’t have made the guide to tailgating, but it is a protected use under the laws of our country.
If people were really offended about this during a drunken tailgating session, they would have beat the crap out of the kids with the flag. That seems like evidence enough to me that most people didn’t recognize it as racist or just didn’t care. Crying wolf keeps racism alive more effectively the Klan ever could.
Political correctness (the right not to be offended) should never overrule the first amendment (the right to free speech). Grow a thicker skin and learn to stop crying over offenses conjured up by your imagination. If we ban the use of offensive symbols and words, our rights won’t be there when we really need them.
Seeing how Michigan’s economy is awful, the automotive industry in the state seems doomed, and the outsourcing of jobs is a continuing problem, should Michigan secede? By Creo’s explanation it sounds like it. I hear Quebec wants to secede from Canada, so maybe we could join them in attempt to start a new country in a time of global economic turmoil. Then just like the automotive industry, we can ask for bailout money when the economy goes to hell and use it to give bonuses to the highest offices.