Flags and Such.

I’m a racist.  There, it’s out on the table.  When I am out on the road, I purposefully chose to not spend my money at fuel stops that are owned and run by Indians.  I do so out of choice, because that’s my right.  It has been my experience that most establishments that are run by Indians are not up to par with my expectations for cleanliness and service.  So I chose not to do business with those establishments.  It’s my right, I make that decision.  When I look for good BBQ, I purposefully look for establishments that are owned and run by black people.  I do so because it has been my experience that for the most part, black people make a mean ass BBQ—end of story.   When I am looking for help around the house in the form of manual labor, I deliberately seek out employees of Mexican heritage.  I do so because it has been my general experience that they work hard, don’t complain, they show up for work on time, and get the job done.  I also get on pretty well with Mexicans- so I chose to hire them.  Do these things make me a racist?  By the definition; “A person who believes one race is superior to another”. It makes me a racist because I believe that black people are better at (among other things) cooking BBQ, Jews excel at banking and finances, Mexicans are more physically built for tolerating working in the hot sun because of the climate they hail from.  And yes, I am generally unimpressed by the hygiene

standards that I have encountered with folks from India.  So I guess that makes me a big fat cracker racist.

It would be delusional to try to convince yourself that there is such a thing as a person who is not racist to some extent.  General life experiences will mold your thoughts and feelings about different groups of people.  That’s just the way things are.  I am sure that we all harbor some resentment somewhere about something.  Some people resent entire races based on skin color, nationality, sexual preferences, and more people have been systematically slaughtered throughout history because they do not share beliefs in the same deity.  The divide in the United States between black and white has a long and ugly history.  It is where we see and hear the most about racism in the news and in our conversations.  Racism has again been brought to the forefront of our lives by a wicked act in one of our oldest and most beautiful cities.  Now, I see my friends and neighbors pointing at a flag in South Carolina while screaming “RACISM!”.   It’s this cry of “racism” and what it really implies, that I want to address.

I don’t want to even discuss the heritage of the Southern Cross flag.  I will acknowledge that it was used in our Civil War by the Confederacy.  It represented the mindset that black people were property and not human.  Yep, it was carried by people who fought and died for a very backward and distorted viewpoint of other human beings.  Presently that battle standard is on display in front of the State Capitol in South Carolina and it is causing a media firestorm.  Countless pundits and officials have been propped up in front of cameras to call for the flag to be brought down.  They talk about how demeaning it is and how it only serves as a reminder of the hatred of the slavery and Civil War.  “It’s insensitive” I have been hearing over and over again.  “It flies in the face of the entire black community to fly the Confederate flag over the state capitol…..”   I disagree.

The thing that we keep seeing over and over again: “Confederate Flag still flying over South Carolina State Capitol”.  Usually accompanied by a carefully cropped pictures like these:

Usually the text of those articles stops just shy of calling Law Makers and residents of the state “Racist Cracker Klansmen”, but it sure wants to imply it.  People are asking how it is possible in this day and age that we are flying such a symbol of hatred over a government building…..well we’re not.

Here is the image that the media does not show you:

The Northern Virginia Battle Flag does indeed fly AT the state capitol building.  It flies over a war memorial that is dedicated to soldiers who paid the ultimate price in one of our bloodiest wars.  It does NOT fly over the State buildings as the media would have you believe.   In fact, because the flag is not actually flying over a government building, it requires a legislative vote just to lower it to half staff.   So despite what you are being told, the calls from the media are nothing short of demands to desecrate a war memorial to fallen soldiers. Think about that long and hard for a minute because history will quickly tell you what comes next.  We start with the flag, we find it offensive, so we rip it down.  Well the rest of the memorial is still there—it also offends me, so we should just take it out.  Well now that I think about it, aren’t we spending tons of money every year to keep a museum open at Gettysburg? 

Good lord, this only serves as a reminder of all the hatred.  It hurts my feelings so we should stop spending federal dollars on such a thing.  Let’s close the doors.  Hell, we should probably go ahead and plow over the battlefield there and build a strip mall because such things only serve as a reminder-and that hurts my feelings.

COMING SOON: STARBUCKS!

Well, now that we have cleansed our society of the remind----OH WAIT, we have that other thing.  All those pesky Civil War graveyards, with markers and tombstones.  Well they represent hatred and slavery right?  We certainly can’t have all those graves out in plain sight for our children to see.  We really do need to just plow those over and build some low income housing there.  It would be a much more efficient use of the space and we would not have to have all those stones there reminding us—serving as beacons of hate.  Right? 

If you think I am being sarcastic, this is what people are talking about doing.  This is where it leads.  You are currently talking openly about desecrating a war memorial.  Where do you think that slope really leads?  What we are doing is blaming the actions of one sick individual on a war memorial to fallen soldiers, and I don't agree with that.  So if it makes you feel better to label me a racist because I don’t agree that it’s a good idea to start burning flags in South Carolina—go ahead, I guess I’m a racist.