“For Every Flag Removed…”

Virginia FlaggersHere’s the problem with this logic. It’s not simply a question of whether or not a Confederate flag is flying on a university campus, public building or roadside lamp. Confederate heritage groups can organize and raise as many flags in response to their removal as they want, but they will never be able to counter what is really being rejected.

It’s not simply the flag, but everything that can legitimately be associated with it from the stated goals of the Confederate nation through the use of the flag as a symbol of “massive resistance” against black civil rights during the 50s and 60s and beyond. In removing the flags the communities in question are taking a stand and making public their values.

Raising another one on some remote highway or standing in front of a location protesting with a flag does nothing to address this fact. In fact, the retaliatory act itself is an admission that the battle has already been lost. A lone standing flag on the side of a highway has no community. It reflects no values at all since the landscape itself on which it stands is barren.

It must be a tough thing for those people who find meaning in the flag to see it rejected in so many places of late and by their fellow white and black southerners. The greatness of this country, however, rightly ensures that they will never be without their flag. They can always visit one of their flags, hold elaborate ceremonies, and rage against any number of -isms. In those moments they will have infused the flag with community.

Civil War Memory has moved to Substack! Don’t miss a single post. Subscribe below.

21 comments… add one
  • elitmajor Aug 24, 2014 @ 10:36

    Apologies concering names,
    I hold certificate for a legal person named Jason Vance, however I am still who I am regardless of a name which I am not. You wouldn’t believe all the malarkey legal terms pertaining to the name. Moving on.

    Hollywood designs destruction, distraction and desolation to America its bias against the south is so deeply ingrained it would take a second (as referred to by northerners) civil war to alter their editing and screenwriting policy towards backwoods-shotgun-KKK-member-rebel-flag-flying-pick-up-truck-driving characters.

    Hollywood raises our youth, determines public opinion, and millions of Americans are captivated by the TV propaganda tool.

    Has Hollywood depicted (the12 million dollar an hour congress) federalism by its Hamiltonian econmics, or industrial age which sucks up all natural resources to fuel Wallstreet greed and a corporate government that foreign aids all its citizen’s wealth away. Do not resources belong to the people on the land?

    What happened to “this land is your land this land is my land”
    I thought it was the American Indians land
    Then the U.S gov’s land
    Or Department of Homeland’s land
    Sounds erily familiar to
    Lenin’s Soviet Motherland
    Or Hitler’s Fatherland

    As for chattels (all US citizens) it is difficult for most to forego, dthat alone requires questioning authority to grasp the deception that made them property of another, mainly by un disclosure and coercion.

    Too, sad is Public education as it continues the indoctrination of our beloved American nation
    And outside ever educational institution an American Flag is flying.

    Far as I can tell, at lest most, if not all those who apply, or just merely consent to the wellfare state programs are awarded benefits in some fashion, or another, regardless of race or citizenship these days.

    The oligarchs arrived, quietly, a long time back.
    They fly an American Flag.
    Attorneys or esquires whats the difference?
    Is esquire a title of royalty?

    The white man
    The black man
    Any man
    Or woman
    A US citizen
    Is enslaved
    By the 14th
    Amendment
    No involuntary
    Servitude
    We unknowingly
    Volunteered

    The Rebel Flag belongs to anybody anytime anywhere
    For those who choose to rebel

    The race propaganda belongs to promoters
    Provocateurs are paid protesters for the media
    Media has been exposed
    Does media ever report a positive gun story?
    Does media ever tell the lottery loosers?
    Does media ever cover safe landed airplanes?
    No
    Media does as the media is told

  • elitmajor Aug 19, 2014 @ 1:14

    Yes, I understand the impatience, but truth stands by itself; it needs not the proppings of my worthless credentials from University. I seek no glory, but only to spread knowledge so that the few who question may happen upon their own truth.

    The Rebel Flag, controversial as it may be, represents all who are and have ever been oppressed. As we know, Hollywood’s agenda is to proffitt by any means, and stereotyping the Southerners’ Rebellious defeat yeilds vast returns.

    My hope is to start serious discussion anywhere I see fellow intellects for few men concern themselves with politics today.

    Farewell

    • Kevin Levin Aug 19, 2014 @ 1:17

      As we know, Hollywood’s agenda is to proffitt by any means, and stereotyping the Southerners’ Rebellious defeat yeilds vast returns.

      With all due respect, such a statement reflects very little awareness of how Hollywood has represented the South over the years.

      My hope is to start serious discussion anywhere I see fellow intellects for few men concern themselves with politics today.

      You could start by signing your name.

    • Andrew Raker Aug 19, 2014 @ 6:31

      “The Rebel Flag, controversial as it may be, represents all who are and have ever been oppressed.”

      Does it represent those who have been kept in chattel slavery? Or those who have been denied equal access to public goods and services because of their race?

    • Jimmy Dick Aug 19, 2014 @ 17:28

      Yeah, Gone with the Wind really portrayed such a negative impression of the confederates.

  • elitmajor Aug 13, 2014 @ 18:20

    I have very little patience for readers who do not use their name and even less when the comments stray from the subject of the post. I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts, but my blog should not be considered an open billboard. Thanks for your understanding.

  • elitmajor Aug 11, 2014 @ 13:13

    Moreover, I am inclined to agree with your rejection stance in the paper, but only in regards to misspent generational efforts and their hostilities towards their fellow man (ie) 50’s 60’s opposition regarding civil rights for blacks.

    Now, for those Confederates who created that beloved CBF during the war between the states, I hold the upmost respect and proudly claim descender from such men. Men who had spirit of an unwavering belief in their right of self governance.

    I know of few men who are ready to die for their right of self governance today.

    I care little what mainstream history professes as accurate facts for any man who hath a fraction of wisdom may descern truth by his own knowledge.

    Do we not know to the Victor go the spoils?

    Does anyone therefore preclude that the Confederacy retained the privilege to write US history from their point of view?

    Studying Lincoln’s papers will suffice enough for the great emancipator.

    Then the act of 1871 and Andrew Johnson’s writings hold revealing information too.

    I solute the unionists solders same as the confederates. We all are Americans, who for far too long have blindly followed an aristocracy of governing men who rule with concealed tyrannical intentions.

    Happy slaves are we who earn our wage form the Corparations all the while thinking we are free.

    Any man ever enslaved was there by his own consent for liberty has always been there waiting. Death is a small amount to pay in order to be free. Freemen live to die free.

    Regards
    A Confederate

    • Kevin Levin Aug 12, 2014 @ 3:31

      Now, for those Confederates who created that beloved CBF during the war between the states, I hold the upmost respect and proudly claim descender from such men. Men who had spirit of an unwavering belief in their right of self governance.

      You are free to believe whatever you wish about the men in the ranks. In the end Confederate armies were the military extension of a government that was founded to protect and extend the institution of slavery. It’s no accident that white Americans chose the Confederate flag to resist civil rights in the 1950s and 60s.

  • Woodrowfan Aug 9, 2014 @ 17:31

    so for every flag that gets taken down from a visibly public place, they’ll put up more, bigger flags in places where nobody can see them, like in the woods along I-95?

  • Boyd Harris Aug 9, 2014 @ 16:07

    The Mid South Flaggers, along with Mr. Edgerton, marched through Oxford today. They had no permit and were not allowed to stop. Police escorted them alongside the sidewalk the entire time. They marched around the Square and left. No speeches. Barely a few signs. Tons of flags. During the fifteen minutes they were in town, I answered questions from about ten people. Most were familiar with the recent discussions over UofM’s nickname, but none of them had any idea who these people were. I even overheard the mayor telling people that “the Klan was coming today.”

    My point is how does any of this add to the discussion? It seemed as if the marchers merely wanted to feel better about their own views. No attempt was made to inform or persuade any bystander. What good did any of this do, besides disrupt a nice Saturday morning and exacerbate a small town’s police force. The organizer in me was flabbergasted. I mean, I don’t agree with your views, but a bit of planning goes a long way toward creating a clear protest. Instead what we get is a bunch of yahoos who are going to get their pictures in the papers and on the news, further perpetuating a stereotype of Mississippians as close minded rednecks.

    • Andy Hall Aug 10, 2014 @ 10:54

      “I even overheard the mayor telling people that ‘the Klan was coming today.’ ”

      The League of the South and other white nationalists were there having their own protest at the same time, so the mayor can be forgiven if he thought the Klan had come to town. There’s not a dime’s worth of difference in what those groups believe or want; the LoS and white nationalists are just smarter about how they present themselves to the public.

  • Andrew Raker Aug 9, 2014 @ 7:42

    It’s hard not to think that the Flaggers and their like are putting up the CBF in places where it will be rejected, all to feed their martyrdom complex. The time spent protesting outside VMFA could have been spent putting flags on graves at Hollywood Cemetery, but they can’t have make videos where their children are crying because they’re being arrested as they’re doing that. (Although, if Hollywood Cemetery’s policy prohibited such items, well, I’m sure they’d be out there protesting that if it could get them attention). As a result, they just alienate more Southerners, which will, in the end, mean there will be even fewer places where the CBF will fly.

    • Andy Hall Aug 10, 2014 @ 11:18

      Andrew, the Virginia Flaggers’ new focus on putting up big flags by the highway on private land is a tacit acknowledgement that their signature issues of Lexington and the VMFA — the battles they were organized to fight — are not only not won, but are unlikely to have a favorable outcome for them in the foreseeable future. The highway flags are relatively easy to accomplish, requiring only money and volunteer hours, both of which the Flaggers can marshal easily. It’s low-hanging fruit, and they’re only doing in Virginia what a half-dozen other SCV groups have done (or are doing) in other states. It’s not original or creative, and in its present form serves no educational purpose whatever. It’s about marking Virginia as unreconstructed territory, period.

  • elitmajor Aug 9, 2014 @ 3:53

    I look not for any fault in my fellow man, which I have not searched for within myself. On occasion there arises some concern, where unrefined men remain trapped in a stereotypical, Hollywood world.

  • Matt McKeon Aug 9, 2014 @ 3:37

    I would encourage them to raise more and bigger flags. Keeps ’em busy.

    • Kevin Levin Aug 9, 2014 @ 3:43

      The University of Mississippi continues to distance itself from its Confederate past and yesterday a court throughout a case to prevent Memphis’s city council from changing the name of Forrest Park.

      They may want to invest in some major lighting for those flags. 🙂

      • Andrew Raker Aug 9, 2014 @ 7:13

        Since South Carolina did try to nullify federal standards for lightbulbs, so I’m sure the lighting of their flags could become another states rights issue.

  • Michael Rodgers Aug 9, 2014 @ 3:15

    Please let me know when they’ve put up more flags than there are “South of the Border” signs. Also let me know when they start flagging Maurice’s BBQ and when they finally have a reason that makes any kind of sense for anything they are doing.

  • elitmajor Aug 9, 2014 @ 2:32

    As foretold days rapidly approach, the differentials among men will sucome unto us all. Not by color of skin, nor a flag flown for any nation, what our demise is is what it always was a blurred vision of ourselves, an unknown beginning and a complete disregard for our species. If we’re ever to discover true harmony in life we must rid the orb of all that subordinates man among men.

    Regards
    A Confederate

  • Brooks D. Simpson Aug 8, 2014 @ 17:15

    I think it is time for them to invest in nicer flags. The US 34-star flag that I bought for Al and me to use was really rather nice and not terribly costly.

Leave a Reply to Kevin LevinCancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *