Kids on the Meaning of the Confederate Flag

This video comes to us from a t-shirt company that caters to customers with a social conscience. You can explore what the company has to offer by clicking through the video if interested. I will leave it to you to decide whether the profanity is appropriate, but the message itself is crystal clear.

On a more serious note, a couple of weeks ago Rob Baker emailed me about the appropriateness of displaying the Confederate flag in the classroom. It was an interesting discussion in the comments section and it led Rob to think carefully about how he is going to utilize it this year. You can read his post here.

[Uploaded to Vimeo on August 12, 2015]

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12 comments… add one
  • Michael Williams Aug 19, 2015 @ 19:55

    I find this video offensive.

    I don’t care what information they present about the battle flag but when they get children to use profanity it hurts their message.

    I noticed how they used a quote by William T. Thomson to present their information.

    The quote is about a different flag that Thomson did not design.

    I noticed how they didn’t say who said it.

    Please tell me why this is.

    And If Thomson did design the Second national flag of the Confederate States please show me supporting information.

    • Kevin Levin Aug 20, 2015 @ 2:02

      Thompson helped to design the Second National Flag which included a white background.

      • Michael Williams Aug 24, 2015 @ 21:32

        Please show me evidence of that Mr. Levin.

    • Marian Latimer Aug 21, 2015 @ 18:56

      This is not the first time kids have been used in profanity laced messages and I’m sure the same group that did the other videos are behind this. I believe it’s been within the past year or two that little girls were used to speak up against violence against women and other feminist issues, like equal pay, etc. I used to teach, and I’ve heard parents use worse speaking to their little darlings.

  • Marian Latimer Aug 19, 2015 @ 18:37

    These kids are adorable. Bless their hearts. I loved the video. Thanks for posting it.

  • woodrowfan Aug 19, 2015 @ 16:23

    FWIW, I attended the US Army “Twilight Tattoo” at Fort Meyer and in their historical retrospective they had both union and Confederate representative soldiers, and both US and CSA flags. But it was used in historical context. (The announcer also used the term “War Between the States” at least once.)

    • Eric Koszyk Aug 19, 2015 @ 21:26

      I attended that last month as well. I was actually pretty appalled by the Army’s use of the CSA flag (the rectangular version, not the square version actually used by most of the CSA army). I found it completely inappropriate, especially since there are many Union soldiers buried not too far away in Arlington Cemetery. The whole “historical reenactment” part of the ceremony was pretty tacky IMHO (and completely historically inaccurate).

      I think the Marine band does a much more honorable presentation at the Iwo Jima Monument. I was actually thinking of writing a letter detailing how much I disliked the Army’s presentation, but I’m not sure who to write to.

  • Shawn Aug 19, 2015 @ 15:03

    This video was thoroughly entertaing. Profanity and all. The substance of the message is clear and historically accurate. The profanity is there for provocation and shock value.

    • Mark Snell Aug 21, 2015 @ 6:41

      I agree with Al Mackey. Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle would have been better at delivering this profanity-laced message, and they most surely would NOT have been shy to use the “n-word” term. I certainly am not a stranger to foul language, but I was appalled that a producer used these kids to get his point across. And I am even more appalled that their parents allowed them to participate. I got about thirty seconds into the clip and then shut it down. Guess I’m getting old . . . .

  • Al Mackey Aug 19, 2015 @ 9:02

    The thing that struck me was they were so free with the F-bombs “for effect,” but dared not utter the n-word. Maybe we need a sociologist to explain that one. 🙂

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