By Dee Gibney, Hamilton
To Rednecks for BL: The Confederate flag no more stands for slavery than pickles do for elephants. To begin only 2/3/ of 1 percent owned slaves out of 31 million people which was the total population in 1860. At that time in 1860 only Democrats owned slaves. The flag for the soldiers became symbols, for those who served under them for their esprit-de-corps and sacrifice. You don’t know your history and are being sold a bill of goods that is not true by socialist liberals who want to destroy this country. The south had slaves yes, but most did not own them and most that fought did not own them either. When states were being added to the Union the north and south fought over which would be free and which would be slave. Why! Simple, the south had very few people living in it, while the north was very populated. Lincoln the south believed, would go with free states over slave. The more free states added would give more power to the north to pass whatever they wanted in Congress, the south did not like that at all. If you read firsthand accounts you will see the northern soldiers wrote they did not want the Union split in two, while the south secession was about states rights. These rights exalted the powers of the individual states as opposed to the federal government. The war was about the south wanting more power than they thought they would get if Lincoln was elected. Both sides believed in what they were doing and people like you Mary, desecrate our history and memory to those who fought for what they believed whether they were right or wrong. It is our history and we need to preserve it and honor I, not destroy it by falsely believing a flag stands for slavery. Slavery happened in many cultures, get over it already! It is past history, learn from it but don’t destroy it.
Diana Telfair says
Why would anyone WANT to see racism? Your piece is a cherry-picked perspective out of history. Did you happen to get a historically educated black man’s perspective when you penned this? While I agree with some of it in a broad perspective, the south still owned and wanted to own slaves ( it was their “right”) and yes it was Democrates but all that matters not the least now. White people regardless of party were NOT owned or uprooted from thier indiginious country. The infrastructure of education, religion, econmics favored and still favors white people, and you don’t see a problem except with a stupid flag? Slavery ANYWHERE SHOUD BE FOUGHT AND CONDEMED IN ANY FORM. This is typical thought of most right wing people, incomplete nonsense of the Civil War (white history is taught to white people) and only ever really touches the surface of some of the most important issues of our history. You might as well have titled the article YOU CANNOT SEE RACISM BECAUSE YOU DON’T WANT TO. And really, what is so hard about calling yourself racist? It means you are awake.
Dd says
What, you don’t think that pickles represent elephants?
David Welch says
What a diseased mind Dee Gibney has.