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JC--
LMAO!!
Gaz--
Exactly my point. An object itself is not racist. But it can bring up racist associations...depending on your experience. When I was growing up, it wasn't a Confederate flag but a Rebel flag--I know, same damn thing, but the "Rebel" tag meant that if you had one, you were a rebel, didn't listen to authority, etc.
However, when I went to college and roomed with a KA (the fraternity that sees General Robert E. Lee as its role model) I got a different persepective. His fraternity saw the flag as an antithesis to the tyranny and hypocritical nature of the US gov't.
Another person on my hall (not a KA) saw the flag as his calling card--he was a Klan member and displayed the flag wherever and whenever he could. For him, it was a symbol of pride, and symbol of his "master race."
The person across from us was black. He saw the flag one way--as a racist symbol that made him uncomfortable. He figured everyone that owned one or carried one was a racist out to oppress him.
I saw all of this take place one semester. The Klan memeber trying to be friends with the KA and the KA trying to prove to the African-American that the flag wasn't a racist symbol. The Klan member wouldn't even look at the African-American, and vice-versa.
I see it as both--a symbol for states rights and the calling card of the clan. It depends on whether its flying over a statehouse or in a KKK parade.
Mark M
--A Lurker trying to have it both ways
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