Archive of photos from Civil Rights Era found

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by listopencil

The swastika has typically meant Nazis in our culture imediately after Nazis came along. There are only very rare incidences of swastikas in our culture before we encountered them. That flag however, has nothing to do with racism. It is the battle flag of the Confederacy and was used (as well as others) by Southern soldiers conducting warfare against what they viewed as a repressive government. If anything, it represents the native American belief that rebellion for a good cause is legitimate. I know that people who are ignorant of its origins do not like it because it represents something completely different to them as it has been used by hateful bigots for 150 years or so. That's not a good enough reason to destroy a symbol or decree it obscene. Destroy the racist terrorists in our country and decree them obscene instead.

It would seem that both symbols now have very negative connotations. Neither started out that way for sure (the swastika was around for 3000 years or so before it got its bad name), but both were adopted by terrible people. That's the way it goes.

BTW,
These pictures are incredibly powerful. I'd recommend looking at all the sets.