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[IL]
Man Defends Front Yard Display Of Ku Klux Klan Flag
The Hawk Eye
/April 22, 2009
Bruce “Rebel” Ruberg, who proudly displays a KKK flag next to a Confederate battle flag in front of his house, said he supports the KKK “for the simple fact that you got the NAACP, you got Black History Month…but a white man says one thing about Mexicans or blacks and you’re instantly a racist.”
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on April 30th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Technically, he’s right- if a white person says anything like that he is considered to be racist. This white guy is also protected by his first admendment rights also to display this flag.
But, the flip side is he should be a bit more considerate of his neighbors also.
on April 30th, 2009 at 11:02 am
I am African-American, my husband is Caucasian and I can honestly say that our 3 year old has not suffered one bit from being Bi-racial. In fact, he proudly tells anyone who will listen “I’m bi-nasal (not a typo) just like President Obama.”
As far as Mr. Ruberg and his flag; I’ll quote a song by the Pointer Sisters called You Gotta Believe.
“Go on and wave your flag brother,
Start your revolution.
I’m willing to let you do your thing
But tell why are you blind when it comes to
mine?. . .”
on April 30th, 2009 at 11:16 am
I would go so far as to ban completely the Confederate flag…it was the symbol of a racist cause during the Civil War, and it retains that symbolism. Free speech is one thing; hate speech is another – and the Confederate flag promotes “in-your-face” hate rhetoric.
on April 30th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Marisa, You don’t know how wrong you are. First, the “Confederate” flag was decidedly not about “hate,” it was about States’ Rights, primarily. Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis, to cite a few, if you’ll study about their beliefs, actions, and demeanor toward others, they were about anything but “hate.”
Secondly, you either believe in free speech or you don’t. You don’t get to characterize and prohibit whatever “you” take exception to. Everybody has a perspective. It’s only when a person is prohibited from voicing his perspective freely, that he resorts to other means of getting his message out. I don’t fear anybody’s message, in fact, i encourage them to share. The truth of their perspective, if there, will eventually see the light.
on April 30th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
How ironically amusing that the racist scumbag is right.
on May 1st, 2009 at 10:01 am
Actually, the article makes it clear which Confederate flag they are speaking of. The Confederate BATTLE flag has become a symbol of racial hatred, and it always represented battle. In 1956 in my state as a response to Brown Vs. Board of Ed, the state flag was changed. It was changed from a flag that honored its Confederate past which was based on the red and white bars of the Confederate flag, to the Confederate BATTLE flag which was only flown during armed conflict during the Civil War.
This was done because because Southern leaders felt that they were at war with Washington who was once again forcing them to treat their Negros differently than they wanted.
Please read the Southern Manifesto that was signed in 1956 by every senator from the formally Confederate states. It makes VERY clear the mindset of white Southerners at the time. The corresponding legislation changing Southern state flags to some form of the battle flag states clearly the racist discriminatory intent of the change.
The return to the Confederate BATTLE flags’ popularity for states and individuals (circa 1956, not 1865) IS based on anti-negro racism.
on May 1st, 2009 at 9:47 pm
There is something emphatically wrong with the whole idea of promoting or even insinuating that there is a different and lesser type of citizen who walks amongst us. We are all equal and and that is the glory of what the United States is all about.
By displaying the Confederate flag, no one is fooling anyone else. The Confederate flag is a sign of past and dumb ideas of how we should regard one another.
We all should be living under one flag, the Stars and Stripes, with the inscription and motto that says…”In God We Trust”.
on May 2nd, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Being white is getting to be old already. Isn’t there anything else for these unfortunately people to hinge their lives upon — for instance, honor in being a decent human being, a “Christ-like” Christian and a “True” American ?
on May 3rd, 2009 at 1:38 pm
I live in the south, North Carolina to be specific, and I hear all the time the confederate flag is “heritage not hate”. not everyone who displays the confederate flag is racist, though this guy is…. but here is my arguement. The Swastika wasn’t to represent the holocaust, it was the logo of a political party. But it became associated with that when it was used by those people. people in germany that are proud of thier heritage don’t go around flying swastikas, because they dont have thier heads completely up thier asses, so in turn, if you are proud of being from the south, we have lovely state flags you can show off. But when you put the confederate flag up, you immediately associate yourself with slavery, the kkk (which still uses it today) and Neo Nazis (who also use it). and if you are racist and want to fly the confederate flag, or in this case a kkk flag, and you get called out on it, dont pretend that it means something else, if you are going to represent your beleifs then you need to own up to how people will react sometimes.
on May 7th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
As a Black American I believe everyone should be allow to display what ever they like! I find that my Race is simply too sensitive! We know the struggles and we have not forgotten the strugge,but its people like him that remind us of the fact that we must excel to be a better person. This is not the sixties and we are no longer afraid. Stop being intimadated by idiots let him flag it. Go buy a Nation of Islam flag and displsy it! We know how that 80% of Caucasion wish us no harm. Its the other 20% that make up the “White Trash” of society!
on May 8th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
I like your attitude Bill
on May 21st, 2009 at 9:06 am
Let’s face it, every race has their stereotypical “trash”. So when the KKK stupidly flies the confederate battle flag they cripple the meaning of the flag.
First of all the civil war was not fought over slavery! All thirteen states of the original U.S.A owned slaves before, during and after the civil war. The southern states drew away from the union because of different political beleifs, not because of differing slavery beleifs. The southern states made their own flag to distinguish themselves away from the union. This flag went through many different styles and changes until the last and final “confederate battle flag”.
Although this confederate battle flag has been used by over 500 different hate groups and has been tainted by their beleifs and hatred. This flag should not be looked at automatically as portraying racism. It is flown today by many to portray heritage and honor for those in the south that fought and died for what they beleived in and for the benifits that you receive today. Because once again the civil war was not fought over slavery, it was fought over the southern states political beleifs in less government, less taxes and southern pride.
Some of you who read this will automatically think that I am some racist southern redneck. Not true! However I am racist against every single races “trash” including my own. People who have made each stereotype, people who brake the law, who don’t pay taxes, who don’t go and find a job and live off of government money, who look for every single handout they can find because they are lazy. You know these people in our society and yes I am racist against them! They rip apart our fabric of democracy and continue to make our country a declining face in this world. Our crime is at an all time high and our economy is in shambles and it is all because of each of our races “trash”!
Knowledge is power! Do some research before you make yourself look ignorant.
on September 19th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Those who have studied the Confederate States of America know that the banner referred to as the Confederate Battle Flag, was originally the field banner of the Army of Northern Virginia which was commanded by CSA General Robert E. Lee. This has always been a soldier’s field flag, never a national flag.
Studies of the flags of the Confederate States of America show that there were three different national flags, the first often referred to as “the stars and bars” and the second referred to as “the stainless banner”. The third only existed for about two months, and is referred to as “the unsurrendered banner”.
In doing research on the internet concerning the preferred flag of the Ku Klux Klan, the available photos on the net generally depict Klansmen displaying the American Flag, also called the “Stars and Stripes”.
on September 21st, 2009 at 7:45 pm
How old is Ruberg — he sounds like a diehard relic? Interracial children are a reality in the USA and most fairing a lot better than both their white and black counterparts. To Ruberg’s mother: “regular guys” are sometimes racist. This poor unfortunate guy needs to get a life if not a a wife. Generally, these types of guys have darksides (not dark color) and skeletons hidden in their closets. Keep them away from your children. Instead of being skin proud strive for being a decent human being. THIS IS THE 21st CENTURY – GET OVER IT !
on October 24th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
No matter what anyone says, even if you don’t agree with what this guy did, you can’t take away his freedom to say what he wants and express himself. It may be offensive to a lot of people, but that’s the way our freedoms work in this country. Freedom for all or freedom for none. You can’t take away a person’s freedom of speech just because you don’t like what he/she is saying. That’s called communism.
on October 24th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Also, I am of several mixed races, and I’ve never been ridiculed or humiliated because of it. That part of what he said was pretty dumb.
on October 25th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
gene, just to get this clear, that would be fascism, not communism, communism doesnt mean what the right wing thinks it does, the soviet union wasn’t communist, just like hitler wasn’t socialist, they were facist dictatorships. communism may not work at all in practice due to human nature, but it isn’t the evil idea that the right wing would have you believe.
on February 8th, 2010 at 11:43 am
George Sidoti, you have gone into something completyely different then racism. ”In God We Trust”. America is not a christian nation, we are free to choose our religion therefore that should never have even been said, its going into something just like religion and you are basically just like the guy with the flag for saying that.