kparchment@yahoo.com

Personally, I am a Southerner who chooses not to associate myself with the battle flag due to all of the connotations it carries. Nonetheless, if another of my relatives left a flag on one of my ancestors’ graves and I saw someone else remove it in such a way, I would be very upset. You just don’t go there.

Here is exactly the problem all you, white Southerner hating, liberals are overlooking. We will not be enslaved, as you think we should be, to made amends for slavery. You are not in control, as you wish to be, of our lives or rights to do what we wish to do. We are American citizens too, with every right that you have to the Bill of Rights. We have every right to be proud of our heritage and will continue to do so, no matter what you do or say. Notice I’m not an inbred, illiterate idiot. I’m just the proud great great grandson of several Confederate soldiers.

Thank you for your eloquent opinion, much of which I agree with. However, you make an error in assuming that liberals talk-the-talk but don’t walk-the-walk. Most of my friends are very mixed ethnically, racially, religiously and sexually oriented. Most of my friends’ friends are too. Perhaps the area of South where you live is not this way and you can encourage people around you to open their social worlds.

In previous commentary I mis-wrote regarding Memorial Day.
I meant to say that IN the South various observances of Memorial Day honored fallen Confederate soldiers, and LATER recognized all the war dead. In writing rapidly I did not mean to imply that Memorial Day the “national holiday” actually began in “the South.” “Memorial Days” sprang up all over after the Civil War, and the first official national Memorial Day was observed in 1868 at Arlington National Cemetery. The South did not recognize or participate in the national Memorial Day until after World War I. A good summary is at:
http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html .

As a “white” southerner, I have always breathed the depressing weight of a living history of rationalized evil and suffering. Even when I was on the receiving end of unprovoked “reverse” racial violence and anger, it just seemed part of the “atmosphere.” The dark and tragic legacy of the Confederate “battle flag” still turns my stomach, even when I hear a sincere acquaintance repeat the claim that it was all for “states’ rights.” As I have disagreed with and been cursed by otherwise “good-hearted,” hospitable neighbors, I have also come to realize that denying or retaliating against the truth – just because it offends me – only perpetuates the past conflict and never allows for any real resolution.

Some commentators have said, “Hey, southern rednecks: The war is over! The South lost; so get over it!” I couldn’t agree more; but, at the same time: “Hey, EVERYONE: The war is over! So get over it! Learn from it and move on in your own daily life, or you will just fan the flame and light the fuse that your lunatic counterparts keep waving in front of you.”

Yes: there are still vehemently racist bigots in the South; but the ones that worry me most are the polite, humble, soft-spoken, kind, helpful neighbors in my church who – with every well-meaning and sincere bone in their body – while genuinely “caring” for “black people,” still harbor a dark seed that compels quiet disdain and separation. Thankfully, this seed is nowhere near as prolific as it has been these past 140’ish years; but it is still here.

Let us also not forget that same evil seed of white racism was also rampantly rooted throughout the northern “United States,” the same states that long demanded low-cost cotton from the south. The Abolitionists were NOT a majority voice, just (thankfully) a determined and articulate voice that swayed political will in the years preceding the Civil War. There were certainly “free” and “freed” black Americans in the North, along with indentured servants, and “inherited” black slaves, many of whom were “freed” but stayed on as hired servants. Again – while certainly less abusive or violent – Northern white racism was just as deep-seeded as in the South. It just did not have its own flag to represent it, or the same institutions or economic motivations to promote it.

In any case, I must ask my well-educated church members as I also ask myself and YOU, dear Reader:

With all of your impassioned moral viewpoints and good intentions, when was the last time you had a “non-white” ethnic person or family over to your house for dinner (if you are technically “white”)?
Or: when did you last host a “white” person or family at your house for dinner (if you are “Black” or “Hispanic” or “Asian” or “Native American,” etc.)?
AND AFTER you had your token cross-cultural dinner party at your house, how many more times have you had someone very different from you and your socio-cultural, economic class over for dinner at your house? AND how many lasting, positive, constructive relationships do you have with people who are very different from you?

We can rant and rave and wave our ideological and ethnic banners all we want; but – like my Afro-American neighbors have reminded me over the years: if you are not actively DOING something to counter and correct the problem, then you are still part of the problem. Good intentions and words-without-action actually help maintain “the problem.” So – the shorter version regarding racism: “If you are not helping solve the problem, you are the problem.”

I do not believe stomping on the past – on anyone’s past, as offensive and painful and heinous as it may be – solves any problem or elevates anyone to a higher moral ground. Bishop Dowdell has every right to claim that he is offended by certain words, symbols and gestures, but as a follower of Jesus Christ I am not sure stomping on the symbol of the offense (or the offender) would be Jesus’ first choice. He ate supper with sinners in their homes. He stomped on the toes, wallets and egos of the religious leaders, and angrily cleansed the House of Worship, not the cemetery. The past is the past, as filthy as it may be. “Let the dead bury their dead.”

History is full of horrific human evil, always inflicted by human beings on other human beings, and nominal “Christians’” hands are not clean, especially in the South. If some twisted morons still “celebrate” such evils then – yes – they need to be opposed and invited to higher ground; but when I see a Confederate flag on the grave of a Confederate soldier, knowing countless families were torn apart by their opposing views, beliefs and commitments, caught up in something they could not fully comprehend, I see evil, tragedy, and truth.

The slave trade, African families sold and separated; The “Klan,” lynchings, beatings, rapes; poor, white tenant farmers enlisting because their relatives were killed by “damn Yankees;” non-slaveholding whites fighting for “southern honor” or “states’ rights;” racist bigots refusing to let any federal government tell them what they can do or who they can own; young brothers shooting at each other from opposite lines on the battle field; an estimated 618,000 enlisted men killed from northern and southern homes – more than all U.S. war dead in the Revolution and on through the Vietnam War combined; and present-day racists and supremacists drugged on the adrenalin of hate: THIS and more is what the Confederate “Battle Flag” represents. It is nothing to “celebrate;” but it cannot be erased, either.

“MEMORIAL DAY” is an official NATIONAL holiday, and it began in the South as a day to honor all the fallen Confederate soldiers, but it also recognized ALL the northern and southern troops who were killed. If an old church or other cemetery in the South holds a solemn observance on Memorial Day, and marks the graves of all war veterans from the Civil War to Iraq with the flag under which they fought and died, whether I agree with what one of those flags represents or not, it is a necessary moment to remember and recognize humanity, and evil, tragedy, and truth, and that stubborn hope for a day when we “…will study war no more.”

The truth stands, no matter how much we want to forget it, bury it, stomp on it. It is what it was. It is what it is. The question for ALL citizens of these thinly “United States of America” is: “What am I going to DO today to build bridges between myself and my neighbors, and to listen to, hear and value people with whom I disagree?”

We cannot (and should not be counting on) some “utopia;” but until I see more so-called “liberal” minded, educated elites actually serving and getting to know personally the people they claim they want to “help,” and also getting to know personally the “red-neck” racists they so despise, then it’s just the same white-noise and bottled snake-oil we pompous, self-righteous people have been selling since well-meaning do-gooders yelled, “Crucify him!” and “strange fruit” swung from southern trees.

P Leo Mac

I not only complained to the editor of the paper, but filed a police report. The racist comments violate the supposed terms and agreement of the Web site. I pointed that out to the editor. The very nice policeman who came to my house also thought it would be a good idea to shut down that thread. He is following up on the threat that I received from one of the esteemed racist posters.

Geno, thanks for the advice and support, but I lived in Los Angeles for 20 years without ever owning any kind of a weapon and I’ll be darned if I’m going to let Alabama run me scared.

I’m not going to apologize for my name calling. So many people who comment here call it “Freedom of Speech” and I’m sick of them!

I shall return! :-)

I’m lovin’ it!

I was in Alabama about 35 years ago, and it was culture shock time for anyone from the northeast. Whites and blacks existed in what amounted to parallel universes decades after segregation had ended. With the whites so narrow minded, backward and ignorant, that anyone the least bit different, let alone African American, was harassed. We were told “to get out of town” while not doing anything else except being tourists. We had people scream at us from cars, we had police officers bother us.

All in the name of “free speech” I’m sure.

I understand your situation. For that applaud your courage and efforts to remain vigilante. This shows us that you have serious backbone and that you are a strong woman. But when it comes to death threats spat from the [W]igger subhumans from the fringed right. The best thing you can do is simply arm yourself with cancealed weaponery. I carry mine whenever I head into places deemed dangerous and possible targets hence I carry mine all the time. Because I am a certified weapons holder, and I have handled guns since I was 9(started out with Beeman BBrifles). You have a greater chance of survival when carrying a cancealed firearm and other weapons such as pepper sprays and tasers and knives. I bought my girlfriend a lipstick knife once and she thought it was cool and may come in handy. You gotta protect yourself from these racist spitting inbreeds. All they can do is gutter death threats because they know they have lost and are desperate. Now is the time to protect yourselves. Like Lori from above, even beautiful White women are not immune from the hatred shown to us by these infidal white supremacists. They hate everybody including beautiful White women too. So don’t give up the fight for Freedom!

That’s because the Reb flag symbolizes a heritage OF hate.

And “Snaggletooth”? LOL!! That name visualizes a meth-mouth redneck who can’t decide whether to wear his white hood or his brown shirt to the cross burning!!

http://www.oanow.com/oan/news/.....zes/71268/

and

http://www.oanow.com/oan/news/.....ats/69986/

This is not a Klan or Neo-Confederate Web site, but a supposed mainstream local newspaper for a college town in Alabama. The town where I live and where the Confederate flag incident occured. It’s pretty amazing and depressing stuff.

Why dont Georigia Alabama Mississippi and Texas form their own Country. . . .

Uh, last time they tried, silly man, your Lord God and Savior Abe put the kabosh on it,

Does that clear it up any?

Some of my ancestors came from Germany. If I had any relatives who were Nasi’s, I feel shame and embarrassment and I DO despise them.

I try to get my information from a variety of sources, so as not to be one sided. I encourage all to do the same.

I take note that none of the numerous laws of Alabama that were broken by Councilman Bishop A Dowdell (yes he certainly admitted doing it) are mentioned in this story. This is very curious.

As for the Confederacy losing, yes, history shows the CSA lost. Yet some desire to honor the sacrifice of thier ancestors. And your point is what?

Did not Mexico lose? You are fully aware that there is a US Soldier cemetery inside Mexico City containing the graves of our boys who fought against Mexico and are buried in Mexico. I don’t recall Fox or Caldorone hopping the fence and pulling up our flags.

Did not South Viet Nam lose? Just how many US Cities have passed official resolutions and proclamations giving official sanction and recognition since the fall of Saigon to the former SVN Flag? 150? 300?

Did not the Indians lose? Don’t the flags of Minnesota, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Florida pay homage to the vanquished?

Didn’t America lose the Viet Nam war? Are decendants of the soldiers who fought that “Police Action” not allowed to celebrate those men?

I find a lot of hatred on this site. The support for lawbreakers and grave desecrators is appalling. I voted for Obama for change. This is certainly NOT the change I was hoping for.

My ancestors hail from England. The US beat England twice. According to the warped logic expressed here, I am to desecrate thier graves and despise my ancestors.

Many who are Native-American feel as strongly about the stars and stripes flag as do many towards the confederate flag. Some hatemongers use the swatiska flag to hurt Jewish-Americans.

Time has come for everyone to reach a peaceful solution, to look to the future, make amends for the harm done under all flags and spend our time and resources eradicating all forms of bias. We have children, in this nation, who go hungry, homeless, in need of decent education that is safe and so forth.

A flag is a piece of cloth that represents specific idealogies and are used to either unite or harm. What is most important is that we are human beings who need to find peaceful means to learn from history rather than repeating the same mistakes. This game of using flags to perpetrate harm is childish, one where innocent people can and often do get hurt. Where are the adults, the role models for our national unity in all of this?

Jaco YOU are the”joke”…not people who “hate hate.”

I lived there! When I lived in Alabam I was a white, American born, Christian woman. There was no hate or prejudice directed toward me, and none toward other white people that I witnessed or heard about!

What I did see was the about 1000 African-Americans who lived in the county were mostly huddled up in the all black town of Fackler. I can’t remember ever seeing black people at the Walmart. or grocery stores in Scottsboro, or other towns. I do know that my white acquaintances believed “Oh, them N*****’s know where there place is, and it ain’t in town!”

So, SF don’t try and let on that whites in the South are victims of some kind. Unless you mean they’re victims of thier own irrational hate!