Obama win and Confederate flag raising a coincidence that speaks volumes

They are two events linked mostly by a single, jarring coincidence.

On the same Tuesday that Barack Obama became the first African-American to win the Democratic nomination for president, local activists raised a Confederate flag the size of a semitrailer truck at the intersection of Interstates 75 and 4.

Some might suggest an indirect connection — that supporters of Confederate history, angry that their heritage has been overlooked in the rush to celebrate multicultural achievement, wanted an in-your-face way to grab the area’s attention.

And they would be right.

“We’ve been marginalized and put off and ostracized for the last 20 years,” said Marion Lambert, a Tampa member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He said he didn’t plan specifically to raise the flag on Obama’s big day but doesn’t mind the juxtaposition. “We’re using this ultimate weapon we have been given by a society which ostracized it.”

Lambert unfurled the flag for the day on Tuesday for the 200th birthday of Confederacy president Jefferson Davis, planing to display it permanently when a Civil War monument there is finished. His position: The Confederate battle flag isn’t solely a pro-slavery symbol, and the memorial will outline that history for anyone prompted to stop after seeing the flag.

Lambert's position was echoed by Darryl Starnes, chief of heritage defense for the national SCV. "Over the past few years, we've had so many of our monuments and flags taken down...we're losing our heritage," said Starnes, whose title reveals his stance on the issue. "So there's not many alternatives to us, except to establish our own memorials"

Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center notes that increases in America’s diversity often produce a backlash. Look back a century, and the rise of industrialism fed a backlash against Catholic immigrants taking factory jobs. These days, globalization fuels the frustration of anti-illegal immigration scolds such as CNN’s Lou Dobbs.

Potok takes pains to not that the SCV is not considered a racist hate group, though the group's leaders have consistently struggled with a racist faction inside the group drawn by it's pro-South imagery.

“The country is going to lose its white majority by 2015 and we may have a black president next year,” Potok said. “That brings real reactions from white people who are not klansmen or neo-Nazis.”

Gaines Foster, a history professor at Louisiana State University, said the SCV echoes efforts by some Southerners to minimize the role of slavery in the Civil War — a notion many historians now reject.

He noted current flag friction also references the way segregationists made the Confederate battle flag their symbol in the civil rights era. “When you’re flying a flag you’re not just celebrating the past, you’re making a statement about the present,” Foster said. "A flag exists in the present in a way most historical markers don't."

As with many conflicts over race, this fight features sides so deeply entrenched compromise may not be possible -- though one wonders why the SCV doesn't just admit the battle flag’s connection to segregationists and fly another flag. Doesn’t Obama’s success also suggest there’s a way to bridge this gap?

“I don’t know,” said Lambert. “The emotionalism here is like fire and brimstone. I’m not sure that’s debatable.”

Comments

[Renee]

This flag is beautiful to me. I'm from the south, born there, and happy about it! My great, great, great grandpa was a Confederate soldier, and I'm darn proud of that! I am a true Christian, who loves Jesus with all my heart and soul. I live for Him only. I have great respect for blacks who are Christians. And I've never, ever been racist or prejudice. But I also love the Confederate flag because it means that the South fought for their Christian beliefs and rights, and the right to secede, which IS a constitutional right for states. I've read it myself. The Civil War was NEVER about slavery. It was brought on by Lincoln, who everyone praises, even though they've never read the evil comments he made in his speeches. He was so power-greedy, that he had to have complete control over the South, even though the South had the constitutional right to be their own nation. Read your history, folks. Stop judging us, and accept our heritage, just as you want us to accept yours. It's part of my family, and I will never deny that.

[snakedriver]

what is the confederate flag exactly, the, if you do not know its true meaning you shouldn,t pass judgement on it, it is based of the saint andrews cross, thus most southrons believe that it is a christian crusade symbol, in a country that cries diversity it is funny that if you are white and from the south you have no rights to be who you are without being deemed a racist, what about what we believe? ill let you in on a little secret, most of us that fly the navy jack battle flag, or the 3rd national, or the bonnie blue do not do it for the hate of another race, but because we despise the u.s goverment which is nothing more than an empire of hypocrates. how is it also that it is ok to call us all rednecks? isnt that too discrimination? what about the u.s flag flying over state buildings? isnt that too wrong, in a country that cries out diversity... everyone else has rights to their culture except the people living in dixie.... deo vindice

[John McCainus]

Is it ok to burn the Confederate Flag? Now that would be fun!

[Toni Tucker]

The raising of the confederate flag represents exactly what a racist wants, fear!

Fear of others not like them. A throw back to the 'good ole days' when others
were in their place.

Well those days are gone for GOOD. God is in control of this planet, and all of it's inhabitants, not some demon spirit of fear.

Raise the stupid flag, and I'll pray it down, not only figerality, but spiritually, in Jesus Name

It's interesting to point out that the Hillsborough BCC had the option of approving a one page resolution commemorating Confederate veterans from the Tampa Bay area and declined. Another thing is this organization bought the property and asked to put the "memorial" up shortly after being shot down by the Commission.

It seems to me that it's pretty clear what they're looking for here, but that the HCBCC is unwilling to sit down with the group to see what they want.

On the other side, we all now know what a used carriage dealership would have looked like in antebellum days.

[Robin 'Roblimo' Miller]

Being white and from So. California, I didn't spend much of my early life thinking about the confederate flag one way or the other. Sure, that battle flag was the symbol of the Dumb Redneck, and meant that if you saw it on a pickup truck you didn't want to follow that truck too closely on your motorcycle because you might get a wad of chewing tobacco spit in your face. Racial symbolism? What... ever.

Then I went with my (black) wife to a Gamble Plantation "confederate days" event here in Manatee County.

"Wow," she said, "It's like all these people are sad because they grew up too late to own slaves, but at least they can put on costumes and pretend."

I have friends who are heavily into civil war re-enactments and play characters on the confederate side who are about as non-racist as a human can be. And my wife is certainly not against historical dress-up; she often goes to renaissance fairs dressed in full "wench" garb.

But there are also parts of our history that, while they should certainly be acknowledged, should not be glorified. The people who built America were often a bloody lot -- and I include the African forebears of most slaves, and the displaced Native Americans in this statement, too. Basically, if you go back far enough, all of us have ancestors who owned slaves at some point -- and oppressed hell out of neighboring peoples whenever they could get away with it.

Maybe the battle flag-flyers are simply honoring their ancestors and don't intend to come across as racist. But still, they are being rude as hell to their black neighbors. And for that reason alone, they should haul down their flags and try to find less offensive symbols of their heritage.

I'd suggest a Confederate Army forage cap as an appropriate memorial to southern troops; it's really more emblematic of the Army itself than the oft-misused battle flag, and is less likely to piss off slaves' descendants.

[beltwaybandit]

Eric's closing sentence is interesting.

What do you believe constitutes the "more powerful"? Are you speaking about wealthy people? Or are you referring to the majority, which in the United States consists of 50.1% of those in agreement on an issue or at times 67% of those in agreement (certain congressional actions).

I think that is a critical distinction because often the lines get blurred. If a minority group demands equal opportunities...that is, the same chance to succeed as others...that is the intention of the formation documents of the country.

But if the demands go beyond...to where the argument becomes that minority groups deserve a disproportionate opportunity at the expense of others...then that crosses the line.

I'll bet that groups such as those supporting the flying of the Confederate flag believe there has been a disproportionate swing (affirmativre action, etc.) toward minority groups that extends beyond "equal opportunity".

How one defines "equal opportunity" and "equal voice" is key on this issue.

[Eric Deggans]

Lou Dobbs has said on his show that illegal immigrants are the cause of an increase in leprosy cases in the U.S. --a claim which most reputable health experts reject as a xenophobic myth. But Dobbs wouldn't disavow the claim, even when confronted with contrary evidence by 60 Minutes. thaT is the reason -- among many others -- why I mentioned him in my story.

I think the hardest thing for some white Americans to accept is the power that comes from having your culture dominate all the institutions of the country in the way that it does. But the reason special attention is paid to people of color, is because there are still insitutions in society which discriminate against them.

In a free society, you have to take care to make sure the less powerflu have an equal voice and equal opportunities.

[Jim]

Oh, come on! Bringing up Lou Dobbs again? Lou Dobbs is not anti-immigrant. He is concerned about government bureaucracy that allows big corporations to take advantage of immigration and tax loopholes that allow them to make big profits at the expense of the American worker and our tax dollars.

Many immigrants come here legally and are good decent people. Lou makes this distinction over and over. Is it fair to them to give entitlements to those who come here illegally??

On the Confederate flag, I feel it is as anti-American as displaying the Nazi flag. It's a product of backwards oriented individuals using 'heritage' as a cover for promoting seperatist views.

Also, Barack Obama is a clearly better contender than Hilary Clinton. Whether he wins or loses, we will be better off as a country to have Barack Obama as a candidate.

[beltwaybandit]

It should be no surprise that groups such as Sons of Confederate Veterans exist and feel slighted by the lack of recognition in society. This country has spent decades recognizing a variety of small segments of our overall population:

African-Americans
Hispanics
Asian-Americans
Gay-Americans
etc., etc.

I have always thought that if we truly want race to no longer be an issue, one way to start would be to cease the notion that all of these groups somehow deserve special recognition or considerastion over others, including those who think like the Confederates.

What would be wrong with everyone who lives in the U.S. just accepting the fact we are all Americans? And as Americans, we all are entitled to be treated the same way without regard to race or class or sexual prefereence or whatever else.

I know...it hasn't worked that way and people have been discriminated against.

But until the Al Sharptons of the world disappear and stop their antics, and the leaders of every other racial or gay or political special interest group also follow the Sharptons of the world out the door, nobody should be surprised that groups like the Confederate flag-flyers exist and cry for attention.

Personally, I think the idea of "proudly flying a Confederate flag" is irrelevent. They are flying the flag of a "nation"" that hardly existed and does not today. What is the point beside self-serving cries for attention?

But I am hardly surprised given the same patterns of behavior exhibited by all these other groups.

And three cheers for Barack Hussein Obama. America's first minority presidential candidate.

If he gets elected, the future will see far less focus on race, etc. in presidential election cycles.

Hopefully, just the fact he has gotten this far will help turn him into "just another candidate" over time.

[Eric Deggans]

It's about race, because the people who object to the flag do so because they feel it is a symbol of racial oppression.

And, as I tlak about in the column, even the supporters of raising the flag admit part of their impulse to do so, is because they feel a poliically correct nation pays too much attention to multicultural success and is erasing their heritage.

So yes, it is very much about race...

[Gypsy Gallardo]

Your last paragraph starts, "As with any conflict over race....," which begged the question for me - Is this about race? The one side that wants to fly the confederate flag seems to be promoting that part of the heritage that was about independence and individual freedom -both distinctly American values. Confederate history is just as much a part of our nation's history as the slave trade was. It doesn't serve anyone's interest to deny their impact and import to the nation. Let freedom ring and let the Confederate flag wave.

[Robert Woodard]

The Italian fascist group the Ultra's loves to display the Confederate battle flag as a symbol of haterd at soccer games. Every Klan rally I've ever seen on TV had the flag. Nazi's use it in conjunction with the swastika. Even if you buy the heritage argument, it doesn't mean everyone one else has to be exposed to it. The Confederacy was am armed insurection. Imagine the chaos if the same states decided to seceed over states rights issues today. They would rightfully be branded as traitors and probably executed. The Civil War might not have been about slavery but the waving of the Confederate flag as a means to intimidate blacks, Jews and others is unquestionable. People demanded Barack Obama denounce Jeremiah Wright for offensive comments but the Sons of Confederate Soldiers are always hidden and silent about issues of race. I have a good friend who had the flag in his house. Seeing my shocked reaction, he explained the heritage argument. He never displayed that flag in public because he was sensitive to the feelings of those with negative histories with the flag. Others should follow his example.