It's been a long time since I posted here and ya'll are probably thinking, who cares what that damn Yankee thinks. I have had a home in Sowal for 12 years and now many Sowalers are close friends. I have come to love the Southern “culture”, for lack of a better word. To me, that's sitting on the porch with y'all having a sweet tea, grits, hospitality , “yes, ma'am, no, ma'am” and a politeness taught by their Momma to not tell me they don't give a rat's toot what I think.
It took a while and some understanding of the Civil War (they teach it differently in NY for obvious reasons) to understand Southern Pride. To me, that is some of all y'all's relatives who may have fought in that war and in your mind, (since many do not want to acknowledge that the motivation had anything to do with slavery, to give y'all the benefit of the doubt, what I see is a pride that people rose up against the government against what they felt was oppression. So, this flag is a very powerful symbol to some. Flags are, and most Southerners I know, more so than Northerners, join our military and will fight to the death to protect our Country and flag.
So, I truly do not understand that if those who cite Southern pride and the oppression they fought against, do not understand how to some, especially African Americans, how that flag could be oppressive to them and a constant reminder of that time in our history and more so, the aftermath of inequality in this Country. It's the opposite of what people feel who immigrated to this Country at Ellis Island and saw the American flag for the first time. No, they didn't arrive in NY and see a Union Flag flying next to the flag of the US of A. I don't think I have ever seen one, either.
I see no problem with displaying it pridefully at a Confederate Memorial or in a museum. But, to display it and hoist it without regard outside of public government office buildings, where State and Federal business is transacted and no longer embodies our ideals, seems counterproductive to being a Union.