Walton County Votes to Keep Confederate Flag Flying

[Jenksy]

I applaud Walton County for keeping the Confederate Flag and the Confederate Monuments. I realize my perspective as a white male will be different than those who have not had the privileges of my gender and race. I think it all depends on perspective. Both Robert Johnson (founder of BET) and Daryl Davis (blues musician) would likely agree with Walton County. Vandalizing and/or removing monuments does nothing to improve racism, does not erase the sins of slavery or the slaughter of a people and their culture and fails to impact the economic equality of the African American or Native American. So I accept that my opinion holds very little value but the majority opinion in this county does have value in our representative democracy. I also expect that one day ALL the Confederate Monuments and Flags will be gone but I hope it will not be in my life time because my perspective is what it is...

Seems like every time there is a post about the confederate flag a few people come out of the woodwork. Is there a dog whistle attached to this site?

 

[30A Skunkape]

The Sun is going to engulf Earth in about 5 billion years. I predict the flag will come down then. Prior to that, outlook not so good.

 

[mputnal]

Jensky, I was wondering the exact same thing

 

[Logan Anderson]

What battlefield was Puppet Tony referring to? He probably thought he was voting to get lunch delivered.

There was a skirmish in Eucheeanna and I would guess he is referring to that.

 

[ShallowsNole]

How many here have actually visited the Memorial aka Monument? Read the last names, many of which if you went to school in Walton County or even read the DeFuniak Herald will look familiar to you?
I can see where the flag might be divisive, although it certainly wasn't to most of us that grew up with it. But there is nothing remotely racist or divisive about the Memorial. Before you say they were fighting to keep slavery, no, they were not. Most folks in Walton County were too poor to have slaves. Rather, they were either forced to join OR they joined to keep the Union forces at bay, who were known to pillage and burn everything in their path, in order to protect their homes and families.
Personally, I am much more concerned for the monument than I am the flag, as the flag was added in 1964. Unlike memorials constructed in recent years, it is very old and brittle and attempts to move it would likely destroy it. It is no less important that the memorials for any other war we've ever been in. When I say we, I mean Florida. We've been Spanish, we've been British, we've been Confederate. And now once and for all, we are in the USA - but do not destroy our history.

 

[WaltonParent]

Anyone know when the Confederate flag started flying over at the courthouse? If Walton County is like most other Southern counties, it started flying around the time of Brown v. Board of Education or the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. So for 100 years after the war, it did not fly. It flies now because it was a way for racist Southerners to show their displeasure with the federal government's efforts to end segration and discrimination. On another note, their are lots of German Nazis who died in WW2. Ever see monuments to them in Germany, or Nazi flags flying on courthouses? What's the difference?

 

[jodiFL]

The people that want to destroy history have no desire to learn from it. To me they are no different than the Islamic State that has been on a mission from day one to destroy ancient archeological heritage sites no matter what the worth. I believe the term "cultural genocide" and "war crimes" have been tossed around when it happens elsewhere in the world but its ok here because they hurt someones feelings.

 

[WaltonParent]

The people that want to destroy history have no desire to learn from it. To me they are no different than the Islamic State that has been on a mission from day one to destroy ancient archeological heritage sites no matter what the worth. I believe the term "cultural genocide" and "war crimes" have been tossed around when it happens elsewhere in the world but its ok here because they hurt someones feelings.

We remember the holocaust without statues to Nazis or flying the Nazi flag. Instead we build memorials to the victims of Nazism and vow not to let it happen again. Maybe we should try the same thing with slavery and discrimination.

 

[redfisher]

How many here have actually visited the Memorial aka Monument? Read the last names, many of which if you went to school in Walton County or even read the DeFuniak Herald will look familiar to you?
I can see where the flag might be divisive, although it certainly wasn't to most of us that grew up with it. But there is nothing remotely racist or divisive about the Memorial. Before you say they were fighting to keep slavery, no, they were not. Most folks in Walton County were too poor to have slaves. Rather, they were either forced to join OR they joined to keep the Union forces at bay, who were known to pillage and burn everything in their path, in order to protect their homes and families.
Personally, I am much more concerned for the monument than I am the flag, as the flag was added in 1964. Unlike memorials constructed in recent years, it is very old and brittle and attempts to move it would likely destroy it. It is no less important that the memorials for any other war we've ever been in. When I say we, I mean Florida. We've been Spanish, we've been British, we've been Confederate. And now once and for all, we are in the USA - but do not destroy our history.

….Crawling out of the woodwork....

I agree with Robert Johnson that it does nothing to improve things. It's the latest hit-and-run outrage, soon to be forgotten when Facebook goes down or they close Whole Foods.

CNN's Van Jones says 'white, liberals' are more worrisome than the KKK | Daily Mail Online

 

[30A Skunkape]

We remember the holocaust without statues to Nazis or flying the Nazi flag. Instead we build memorials to the victims of Nazism and vow not to let it happen again. Maybe we should try the same thing with slavery and discrimination.

Please tell me how the monument in Defuniak (not the flag that was put up decades later) does anything but recall the memories of several local young men who died in an ill advised war? If you have not actually looked at the structure and engravings, do as ShallowsNole suggested and go see it. It is NOT the typical CSA monument you assume it to be.