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At a recent rally of hundreds of Confederate-flag supporters in Hillsborough, N.C. Some people, mainly Southerners, steadfastly argue that the Confederate flag is about history and brave rebellion, even that it has been misappropriated by the Klan. Still, years later, I understand on a visceral level, as countless African Americans in South Carolina and elsewhere also do, that the Confederate flag’s power rests in its symbolism and its long and inextricable association with slavery, racism and national terrorism. One year later and a one-hour drive from my house trailer, members of the KKK and the American Nazi Party killed five participants, including another Duke graduate, in an anti-Klan rally. Terrified that my identity would be unearthed and terrified by the hatefulness of the imagery. The crowd watching chanted "U-S-A" as the flag was folded. The South Carolina state government held a ceremony to take down the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds July 10. Intrepid, if not naive, a few nights later I witnessed a cross-burning and a display of Confederate flags in support of white supremacy and nationalism. Among the many things he didn’t know about his tenant was that I am gay and Jewish. Before long, the husband confided to me that he was a Ku Klux Klan member and invited me to a rally. I rented a mobile home from a middle-aged white couple who took a shine to me. In 1978, I graduated from Duke University and took a summer job with a county health department in rural North Carolina. However, there’s an inherent problem in your logic: The history and symbolism of the flags could not be more different the responses they evoke - or provoke - even more disparate. Or, why not just split the difference and fly both (which is how I interpret “grin and bear it”). Both the Confederate and rainbow flags are offensive to some, therefore, the two flags should be treated the same. All of which takes us directly to questions of civility and history. On a white supremacist Web site, the accused gunman, Dylann Roof, was pictured holding a Confederate flag. The recent controversy has been mainly about the display of the Confederate flag not in private venues, but on public buildings and grounds such as the South Carolina statehouse, in the wake of the June killings at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C.
#Burning american flag vs burning gay flag free#
No one is saying that you can’t fly the Confederate flag, or any flag of your choosing - that’s your right to free expression. Who gets to decide which flag is allowed to fly and which ones can’t? I say grin and bear it. I challenge them to find a flag that better protects and represents them as a people.Dear Civilities: It sure seems like hypocrisy to say we can’t fly the Rebel flag because it offends people, when you fly the gay flag, which certainly offends lots of people.
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Those responsible claim “That flag does not represent us, in no way.” That’s fine English. The burning (or any other form of desecration/destruction) of The American Flag should be considered the destruction of Federal property and those responsible, treated accordingly.
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I believe that ANY image of The American Flag should be legally labeled Federal property. But how does burning The American Flag help to do anything other than disrespect the memory of those who sacrificed their life so that ass-holes like the group in front of the Staten Island precinct can burn the flag without consequence? The circumstances of his death are both tragic and unacceptable in The United States of America. They lack the ability to realize that The Flag and the people who have sacrificed their life for it, are the reason they can burn it without consequence.ĭayshen McKenzie died of an asthma attack after being chased by a group of white and Hispanic teens screaming racial slurs and threatening to shoot him. It is ignorance at its best by the people who do it. I view this behavior as an act of defiant treason. Few things infuriate me more than the burning of The American Flag.