|
>I'm not trying to come at
>you wild but I get
>angry when I hear people
>try to dissemble about the
>confederacy. Any symbol of
>the confederacy is and will
>always be a symbol of
>slavery. True the confederacy
>was fighting for states rights,
>the states rights to own
>slaves. If there was
>no slavery issue there would
>never have been a confederacy,
>slavery was the one and
>only issue that the north
>and south had to continuosly
>comprimise on.
I never mentioned states' rights as the "cause" for the war. It is common knowledge that slavery was the primary issue for the war and the attempt at secession. I do not practice revisionist history. My contention is that the flag of the federal govt (the US) as a symbol is far more guilty of slavery, oppression, and racism than the brief history that the confederate battle flag could ever be. The vehemance towards the confederate battle flag is misguided in my opinion, because there is still a larger (and far more powerful) oppressor that is still running this place we call America.
>Maybe the confederacy would have ended slavery
>eventually but the fact of
>the matter is that slavery
>was still on the books
>when the confederacy went down,
>slavery was the reason for
>its creation, so therefore the
>confederacy will always till the
>end of the U.S. represent
>slavery.
The US was built on the backs of slaves. I find it hard to pin the blame solely on the failed govt of the confederacy when the federal US govt promoted, maintained, and encouraged slavery in America from its inception.
>>the US goverment has supported slavery
>>since its inception and de facto slavery
>>through segregation and Jim Crow Laws.
>
>This argument conveniently glides over the
>fact that the US government
>only supported slavery at its
>inception because the damn slave
>states that made up the
>confederacy would not have formed
>a union without it. Thomas
>Jefferson, regardless of himself owning
>slaves, wanted to abolish slavery
>in the constitution but was
>overruled by the south.
He was also overruled by many northern delegates as well. The north is just as notoriously racist as the south is.
>And the segregation and jim
>crow laws were overwhelmingly more
>manifest in the former confederate
>states than in the north.
> The north was always
>leaps and bounds ahead of
>the southern (confederate) states in
>terms of progressive legislation in
>race relations from many states
>allowing blacks to vote decades
>before the 14 and 15
>amendments to pioneering integrated schools.
No argument there except that the federal govt allowed for the de facto segregation and Jim Crow laws to continue until it became politically unfeasible to do so. Although, if you read Constitution: Fact or Fiction? by Dr. Eugene Schroeder, you might be surprised to find out that the 14th amendment was never legally adopted or ratified.
>The U.S. flag symbolized slavery
>as long as the confederate
>states were apart of it
>and pretty much ceased to
>be once they departed (the
>border states slavery days were
>already numbered ). It
>definitely ceased to be after
>the Gettysburgh address which redefined
>the war as a fight
>against slavery.
>
>>Less than 10% of southerners owned slaves.
>>Of that 10%, at least 2% of the slaveowners
>>were African.
>
>Those 10% slaveowners were the ones
>who controlled the state governments
>and made them secede.
>It is irrelevant if most
>of the confederate soldiers were
>poor and didn't own slaves.
> The majority of the
>Wermacht (German army) officers and
>soldiers were not nazis, but
>since the nazis controlled Germany,
>the Wermacht fought for the
>nazis. By the same
>token, those poor non-slaveholders were
>fighting for slavery whether they
>liked it or not.
>And why do people always
>seem to feel the need
>to point out that some
>blacks owned slaves? As if
>to say that validates it.
Two things: I can sorta see your analogy to the nazis except that the nazis had political control of the country while the confederacy barely had control of anything. To make matters worse, most of the Union generals and soldiers were unabashed racists (especially Sherman) and actually supported the slavery of Africans. Second, I made the comment about the percentages simply to show that an extremely small portion of the southern population had any real financial investment in slavery (and those are the ones who didn't have to fight in the war). Essentially most southerners who fought for the south were literally fighting to protect their homes and meager livings. By the way, nothing validates slavery or makes it acceptable.
>
>>It was a poor man's war, and thats what
>>that battle flag truly represents.
>
>No it was an oppressors' war
>and that is what the
>battle flag and all things
>confederate represent and will always
>represent. The U.S. might
>have represented slavery and oppression
>at one time, but it
>has moved and continues to
>move beyond that stigma.
>The confederacy can never remove
>itself of it.
Of course the confederacy can't remove the stigma, the confederacy was eliminated. The poor southerners caught the worst from the civil war in terms of both casualties and financial loss. Many of the large plantation owners still retained their money and political clout and kept their slaves in the form of sharecroppers. The US federal govt did very little to correct the situation. So it was a poor man's war cause the rich stayed rich and powerful.
As far as oppressors go, the greater oppressor won the war, and that was my point. To me, that greater oppressor still has more control over the course of our lives than the confederacy ever would have (especially since the confederacy didn't want a centralized power conglomerate like we have now). The US still bears the stigma of racism and slavery. In my opinion, this place (the US) has not made the kind of attempts at rectifying the situation that it created and allowed to flourish. I hope this clarification will explain my unpopular opinion of not caring about the confederate battle flag or anything it could represent because the US govt's flag is the longest flying symbol of oppression, slavery, and racism that America has ever seen.
>Peace to Okayplayers
Agreed. Peace, Love, and Respect.
Thanks for reading. I love you.
don't be fkn evil.
|
Printer-friendly copy 
Email this topic to a friend
Okay Activist Archives
ost Sinkers Anonamous OK(psa)
