For America to counteract the deep underlying illness that has made Trumpism possiblewill require a long-term cultural and moral reckoning. ), Schools are not teaching history the right way, he says. It goes like this: Police kill a person. Surely the flags defenders will proffer other, muddier, interpretations which allow them the luxury of looking away. To many white people in the south and beyond, the Confederate flag is a sign of historic pride and defiance to whatever is currently called liberalism; to most black Americans, the flag stands for white supremacy and racial violence. The force is organized with military precision and often military equipment. Many defected to segregated union camps. Johnson, CEO of the NAACP, says he wishes poor whites would recognize how powerful politicians have long played racial politics with Confederate emblems a deliberate strategy to divide them from people with shared economic interests. The law requires the flag to be hoisted 30 feet from the ground, illuminated at night, and surrounded by "an appropriate decorative iron fence." Insecure, frightened men (and the occasional woman) participating in fascist violence find a sense of agency, of individual power and meaning, a sort of orgasmic release from a life of ordinariness and political impotence. Yet the Confederate battle flagthe flag of Dylann Roofstill flies on the Capitol grounds in Columbia. Other slogans on flags, clothing or signs . According to Jacob, the blue line both divides and saves: It separates the black stripes representing civilians above it from the black stripes below it, which represent criminals, a distinct category from people worthy of protection. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Roslyn Stuart is an employee at Flag Heads in Seminary, Mississippi. I go to see and share the bitter end , I have ever held the South were right. Trump and his followers were loud, exuberant and enthusiastic on Jan. 6. After driving north along the lonely stretch of Highway 49 through Delta plantation lands, we end up in Larry McCluney Jrs attic in Greenwood. The first cut of the film also showed Lindy and husband, Ira Isonhood, flying the Confederate battle flag on a 20ft pole in the backyard of one of their homes. For those who embrace violence, the ability to see those that embrace evil comes through as clear as a beautiful desert sky after that rare torrential downpour. His own ancestors sacrifice is paramount. The treatment is removal of exposure. The civil rights movement didn't change the flag's meaning it simply made the hate underlying the heritage more explicit. Asmediacritic Eric Boehlertrecently noted,the liberal opinion site Living Blue in Texas is sounding the alarm about the specific meaning of the black flag and the Republican-fascistssupport for terrorism and other political violence. Its message had just become less respectable. Just a point of history Prior to Roofs massacre, the South Carolina NAACP had waged a 15-year boycott against the state for its [Confederate] flag display, Johnson says. Our disgust for the dastardly wretch can scarcely be uttered, fumed a former governor of South Carolina, the state where secession began. In the 1960's civil rights movement, division existed between black leaders who sought to use peaceful protest to effect change (most notably pastor Martin Luther King, Jr.) and those, like the. To this point, theDemocratic Party and the political and news media classin general have remained in denial, and largely passive in response. When such wounded individuals are given positions of power, they arouse similar pathology in the population that creates a "lock and key" relationship. If we cant get white people to stand together, its going to be another civil war, he adds. Yet, Heaven knows, no one would be willing to do more for the negro race than I, could I but see a way to still better their condition. Then Johnson turns to Roof: All of the views and racial hatred symbols that informed his opinion walked into that church with him. If you can put a rebel flag on it, they do: beach towels, BBQ aprons, windshield dice, coasters, flip-flops, polar fleeces, bikinis, umbrellas and more. His father sent a note back with no groceries. Take Down the Confederate Flag - The Atlantic Give a last-minute gift with a lasting impact. Such a stark symbolic contrast reminds us that our nation's long-standing cultural embrace that equates guns with liberty ignores the degree to which gun violence has historically also meant. Most of the soldiers were young a fifth were under 18 and few owned any of the 4 million slaves in the US. Two supporters are seen wearing orholding Kek Flags, an alt-right symbol. That week, a Thin Blue Line flag was raised defiantly above the Brooklyn Center Police Department building in Minnesota. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for NFQ Embrace Violence Flag at the best online prices at eBay! The educator points to Roofs horrible, horrible 2015 massacre of black worshippers and his viral photo holding the Confederate flag as inciting a war on the emblem. A photo soon emerged of him holding a Confederate flag. Violence transcends the quirks of philosophy, religion, technology and cultureIts time to quit worrying and learn to love the battle axe. t was 1957 when little Lindy Lubys great-uncle showed up at her house near Benton. Their hands would tremble, fearing that their actions have brought upon them the wrath of God. Barnes, 66, beams as he hands us his SCV card with Nathan Bedford Forrest, the wealthy Memphis slave trader and first KKK grand wizard, pictured on the front. Theres also a civil war chess set. "In the first phase, tension builds and a . The National Guard was brought in. Copyright 2023 Salon.com, LLC. [My father] was prejudiced, Ira says. They're angry. Enjoy.. Pipes fill a glass case, and we avoid the curtained adult room. By the time Mississippi embedded it into its new state flag in 1894, the flag was used to both honor the Confederate dead as well as a romanticized version of the wars purpose. I add that the division most hurts poor whites and people of color. Kek Flags Supporters of President Trump storm the United States Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington DC. How much more do we need to do?. Move forward. The matter is especially raw in Mississippi, a state that suffered tremendous Confederate casualties and went from being the richest state from slavery before the civil war to one of the poorest. It was poor white southerners who fought in these battles, being strung along by rich, property-owning whites who banked on the ignorance and arrogance of the poor whites to fight and die in the war, Be says. Larry McCluney Jrs home office. At first, white Southerners mostly displayed it at Civil War cemeteries and at memorials and veterans' reunions. That use of the flag is the crux of the "heritage, not hate" argument: that the Confederate flag is simply about honoring the South's past, its dead, and its culture. When Southern states gave the flags pride of place in their capitols, it was to signal support for segregation. In fact, Frederick Douglass called Lincoln preeminently the white mans president, entirely devoted to the welfare of white men.. A year of protest against police violence, and brutal counterprotest by the police in the name of public order, had reportedly little impact on a system of policing built around a core of violence. You wont find it at Wal*Mart, a large sign proclaims, reminding shoppers that the retailer dropped Confederate merchandise within a week of Roofs massacre. While it includes the saltire, or Southern Cross, it never included the full battle flag. As, However you interpret these videos posted byTrump followers and otherneofascists which couldbe mainly performative , And a new poll from the University of Virginia's Center for Politics even suggests that, During an interview withMSNBC'sJoy Reid,terrorism and national security expert Malcolm Nance said that Cawthorn's video"picks up on the themes that are not just coming from the Steve Bannon level and Donald Trump level, they are coming from theRepublican street and that Republican street is armed. During an interview with Scientific American magazine, Dr. Bandy Lee, the principal editor of the 2017 bestseller"The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump," explained how a mentally pathological leader can "infect"hisfollowers and perhaps even an entire nation: I have outlined two major emotional drives: narcissistic symbiosis and shared psychosis. On Sunday, at a rally in Colorado, Mr. Trump proudly held up a rainbow flag with the words "LGBT for Trump" written on it to a cheering crowd of thousands. Its a symbol of our state; its who we are., She continues: Northern people were down here trying to burn all our stuff true; the Yankees torched Jackson three times and we were trying to stop them They didnt think it was right we had slaves. 0:57. The American Flag is positioned on the left, slightly higher than the Thin Blue Line flag. For be my motive good or bad, of one thing I am sure, the lasting condemnation of the North. The flag was moved from the Capitol dome to the most prominent spot on the Capitol grounds, near a monument to Confederate soldiers. She worries that young people now think the flag stands for the KKK. The SCV is correct, though, that Lincoln did not initially call for emancipation. Were not a violent organization. Made in the USA . They said it should be left up to South Carolina, a position for which McCain later apologized. And the new story was more flattering to the South. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. They are met by massed and prepared force. Everyone should have the right to purchase and display symbols for themselves on private property, but [not force the flag to] represent all citizens of any particular community, Johnson says, because they dont. The Havok Journal is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Sitting there, they see clearly what those who reject violence are blind to, that the evil they face is real and it is most definitely coming. Slavery was sidelined as the war's primary cause in favor of the vaguer term "state's rights" (the right to own slaves). Each day passing as the last, each day taken for granted with little to no thought about how fortunate they really are for having in their lives, those that embrace violence. In 1863, the editor of the. It's this kind of use of the Confederate flag that has made it a cultural marker, shorthand not just for the Confederacy but for a specific strain of white Southern culture. Here is what I had to say about ISIS back in July 2014: Id bring fear and death to them all! 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