I'll be honest, I just don't buy it.
I don't understand the pickup trucks I see, adorned with Confederate flags, flapping in the wind like some kind of trophy. I can't bring myself to side up with this aspect that the Confederate flag has no hate behind it, and that is simply is a symbol of "heritage" in the South. I can't begin to comprehend why a flag has gained so much attention in the past few weeks than it has ever has in my lifetime.
I'm Black, 21, a woman, and I was born here in the South. I've lived in Alabama all 21 of those years, and I've seen more Confederate flags waving in my face at the neighborhood Walmart this week than I have ever seen before. I was raised up on fish frys and sweet tea, deep Baptist values, chitterlin's and turnip greens. My parents said "ice water" and "y'all" like it was an embedded vocabulary, and I've never not known not to touch the thermostat.
Aside from my own political views, I pretty much enjoy being '"Merican" and all the privileges I have that come along with it.
I've been a Southerner all of my life, and I can't have any Southern pride. Especially if it means bestowing said pride in a flag.
I don't know a lot of things about the Civil War, but I think that the North won. The outcomes of it were that the Confederate Army surrendered, and freedom of the slaves became realized. I remember my history teachers saying a lot of people were killed, and that artillery at the time was scarce. I know that Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, had been elected president, and that he was in the favor of the abolishing of slavery. I read up that the Confederate flag was mainly supported by those who were pro-slavery, and the creator of it was indeed the ringleader of the pro-slavery movement. I recall that Jefferson Davis was the leader of the Confederate Army, and that the South only had a Confederate Army organized because they had seceded from the nation.
I also understand that just about a few weeks ago, a man who posed in pictures with this same flag committed a racially charged crime.
I respect the lives taken in the Civil War, as any good American would, but I can't have any pride about being Southern if having faith and honor in a flag is what that's going to mean.
The point is this: we are more than where we are from and the history that has happened here. We are more than being "Southern" and being proud of a heritage that most of us were not even alive for. Not to disrespect your great-aunts and great-uncles, but isn't the concept a bit silly?
Heritage and pride do not get a soul into heaven.
While you're waving your flags, there is so much charity to be done. There is someone who needs to talk to you, and someone who needs you to pray for them. There are small groups at church that need organizing, or a person in need of a smile. At the expense of holding onto false teachings and a stubborn lifestyle that your parents made you grow up on, what about growing on the teachings of a God who wants you to do nothing less than love other people?
There is a pride to be had in making someone happy, loving them, and understanding them. I won't buy into this Southern pride thing until someone shows me that they can sincerely do both.
A flag on the back of your pickup truck, with so much nasty history behind it, could be hurting the driver behind you.
A flag you choose to stand by could be keeping people away from you, or keeping people guessing about the kind of person you are socially, or when it comes to people of color.
I've never been one to be about fads and trends, but this is one that's caught my eye so much because I am literally forced to look at it. This flag seems to have so many followers and fanatics and people willing to congregate to ride major highways flying them freely.
Even if they cause confusion, hurt, or sadness.
Folks are angry and hurt about the support of this Southern "emblem," and no one is saying anything. Folks are trying to have the flag removed from major capitals down South, and some are still protesting to keep it raised.
As a Christian woman in this day of Southern pride and "'Mericaism," I can only wonder what would happen if we put this much faith, firmness, and righteousness in the Bible, and doing to others what it says to do.
