It Is All Dixie’s Fault

Unfortunately, we are living in perilous times where it seems almost every week a new tragedy is being reported.  From domestic terrorist attacks to school shootings and now this past week to another church shooting in South Carolina. 

What these all have in common, besides them being carried out by those who practice ignorance, is how the media spins these events to take the focus away from the real problem.  Instead they place the spotlight on something the media wants the people to believe is the real issue. 

Take for example the South Carolina shooting in a church which congregation consists mostly of African-Americans.

Allow me to take a detour real quick.  I despise identifying churches as a “white church” or a “black church”.  The last time I read the Bible, and I admit it has been awhile, we are ALL supposed to worship as one.  There is to be no racial divide amongst God’s people.  Perhaps therein lies the first problem.

Returning to the main road of discussion, the focus of the blame for this shooting has gone the usual route: 

·         Where did this shooter come from?  Seems reasonable.  We need to know the motive behind a person who would carry out such an act.

·         What were his parents like?  Again, somewhat reasonable.  Maybe his parents were poor parents.

·         Why do we not have stronger gun control?  Anytime a mass shooting occurs this old debate comes up.  My problem with gun laws is they inevitably take guns away from law abiding people.  Why?  Because the whole point of being a criminal is they do not follow the law. 

·         This is all the Confederate Flag’s fault.  Wait.  What?!

Major props to the media for coming up with something new and creative to play the blame game and spin people away from the real issue at hand.  Gun control debate is tired.  Let us talk about a flag which was used one way at one time but has become something else in modern times.  Let us focus on this issue and run it like wildfire and meanwhile no one is talking about the real issue.

After all, I am writing this blog entirely about the Confederate Flag being banned now.  I am not talking about the killer.  That is who we should be talking about.  However, because my Facebook is being flooded with those who are just lapping up the milk the media gives them, here I am writing about this ridiculous issue.

I could go into the real history behind the Confederate Flag.  Why bother though?  No matter what I say about it being not a flag about preserving slavery but instead about preserving state rights, there will be those liberal die-hards and Abraham Lincoln loving, self-righteous eagles who will go on the offensive to retort me. 

I could say the Civil War was fought because the Union did not like the South being economically independent of the North.  However, a country cannot get the backing for a war because the government has their panties in a wad about economics (that is until George W. Bush became President).  So President Lincoln became the precursor to FOX News and spun a little web about this being about freeing the slaves.

Do not misunderstand me.  The slaves needed to be freed.  No person should ever live their life indentured to another human being.  No person should ever be treated as if they were some mindless animal.  No person should ever be used to gain success for another person and not be adequately paid for it.  However, the Civil War was not about that at all.  Do your own research though.  I am not going to spoon feed you.

The issue I have with the call to ban the Confederate Flag because it “represents racism” is when are we going to ban the Stars and Stripes?

I can already hear the guns cocking, the pickup trucks roaring to life, the eagles screeching towards my house, and chewing tobacco being spat in my direction for asking such a question.  Before everyone in this so-called nation of God attacks me, allow me the chance to explain myself.  Not soon after the American Revolutionary War which separated us from British rule and after our government was instituted, the original flag waved across the land as troops were sent to forcefully move Indians off the land they had occupied long before America ever became an idea.  If they did not move peacefully then the newly created American Army executed them.  All this while the Founding Fathers were quoting the Bible.  If the Confederate Flag represents racism, then does not the Stars and Stripes represent genocide?  Treachery?  Deceit?

This occurred soon after the formation of the American government but our history is filled with numerous times the Army being sent to kill Indians time and time again.  Treaties were made between the government and the tribes only for the same treaties to be broken.  Read about the Sand Creek Massacre as an example of this deceit.  Time and time again, while killing and forcefully relocating Indians, the Stars and Stripes flew.  If committing mass genocide was not enough, the American government instituted assimilation training to completely eradicate the Native American culture.  All the while the American flag, Old Glory, the Stars and Stripes flew.  If we are going to ban the Confederate Flag because it supposedly represents racism, then why are we not banning the Red, White, and Blue when it clearly represents mass genocide, assimilation, and racism itself?

I love Old Glory.  As I write this I remind myself I need to purchase a replacement flag for the stand I have outside.  I am not writing this to say we need to burn the American flag.  I spent twelve years defending it in the Army.  However, I do believe in common sense.  I do believe in truth.  I do believe in calling a spade a spade and challenging the idiocy perpetrated by our government, the media, and those who follow along.

I brought this point up on Facebook but I will bring it up here for those who are not my Facebook friends.  It is funny to me, but also annoying, that American Christians will cry for the banning of the Confederate flag because of the implied negativity of the symbol, and yet Christians wear a symbol upon their neck or hang it in their church and/or homes of a device used for torture and execution.  I am referring to, of course, the cross.  I wonder how many people living today have ancestors who were hung on the cross and sentenced to a cruel death.  Perhaps these people should demand the cross to be banned as well. 

I should bring this point up now that comparing the Confederate flag to the Nazi flag is illogical to say the least.  The Nazi flag is a clear symbol of hate, genocide, and ignorance.  It was designed by a man whose sole self-appointed purpose in life was to exterminate an entire group of people.  Though I can point out how the American flag was carried into Indian land as they were killed and/or forcefully relocated, I know the flag does not represent the original message of this country.  I also know the original intent of the South to secede was not to keep their slaves.  Therefore, in my opinion and based on common sense the Confederate flag cannot represent racism.

The word racism keeps popping up in my writing.  That should be the focus.  It should not be about banning the Confederate flag or banning General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard.  The focus should be on racism.  What can we do about it?  What can we do as human beings to eradicate it?  How can we bridge the gap? 

Until these questions are answered, or at the very least attempted to be answered, then no amount of banning symbols will amount to anything.  Until we quit separating ourselves in how we worship, how we love, whom we love, and whom we call brothers and sisters, then racism will continue to strive.  Yes, we should note our differences.  Our differences make us unique.  Different cultures make a beautiful rainbow of the human race.  However, our differences should not divide us.  They should bring us together.

Until next time…