How about now?
Ok, now that everyone has had a chance to guess, I will tell you.
My professor is lecturing about Kant again today. Yay. I'm so excited...
NOT.
But that's not what I want to rant about tonight. No. My rant tonight is about something slightly more rant-worthy.
For those of you who don't recognize the above flag, it is the flag carried into battle by the armies of the Confederate States of America. President Lincoln called them rebels. This is true, the Confederate States was made up of men in open rebellion to the Union (even die-hard Confederates can't deny this). While this flag is not the official flag of the Confederate government, it is the more recognized symbol of the states that seceded. As such, it still causes a lot of mixed feelings. These mixed feelings are really the heart of the issue that I want to discuss. While this may seem to be a random rant, I assure you that it is not. The reason for this is as follows. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War. That means that 150 years ago from January, the first few Southern states, led by South Carolina, passed articles of Secession from the Union. March 4th was 150 years after President Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated. 6 days from today, April 12, 2011, will be 150 years after CSA General Beauregard gave the order to open fire on the Union-held Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. As such, historians and rich people around the nation are holding galas and events and what not in honor of this anniversary. In addition, my university library is setting up a display case that is full of memorabilia from the war. From weapons to marbles, the majority of the items in the display were donated by one of the university's professors. He has spent most of his life collecting items and artifacts from battlefields and antique shops. To add flavor and historical authenticity, the professor gave us a flag, much like the one pictured above. This professor came from Virginia, so it makes sense for him to have such a flag. We were left with a dilemma. You see, no one knew where to procure a Union flag from. We certainly couldn't just get a modern-day flag (50 stars looks a lot different than 34). But we wanted to use the Confederate flag because it took up a nice amount of space in the case, and it added a lot of color and life to the display. Now, I was the one in charge of the display, and I am a historian at heart (and I have a minor in history). So, I decided to go ahead and put it in the display case. Obviously it had to be centered, being that we just had a single flag. I had the professor, who donated all the stuff, look at the finished display, and he said it looked good. Then, I had my boss look at it. He liked it too. I felt good about it (if you know me, you probably realize how unusual it is for me to actually like something that I do...). Two days after the display was finished, my boss approached me and told me that there was a problem. People had come to him and informed him that our display was racist. Racist. The flag was the problem. I stared at him with a look of disbelief. I wasn't promoting slavery! It's just a flag from the time period. A non-racist professor had donated it (Do you know how I know that the professor is non-racist? He's one of the leading professors in the biblical counseling department at my university). This story ends with me being a good worker and taking the flag down. I wouldn't want people to think that, by honoring a historical event with historical items, I am racist.
And this leads me into my rant. The Civil War (and the brief existence of the Confederacy) was 150 years ago. 150 years ago. That's a long time. 150 years ago, cars weren't even invented. Horses and trains were the main forms of transportation. European nations still controlled large parts of Asia and Africa. The United States of America was a completely different place. There weren't 50 states and several territories. We weren't seen as a superpower or the global policeman. Southerners still had strong English accents. Men viewed themselves as being citizens of their state first and foremost. The Army was formed mostly from state militias. Slavery was prevalent on Southern plantations. Slavers and Abolitionists fought (literally fought) over the issue of slavery in the territories. The West was largely wild and unsettled. And then, Abraham Lincoln, a known proponent of abolishing slavery was elected to the Presidency. Several Southern states felt that their states' rights were about to be violated. Thus, in the interest of preserving their way of life and keeping to the traditions of their forefathers, they seceded from the Union. They were certainly not going to be a part of a nation that abused its constituents and destroyed their economic systems (and it would have. The Southern states had little in the way of industry and were wholly dependent on exporting the agricultural goods that were grown on large plantations. They were able to produce vast quantities of cotton and tobacco because of the supply of labor. It took Southern states decades to recover after slavery was finally abolished). So they rebelled. In full knowledge that they were breaking the Union. It was their belief that they were in the right. They were rebels, but then, so were their forefathers. They feared the growing power of the central government, just like George Washington, John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and all the rest did. 150 years ago, there was a war fought between two sides that were formerly one. Best friends, brothers, fathers and sons, members of the same church, all had to choose sides. And at times, they made opposing choices. They fought each other. They killed each other. There were more than 600,000 war-related deaths between the two sides. More Americans died in the American Civil War than in any other conflict that our nation has been a part of. Northerners died fighting to preserve the Union, and Southerners died trying to preserve their traditions. In the end, the South lost to the greater industrial might of the Federal government. Slavery was abolished. The Confederate States of America would fade into the dusty annals of history. Or would it? Surely this dark time in our nation's history could be put to rest now that so many men had given their lives for victory. Sadly, breaking people from their habits is difficult. And yes, there were more dark times ahead for the United States. Southerners were loathe to admit that black people (this is not meant to be a demeaning term. If you have a problem with it, don't call me a white person.) deserved to be allowed to lead normal lives. Citizens' rights were abused, people were abused (and sometimes murdered), laws were broken. The Jim Crow mentality set in. So, things did not always get immediately better for black citizens. But the fact remains, that things could start to get better. Now, I have never been persecuted. Furthermore, being a white guy, my people have never really, truly been persecuted (unless you count the religious persecutions that led to the colonization of the New World). So, I can't relate. But, consider this. Men died to end slavery. Not just men, white men. White men saw that there was a gross injustice, and they gave their lives in an effort to right the wrongs. Why can't we focus on that? Why do so many people seem intent on bringing back the horrors of slavery. I get it, slavery was awful. People were treated worse than cattle. It was wrong. It was a great injustice. But it was ended by brave men. Brave white men. Stop worrying about racism and start figuring out a way move on. It's not racist to place historical artifacts in a tasteful display that honors the sacrifices of hundreds of thousands of courageous men (note, if you are a feminist, I use the term men to refer to men. The army did not allow women to fight in battle at this time. Therefore, the vast majority of casualties were men). It's racist to throw a Confederate flag wrapped around a rock through the window of a black person. That's wrong. But the flag itself is merely a symbol of the Confederate armies. And guess what? A lot of the men who fought and died in the war on the Confederate side were normal guys who didn't own slaves. They were called to fight to save their homelands from, what they viewed as, a foreign invasion. The Confederate battle flag is not a symbol for racism. It is a symbol for a rebellion that was defeated.
~The Piebald Penguin
