What kind of a person uses the confederate flag as their avatar on a high school football board.

[BlueTea]

The confederate battle flag was the symbol of Robert E. Lee’s Army. It was defiantly flown by people who thought black people were less than human and were property to be bought and sold. It was flown by people willing to divide the country because they believed it was moral to force people to work without pay. It is the symbol of people who wanted to preserve a “state’s right” to allow white people to beat black people, rape black women and break up black families because they were “property.”

Late in the civil war, when blacks were allowed to fight in the Union Army, people flying the confederate flag would take take northern soldiers prisoner while killing the “******s” on the spot. (their words, not mine)

The confederate flag was used heavily by the KKK starting in the 20th century. The KKK are self-described white-supremacists and segregationists who often use the bible to rationalize the lynching and terrorizing of black Americans.

In the modern era, the confederate flag started to really become popular among people who opposed voting and civil rights for black Americans. In 1948 it was flown by members of the State’s Rights Democratic Party whose platform expressly advocated “the separation of the races. (Article 4)

All of these things are common knowledge. I think it is more than reasonable that African Americans find the flag offensive. I am offended by the flag and white people who justify their support of shoving the flag in people’s faces under some revisionist version of history.

Since the confederate battle flag will forever be associated with the domination and segregation of black people I can only conclude that someone flaunting it on a high school football board supports those things deep in their heart.

Perhaps he wants to divide high school football into white and black teams.

 

[Mobhits]

 

[youjustme]

BlueTea, The issue is that in addition to the points you mentioned, that flag also has historical reference to a way of life that although predicated and supported by slavery, encompassed much more than just that singular aspect of the South at that time. When folks say "Heritage not Hate" there is some truth to that. I have never been offended by the Confederate flag because regardless of what someone's motivation is for flying, adopting, or embracing it may be, only I can give it power to mean anything negative to me. If I don't empower it, it has no power. It's just that simple. If that flag comforts someone's spirit by evoking thoughts of a gentile southern era with all it's charm (despite, of course, the underlying injustices) then so be it. I won't let that impact me or my peace of mind. Someone displaying the Confederate flag may be orders of magnitude LESS racist than the next poster who has flowers and kittens (I was going to say rainbows, but didn't want to generate another discussion!) as his avatar. I appreciate your obvious passion around this subject but for many people, it is a non-issue.

 

[BlueTea]

youjustme...

There are many wonderful things in the south and I believe many southerners do view the flag as a symbol of the place they love separate from its troubled history. Of course many also use it intentionally as an endorsement of racism. I asked my question in the context of putting the confederate flag on a high school football board. This is not about people displaying the flag in their home or truck or in a country bar.

I think you would would be hard pressed to find any African American having warm and fuzzy feelings about the confederate flag for all the reasons I mentioned. That was a short list of what could be said. I stated it is more than reasonable to understand why black people find the flag offensive.

A large percentage of the people playing HS football in Delaware are African American. If they come on this board they are forced to see the stars and bars all over the place because that guy posts so often. It shows at best a complete lack of empathy or thought. The guy with the flag is probably more repsonsible for the low participation rate on the board than anyone else. I know some people who were very prolific posters in years past who just got tired of that guy interjecting himself into everything they posted. They simply walked away from depreps. It is also bad business to overload this board with the confederate flag. It likes flipping black people off and telling them they are not welcome here. I imagine rivals makes money based on the number of people visiting the page and he is essentially saying "no colored welcome."

 

[ravensrooster2]

BT that is a bit overstated.. I doubt folks of any color dont participate because of Jawnsky's avatar or his outlandish views or pics... Give people credit They understand he is who he is and they understand his sense of humor.. Participation is down because forums arent as hip as snap chat or twitter...

 

[Dropping 3's]

The South will never ever rise again!!!!

 

[Jawnsky]

BT that is a bit overstated.. I doubt folks of any color dont participate because of Jawnsky's avatar or his outlandish views or pics... Give people credit They understand he is who he is and they understand his sense of humor.. Participation is down because forums arent as hip as snap chat or twitter...

RR and U....I appreciate both of you pointing out what you guys did..... That said- I have changed my avatar.

RR... I would like to ask that you delete this posters thread altogether.......it is a clear violation of board rules., but that's ok-people make poor choices and mistakes. Point being is that any further continuation or discussion on his thoughts could lead to something very negative and possibly way inappropriate.

I do find it a little odd that the poster who brings this up is the same guy whose avatar was previously a picture of a person giving everyone the middle finger

 

[BlueTea]

BT that is a bit overstated.. I doubt folks of any color dont participate because of Jawnsky's avatar or his outlandish views or pics... Give people credit They understand he is who he is and they understand his sense of humor.. Participation is down because forums arent as hip as snap chat or twitter...

I know you are very sensitive about matters of race and perhaps what I said was overstated. However, I think my post was valid and timely in light of recent national events concerning the confederate flag.

I don't know if young guys have the same passion about it that middle aged black guys who were alive when MLK and Medgar Evers were shot do about this. I've talked to some of my older black friends and they are insulted to see it hanging over state capitols and the like. I can understand why as I explained.

 

[spartakos]

@RR
two Clones (old and young) bickering over this....hahaha


fight of the Nerds....

 

[ravensrooster2]

Jawnsky...I am not the moderator nor do I have access to delete posts..

 

[youjustme]

As a middle aged black man, I have no problem with such symbols. It was big of J to change his avatar, however. It was also big of BT to voice his rationale. "Oh, what a wonderful world...I see skies of blue, ...."

 

[dovetail]

Tea; I don't have a dog in this hunt but I was struck at the nature of your post to comment. I think people who openly embrace Nazi, Black Panther, ISIS flags etc do so to make an "in your face" statement. In many instances you could also say the same for a Confederate Flag but it also could be that some people just like the look of it. Maybe Jawnsky feels that way too. In any event, were it not for the tragic events in Charleston, would you have even made your post?

 

[Chesdel]

OK. Not a bad outcome. I was afraid the compromise would be an avatar of a guy waving a confederate flag in one hand while giving the middle finger with the other hand.

Now, on to DE HS FB?.....

 

[BlueTea]

As a middle aged black man, I have no problem with such symbols. It was big of J to change his avatar, however. It was also big of BT to voice his rationale. "Oh, what a wonderful world...I see skies of blue, ...."

This morning I explained this situation to 3 black guys I work out with. The youngest guy....30 something..flat out said he hated the flag because it was a symbol of segregation etc.......the 59 year old guy became very vocal and said he was from the south and it did not bother him. However, he said it was because it represented losers and haters and he would not be insulted by them. He went off and I think it really does does insult him but he won't give the flag wavers the satifaction of knowing that......we talked about that aspect for about 10 minutes and my younger guy essentially said it bothers him but admitting that would give the haters a "win" of sorts......Friend # 3 ( Chesdel --- our legendary bouncer friend Ash) said it did not bother him. He is a very vocal evangelical and he feels he essentially is loving his enemies/turning the other cheek etc.....I respect him for that and mentioned that was in line with MLK and Jesus' teachings and the command to love your enemy, do under others etc.....then friend # 2 said MLK was weak and wrong to preach non-violence in the face of what he encountered......It was quite a conversation. You had to be there because this is only the highlights.

 

[Chesdel]

BT, interesting stuff......and full of ironies. The old Ash would have kicked the young guy's butt for calling MLK weak. The new Ash is more like MLK. The old Ash had more girlfriends than Joe Namath. I like both Ash's but this one is more at peace with himself.

The young guy wouldn't have liked Jesus either. It is all kind of connected. I mean there is a football team that has VJ... (Standing for 'Live Jesus') on their uniforms. OK, Starting to bore myself....

 

[Ikeyfbst2]

About this morning BT. The point is that is was a conversation you had, not a shouting match. That is what this country needs, more discussion. While this might be a rather simplistic viewpoint. When one segment of the population feels alienated and another doesn't understand what the problem is, there is a clear disconnect. I don't know what the answer is, but I know this much. If you are yelling, you aren't listening. So maybe we need to start listening to each other just a bit more, and yelling just a bit less.

 

[BlueTea]

Things like this sometimes are not easy for people of different races to talk about. It took a long time for me to be comfortable doing that and I explained I grew up in a very white world and I could not presume to know how anybody feels about this issue and other related things.....People's understanding of things is definitely influenced by one' life experiences and it can be an education just talking about difficult subjects with people. ........Chesdel,,, you might have seen some of my pictures of Ash wearing sunglasses at the gym....He says in the old days he would wear them in clubs so he could check out the ladies without them knowing he was kind of scanning the opportunities. If somebody threatened or hurt his family today he said he would get mean.

 

[Ikeyfbst2]

I grew up in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Red Hook in the 1970's. Make no mistake about it, we were all treated like trash. We were judged by our neighborhood, where we came from, we were all worthless. Well a funny thing can happen when you have nobody to cling to but yourselves. We gravitated to sports, and let me tell you by the time I was16, nobody wanted a piece of us. Pick a season, pick a price, we were going to take your money. We were all each others brothers, 7 white, 5 black, 4 Puerto Rican, 1 Greek and everyone's house to have a meal at when we were hungry. I didn't know that race or religion was an issue until I joined the Navy.

 

[BlueTea]

I grew up in a lower middle class suburban neighborhood south of Wilmington where everybody was white. If you went about 2 miles north there were neighborhoods where everyone was black.In the early 1960's when a black family moved into my wife's neighborhood their house was blown up by people supposedly in the KKK. From grade school through college there were never more than a few African American students in my schools. In high school I sometimes gave one of the few black guys a ride home to Southbridge. I was scared but wondered what it was like for him to be surrounded by white kids with little in common all day long.......Not much chance or attempt at knowing people until much later in life for me.

 

[ravensrooster2]

wow this is getting deep... thanks for sharing guys... good stuff,, The biggest part of understanding someone is understanding where they came from...

 

[Wolverine52]

wow this is getting deep... thanks for sharing guys... good stuff,, The biggest part of understanding someone is understanding where they came from...

That's right- empathy not sympathy...

 

[Mobhits]

Gentlemen with all do respect lets move on and get back to what this forum was created for talking football, there are other forums ( Dr. Phil .com) to discuss your the way we were raised and politics, religion! Next we will discussing the Pope's visit!

 

[Jawnsky]

Gentlemen with all do respect lets move on and get back to what this forum was created for talking football, there are other forums ( Dr. Phil .com) to discuss your the way we were raised and politics, religion! Next we will discussing the Pope's visit!

AMEN