Article from 1992 with stacy Abrams burning the georgian flag with the confedera - Polidicks

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/412663-report-of-abrams-burning-georgia-state-flag-resurfaces-weeks-before "During Stacey Abrams' college years, Georgia was at a crossroads, struggling with how to overcome racially divisive issues, including symbols of the Confederacy, the sharpest of which was the inclusion of the Confederate emblem in the Georgia state flag," the statement read. "This conversation was sweeping across Georgia as numerous organizations, prominent leaders, and students engaged in the ultimately successful effort to change the flag." Local candidate used her rights to peacefully protest, republicans outraged.

Funny thing about the Georgia flag, the design with the Confederate cross was introduced in 1956 as a response to the civil rights movement. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/Flag_of_the_State_of_Georgia_%281956%E2%80%932001%29.svg/150px-Flag_of_the_State_of_Georgia_%281956%E2%80%932001%29.svg.png Then Georgia governor Roy Barnes changed it to this in 2001, considered the worst state flag ever, and it helped Barnes lose reelection https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/Flag_of_the_State_of_Georgia_%282001%E2%80%932003%29.svg/150px-Flag_of_the_State_of_Georgia_%282001%E2%80%932003%29.svg.png Then Sonny Perdue campaigned on letting the people of Georgia to pick the flag themselves, and picked this one, which is based on the Confederate national flag, not the battle one https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/Flag_of_Georgia_%28U.S._state%29.svg/150px-Flag_of_Georgia_%28U.S._state%29.svg.png

Yeah, this is only a plus for me. I'm still salty over the "Oh, you don't like the "Confederate Flag" being part of the state flag? That's fine, we'll just change it (to this one no one realizes is still a Confederate Flag)."

Its stupid the confederate flag has taken such a deep hold in pop culture, it doesn't represent a spirit of rebellion like the Dukes of Hazard, its a symbol of racial superiority and has never stood for anything else. "But its our heritage!" do you really want to celebrate the meatgrinder your ancestors put this country through so they could legally abuse and murder black people?

That and it's mostly poor redneck-types who so enthusiastically fly the Confederate flag, when the Confederacy was an attempt by the South's rich white people to get the South's poor white people to fight for their right to own black people so they didn't have to give jobs to and actually pay poor white people to work their fields instead.

The temporarily embarrassed millionaire goes back centuries.

No no you don't understand The civil was wasn't about slavery It was about (((states' rights)))

states rights to... enslave black people. Itslike people who insist it was an issue with federalism are ignorant of our history.

So Abrams opposes treason, and Republicans are claiming that's a bad thing.

Lincon's head would explode

I still think the best solution between wanting to honor the south's history and not being a racist piece of shit is just to use the actual confederate flag, as it's not associated with the racism and supremacy but rather just... the actual Confederacy. Let's be honest here, if you see someone flying the actual tricolor confederate flag, you know for a fact they know their shit and aren't just trying to assert their dominance over others.

A bit late for that

You know there were multiple confederate flags, right? And most of them did have the cross.

This doesn't change the fact that the Confederacy seceded literally only because they wanted to keep black people as slaves The people of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled, on the 26th day of April, A.D., 1852, declared that the frequent violations of the Constitution of the United States , by the Federal Government, and its encroachments upon the reserved rights of the States, fully justified this State in then withdrawing from the Federal Union; but in deference to the opinions and wishes of the other slaveholding States, she forbore at that time to exercise this right. Since that time, these encroachments have continued to increase, and further forbearance ceases to be a virtue. That's the first paragraph from South Carolina's declaration of secession. Right off the bat, they self-define as a "slaveholding state." Everything else involves fabricating other grievances, pretty much none of which were issues beforehand, just so that it doesn't seem like slavery is the only issue they actually care about.

don't forget that in their speeches the Confederate leaders explicitly state they ceded so they could live in a White Supremacist society. like yeah, there is nuance to the whole "it's about slavery" argument, but at the end of the day those more nuanced points still lead back to slavery. like sure, state's rights, economics, etc... factored in, but they were still wrapped up in slavery, slavery was an inherent part of those things.

Oh no, it was very much an issue with Federalism. Because "Federal" decided "hey you can't keep people as property" and the South said "YOU'RE NOT MY REAL DAD I CAN DO WHAT I WANT!" And then we whooped their asses, and they wave the battle flag in celebration of their ass-whooping by the Federal government (they hope to he able to over-throw someday) to this day.

The confederate flag should have been banned after the civil war ended, just like the Nazi swastika in germany after WWII.

The US did a big reconciliation effort after the Civil War, against the desires of the Radical Republicans. Johnson pardoned every Confederate soldier and politician for treason, and many got political careers again. Grant even let Lee keep his sword after the surrender

It always cracks me up that the "Party of Lincoln" are the same folks who revere the Confederate flag.

https://youtu.be/FMIOCj7a3tI I think this a pretty good video on the topic, pretty in depth...

There's a spectrum of how countries can deal with the dark parts of their history. Germany is probably towards one end of the spectrum, they've done a powerful job of acknowledging the dark parts of their past and moving forward without forgetting them. A lot of countries, UK included, are somewhere in the middle. Most (but not all) of us don't really trumpet the greatness of the British Empire, and some of our bullshit has been officially apologised for, but there are plenty of atrocities that were committed in the name of Britain that we haven't really educated ourselves about or owned up to. The former Confederate states must be towards the other end of the spectrum. 150 years later and still holding on to a 'heritage' of white supremacist insurrection against the country they claim to love.

I'm just glad that of all the southern states, I'm living in Tennessee. We're the only one that was never full confederate (with the exception of Virginia, which split into two states because of how divided they were), so while you have the usual types here, they don't have the overwhelming numbers that they do in the rest of the South. My town's local newspaper is actually fairly liberal, and the long time mayor is a registered Democrat who, among other things, promised after the Supreme Court decision that he was fully willing to officiate gay marriages.

oh ya that too, hug the flag, but also celebrate the flag of the traitors to it. I've said before, my area sent men to fight and crush the confederacy, I've seen the marker from their unit in gettysberg, hell we have a big memorial to it in our park, yet jimbob mcmullet down the road will roll coal all day long with the confederate flag

Lol compared to the eight counties in Alabama and one in Texas that quit issuing marriage licenses at all.

Of course there were. I mean the original Confederate flag, the actual Stars and Bars, not the battle flag that is flown and not the Stainless/blood stained banner. It's the one that represented the Confederate government for the longest, and wasn't co-opted by racists in the 1960s to keep african americans down. No it doesn't, and personally if it were up to me all flags representing any part of the Confederacy would be banned. Even if you don't think they're racist symbols, which they are, they're still flags representing treason against the United States, the one our constitution expressly forbids without any amendments, all just to support a slave holding white supremacist society that really only existed so a bunch of rich fuckheads. However, I'd much rather have the actual flag of the Confederacy being flown by people who want to support "southern heritage" than the Battle Flag/Naval Jack that has since become a symbol of not only the confederacy but the hundred years long segregation and racism that continued after it. If people still fly the battle flag after being told it's not the actual flag of the Confederacy, it's proof positive of the fact they're a bunch of racist fuckheads who don't deserve privilege of "honoring their history"...

You're pretty on point, I knew a lot of the "heritage not hate" people growing up. The kind of people who have a black friend that's "one of the good ones". They don't recognize the contradiction of claiming to be a patriot while proudly flying the flag of a rebellion over their perceived right to own other humans and being angry when said flag is burned.