Black man's perfect rebuttal to the use of a Confederate Flag

[Horse with no Name]

Sylvanaqua Farms

Today I drove out to Orange to pick up some new hens. When I got to the designated address, I was greeted by the rebel flag. Normally I leave politics out of my posts here, but this might offer some insight into what it's like to be a Black farmer, and why there are so few of us.

There's a very good possibility that the folks living under this flag don't have a racist, prejudiced bone in their bodies. For them, the stars and bars represents bluegrass, big-ass trucks, bourbon, old barns, bobwhite hunting, and some cool facets of southern life that don't begin with the letter B. Look at their Facebook profiles, and you might even see them in the company of a lot more brown folks than you'll find in the overwhelmingly White social circles of supposedly progressive people that wax indignant about the flag.

Unfortunately, I'll never find out. Why? Because there's an equally good possibility that the folks living under this flag are among the thousands you can find, right this minute, on the forums at stormfront.org advocating violence against Black people from behind Confederate flag avatars.

If I knock on the door, Paula Deen might answer. She'll feed me biscuits, call me 'yall' even though I'm alone, invite me to her next cookout, and hopefully have the good sense to leave me out of any plantation-themed weddings.

But if I knock on the door, Dylan Roof might answer. He'll stick a gun in my face, sick his dog on me, club me with a blunt object, or otherwise precipitate a sequence of events that will leave one or both of us dead, blind, or crippled.

As a person of color, I have to make a judgment call about what the rebel flag means to the person flying it. Does it mean "heritage, not hate" or "heritage of hate?" Giving you the benefit of the doubt means I have to risk my wife becoming a 29 year old widowed single mother... so no thanks. Which is really too bad, because this really gets in the way of good business when you're a Black farmer and so many of your would-be associates insist on flying the damned thing instead of doing what we southerners are supposedly best at: not being rude and inconsiderate.

End rant.

https://www.facebook.com/sylvanaqua/photos/a.332916656839641.1073741829.332425060222134/683243771806926/?type=1&fref=nf&pnref=story

[HassleCat]

1. Not a rant

You're odds are 50/50, at best. Sure, you could say the same thing about approaching a house with no flag, but the flag is an alert. It's a "red flag" in the literal sense of the term. It tells you something different is going on here, and you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?

[AuntPatsy]

2. Puts in perspective, good case yo ban flag period, there are many other items one can display

That doesn't represent the vile hate this one does, though the U.S. Flag cones in a close second considering how many have lost lives been illegally detained tortured and imprisioned under that particular flag... Catch 22

[awoke_in_2003]

11. I don't think it should be banned

If you are flying, the odds are that you are a racist. I don't want to do business with people like that, so this lets me know who not to give my money to.

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Stephen Colbert had it right.

The confederate flag helps us identify the truly heinous people, who we should avoid.

I paraphrase.

[liberal N proud]

5. It puts that message out there

and makes it easy to know what you possibly could be dealing with.

[heaven05]

4. excellent post

although, I shun all who are flag wavers, flyers of that treasonous flag. I don't even try to figure them out or their motive for 'loving' that flag.

[erronis]

12. Agree. Excellent post. I tend to shun anybody that needs to wave ANY flag to define themselves.

[Moonwalk]

14. Including the rainbow flag of LGBT?

[erronis]

15. Interesting question. I don't care about someone's orientation, etc.

So maybe shun is too strong a word. But I'd rather we could all communicate without having to display all of our personal identifications. It could get rather crowded in my space flagwise with all the things I think myself to be.

[Moonwalk]

21. Granted, it would be nice, but thinking about it, we do display most of our personal id's...

...if not with flags then with teeshirts, hats, bumperstickers, jewelry, tattoos....

It's pretty a part of how we communicate. Flags are just larger and more visible emblems, but they're on par with all the rest, down to tennis shoes and fingernail polish. I guess, we're still stuck in tribal/pack mentalities and can't quite help flagging our allegiances. Or, maybe, we never get past that teenaged need to figure out our identity and have to constantly flaunt what we think it is to remind ourselves of who we think we are?

[jtuck004]

6. And now we get to knock on the door with no flag to warn us. n/t

[Moonwalk]

13. I'm not sure what you mean. The haters will keep flying that flag, defiantly....

... and have every right to under the constitution (free speech). The flag can be outlawed as a symbol for government offices, but not for private homes. And the haters who fly it are not the sort to ever take it down. They *want* everyone to know what they think and stand for, and to be afraid of them. They want the "undesirables" to keep on moving and not knock on their doors; this is their "no trespassing" sign.

The message of the "rant" is for those who fly it but don't think they're haters and/or don't want to be identified as such. Who have seen the flag as just indicating their pride in being Southern and insist on being blind to the fear and worry it instills in others. It's a good message for them to hear. If they view their pride in the South as a pride in hospitality, in inclusiveness and courtesy, then it's time they took down that flag. It is not in the spirit of the South they take pride in, and it's long past time they were told as much and made to see it.

[jtuck004]

19. ". I'm not sure what you mean." < Not a surprise. You seem enamored with your own writing. n/t

[Moonwalk]

20. Well, my writing is pretty damn swell, but to make you happy..."I'm not sure what you mean..."

...would you care to explain?

Sans any extra writing, however brilliant and worthy of being enamored of, by moi.

[hollowdweller]

7. I never understood about the flag growing up.

Till me and my friend I used to work with hung out some. He was black and after work I'd drive him home and we'd usually drive around a smoke a joint before I took him home.

Anytime we'd be driving thru the country, and he was a country guy who liked to hunt and fish and stuff, and we'd come past a place with a confederate flag, he would say "Speed up, lets get the hell out of here. Johnny Reb" He was actually very nervous about the flag.

Another thing he told me was anytime he hunted, he always hunted on a friend private land because so many rednecks hunted and he was afraid somebody would shoot him.

I once rescued him. He had been to a party and got attacked by a large group of white rednecks. He had barely escaped them and ran about a mile to where we worked and called me to pick him up and drive him back to his car. He was afraid they would see him again and get him.

When I got there his shirt was nearly ripped off and both seams on his pants on both sides were ripped apart. He literally nearly had to run out of his clothes because they had a hold of him.

Anyway I had always though about the flag the way you describe it in your #1 description. That totally changed my opinion of it. Like you say I'm sure that many don't mean anything racist. But if it scares even 10% of black people the way it scared my friend why would anybody who was hospitable fly one?

[fbc]

8. very well said

good post

[Gore1FL]

9. I was eating lunch in Ferguson on Friday (at Mimi's) and saw a Gadsden Flag at a car repair place.

I commented at the time, it's stupid to mix politics and business. That guy effectively alienated over half of his community and potential customers for no good reason.

[Cal Carpenter]

10. It is hostile.

No matter the intentions of the person flying it, it is hostile. And as the author points out, it isn't just symbolic hostility - it is never safe to assume that.

[Uncle Joe]

16. That's true he/she might be greeted differently if the flag waver is flying or waving a U.S. Flag.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026871770

Thanks for the thread, Horse with no Name.

[DamnYankeeInHouston]

17. If you fly aConfederate flag, you should have to also fly

the flag of every other enemy of this country throughout history; England, Mexico, Spain, Germany, Italy, Russia, Vietnam and so on.

[ut oh]

18. This is definitely a tough dilema...

I do think people should be allowed to fly the flag if that is their wish (1st amendment and all). I agree that it should be banned on gov't property too, but a private citizen has a right to be 'that guy/gal'.

I agree with others who said, that is a good sign of whom not to do business with.

HwnN: I wish the challenges you had to face did not exist. No one should have to live in fear of people they're doing business with will cause them violence. I do honor you in staying strong and working in an industry that is typically a 'white guy' business. That cannot be an easy thing at times.

[Scuba]

22. K&R

[progressoid]

23. Excellent rant.

[spanone]

24. k&r...