Question - is it legal to burn the "Confederate Flag"?

[zbdent]

Okay, I know, technically what is considered the "Confederate Flag" is actually the "Navy Jack" ...

But I was just thinking ... I wonder how many people would rise up against me if I decided to go out in the middle of a crowd and set fire to the Navy Jack?

It would surely be Republicans, if any at all.

And what is this love affair the "Party of Lincoln" has with the symbol of the very people that seceded from Lincoln's Union?

I mean, if you see something that has the Navy Jack on it, chances are pretty good it's a Repuke ... someone who would vehemently (a la Mell Gibson and anti-Semitism) deny that they are pro-slavery, invoking the "Party of Lincoln" mantra ... right?

[uppityperson]

1. some places you would get applauded, some places beaten up.

[karlrschneider]

2. It's legal to burn -any- flag.

No, I'm not missing your point, just commenting that burning is a proper method of retiring a worn
American flag. Just don't do it while thinking the wrong thoughts. :eyes:

[Ravy]

7. On this topic a while back, someone suggested that ...

if the Senate had passed the amendment prohibiting flag burning, that protesters could stand in front of the capitol and wash their American flags.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. If you burned it,

I'd sing "Rally Round the Flag", "John Brown's Body", and "Tramp Tramp Tramp", but then I'm a Yankee through and through.

[Ravy]

5. haha.... I was fully expecting to see.... "If you burn it...."

"*they* will come..."

[Ravy]

4. Of course it is legal. The question should be if it was

life-threatening. And, like you and the other posters surmise, it could very well be. In fact, more than the US Flag in some circles, imho.

[RedStateShame]

6. I agree. Burning could cause unnecessary damage and/or injury.

Just urinate on it.

[The Deacon]

8. Actually

I think you're referring to the Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, which is the flag most people display as the "Confederate Flag." The "Navy Jack" refers to a particular British flag (not sure how it differs from the standard "Union Jack.")

That said, most of my less enlightened friends down here in Georgia would probably object bodily to you burning what they think is a Confederate Flag - they claim that displaying that flag has nothing to do with racism ("Heritage, Not Hate.") They are not thrilled when I point out that the only reason everyone thinks that flag is the Confederate Flag is because the Ku Klux Klan pinheads in the Alabama Statehouse back in the sixties didn't know any better.

[zbdent]

10. I was referring to what Wikipedia said

was usually thought of as the "Confederate Flag" ... the one that most people tend to associate with supporters of slavery ...

[enlightenment]

13. A "jack" is just a small flag that flys from a ship --

usually indicating nationality.
The British Navy Jack and the Union Jack are the same thing -- if you put the Union Jack on a Royal Navy ship, it's a Navy Jack!

[jdlh8894]

16. Nicely Said

The " Bonnie Blue " is the flag of the Confederacy.I'm tired of some people using ONE battle flag from ONE regiment to proclaim MY heritage or MY forefathers.Burn it if you want. My heritage will still remain the same!

[grytpype]

9. I encourage you to burn the Confederate Flag as often as possible.

[skidrow]

11. Burn

[jobycom]

12. I've owned Confederate flags, had confederate flag stickers, waved them

at football games. And I've always been a Democrat. A neighbor of mine recently had one hanging in his garage. He and his wife were both Democrats.

I wouldn't carry one or wave it anymore, but when I did, it was about southern pride, and not racism. To 90% of the people who own it or wave it, that's what it's about, even if some of them are racist. To those who view it, it is about something else. After Katrina, I passed several Confederate flags on the Coast with signs saying "We will rise again."

The flag is a case of people not wanting to understand the other side. The people who wave the flag don't want to hear that it's a racist symbol because many of them don't see it that way, and those who are offended by the flag don't want to hear it's about something else, because they are too outraged. Both sides have a point. Neither side will hear the other (as I suspect posts below this one will demonstrate).

Again, I'll repeat, I wouldn't wave it or carry it anymore, and it does bother me to see it waving somewhere now, because I know what it means to people. But at the same time, I was raised believing it was a source of pride for me, for my home, for all the things I valued in life. You don't just shake that.

The American flag has become a symbol of oppression, slaughter, and evil to much of the world, and yet many here on DU will still fly it, because that's not what it means to them. Same thing. And no, I don't expect anyone to agree with me. But it is.

[RedStateShame]

14. I can see where you're coming from on that, but it's not easy.

Of course, I can almost safely assume you're from somewhere a little deeper into the South than I am right now, the Bluegrass State. I believe I've seen a few instances of that in my travels, like when I spent a few days in Oxford, MS, but as somebody outside of that heart of the US, it does look really weird to see a progressive/liberal displaying it.

[jobycom]

17. Well, of course you saw it in Oxford, home of University of Mississippi

It was the school symbol.

I'm from Gulfport, MS. My high school nickname was the Rebels, and our symbol then was the Confederate flag, which is why I waved it at football games. In elementary school we didn't play cowboys and Indians, we played rebels and yankees. No one, regardless of color, wanted to be the yankees unless they were from the north.

You say it's unusual to see a liberal/progressive displaying it, but are you really sure? Do you ask people who are displaying it, or just assume? I have seen Kerry stickers on trucks with confederate flag emblems in Gulfport, when I visit. No doubt there would be fewer liberal/progressives displaying it, but there would be fewer liberal/progressives in general. And I'm sure nowadays there are more people like me, who may have once flown it, but wouldn't anymore. But not everyone sees it that way.

[RedStateShame]

18. Oh, no, I meant up here.

Kentucky has this weird Midwest-South schizophrenia thing. 99.9% of the ones who embrace the Southern heritage deal, and I've known a few, pick up the stereotypical Old South act too. Nonetheless, I appreciate the viewpoint from another point of the world. And I did love Oxford. I think I had the best cornbread I've ever eaten in my life there.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

15. Isn't burning the preferred means of disposing of a...

worn or torn flag? Does that hold true for the Confederate flag? Take it out, burn it, then explain to the frenzied crowd. ;-)