The Civil War, Confederate Flag, Nationalism and Hate

The idea of “romantic nationalism” is rooted in the notion that the “true character” of a country is rooted in its culture—then glorified and morphed into some modern day political standard.  Like Nazism. 

The most prominent and pernicious of these revisionist movements in America today is the idea that the Civil War was a romantic struggle for freedom against an oppressive government trying to enforce cultural change.

Some typical Civil War revisionist talking points:

1) The Civil War was about economics, not slavery!  Yes, the Civil War was about the economics of slavery.

2) The Civil War was about states’ rights, not slavery!  Yes, the Civil War was about the states’ right to maintain slavery.

3) That’s not the Confederate flag!  True, it’s the battle flag of the Northern Virginia Army.  It’s still the banner under which men fought and died to enact secession.

4) Heritage not hate!  Actually, the heritage is hate.  This notion pretends “heritage” signifies some romantic, noble culture waiting to be recaptured.  Senator Lindsay Graham (R-South Carolina) makes a mockery of history by saying: “The flag represents to some people a civil war, and that was the symbol of one side.  To others it’s a racist symbol, and it’s been used by people, it’s been used in a racist way.”

Yes, Senator, it does represent one side of the Civil War—the side that advocated slavery and secession.  It’s the flag of treason.

The states that seceded to become the Confederacy were actively engaged in open war against the United States government.  A war they started because of an elected man they deemed “hostile to slavery.”  A war they fought to maintain the “heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race.”  A war they lost.

The savagery of slavery is offensive enough to justify any level of outrage.  The sick, post-war history of the Ku Klux Klan is offensive enough to justify any level of outrage.  But what might be the most absurd part of this neo-Confederate “heritage” romanticism is that its advocates are simply glorifying treason.

It was a war based on a fundamental social conflict that is not resolved.  It was not resolved in 1865, not in 1965, and sadly, not in 2015.  It rears its ugly head to remind us it hasn’t gone anywhere.

The tragedy for America is that this is self-inflicted.  As Jon Stewart eloquently pointed out, “al Qaeda… ISIS… they’re not shit on the damage we can apparently do to ourselves on a regular basis.”

We want to comfort and assure ourselves that our most recent mass murderer has some mental issue, or that he’s evil, or some other easy excuse that absolves us all of responsibility.  The sad fact is, he’s not alone.

Neo-Confederate revisionism is everywhere.  It’s not confined to “dumb rednecks” or red-state voters or NASCAR fans or any other stereotype we use to dismiss painful realities.  It’s not even confined to older generations.  The murderer in South Carolina is 21.  He’s a Millennial—a new generation.

I find myself angry…very angry.  Angry at the culture that permits such blatant hatred.  Angry at the media who glorify division, provide cover for and protect the ignorant.  Angry at teachers and other leaders who perpetuate historical falsehoods.  Angry at myself for not being angry before.

And every day that we don’t react to that information, every day we don’t internalize this conflict, every day we tell ourselves nothing is wrong, every day we claim we can’t be racist because we have black friends, every day we share some viral cat video instead of advocate and engage…is another day nothing will change.

“Black-on Black Crime" and What It Doesn’t Represent

by Charles Giammona

There is a logical fallacy used in conversations about crime and race.

Many people (particularly the political right-wing) argue that for Black people to demand justice following murders of unarmed African-Americans by white people is to demonstrate a hypocritical disposition towards criminality and the justice system. 

This phenomenon is often referred to as “Black-on-Black Crime.” The resounding message is that Blacks need to address crime within their own community before attempting to address it outside of their community.  This point of view is valid.    

But to argue that the intra-racial phenomenon of crime victimization is unique to the Black community is to demonstrate an inaccurate assessment of crime and victimization. This argument builds on an ugly stereotype of black pathological violence.  It propagates stop and frisk policies, school to prison pipeline, mass incarceration and the knee jerk reactions of officers and vigilantes to shoot first and cry self-defense later.

The perception of rampant black violence is poorly founded on reality. There is a pervasive fear of gun violence at the hands of young black men, even though only 4% have ever even held a gun. Indeed, only ~1% of Black people in the United State commit any violent crime in a given year.  But the statistics are rarely stated this way. Thus, the term 'black-on-black violence' slanders the majority of law-abiding Black Americans, rich and poor, who get painted by this broad and crude (read racist or ignorance) brush.

The rarely-bemoaned ‘white-on-white’ crime pandemic is as prevalent as black-on-black crime. Eighty-six percent of homicides against white people are committed by other white people.  As the largest racial group, whites commit the majority of crimes in America and are responsible for the majority of violent crimes. When whiteness is treated as the default culture, white-on-white crime is not seen as a cultural symptom, but, by default, deemed ‘normal,' understandable, or a status quo crime statistic.

The reality is that most crime is perpetrated within race. We live in largely segregated environments. As with most activities we participate in, crime occurs in a segregated fashion.  If African-Americans are more likely to be robbed, or injured, or killed by other African-Americans, it’s because they tend to live in the same neighborhoods as each other. Same is true for white folk.            

Crime within the Black community is indisputably an issue, but the “Black-on-Black Crime” catch phrase should not be confused with its use to politically deflect from the racism and racial profiling that precipitates large scale racial injustice/distrust by referencing the different social subject of ‘black-on-black violence.’  We can all simultaneously work toward improving crime trends and demand justice.  

So, let protesters continue their pursuits.  If they want to march, let them march, if they want to sit-in, let them sit-in, if they want to boycott, let them boycott--because when all is said and done, protestors (or political campaign contributions) are vessels that move this nation.

Ignorance as a Virtue--A New Reality?

Today’s conservative movement has a zeal for ideology that is fueled by unlearning basic facts and knowledge of math, science, geography and reality.  All too well these political fundamentalists reject reason, facts, logic, wisdom and knowledge to keep their sentient-based mindset/constituency. This summarizes their zealous attitude and its result: despite their commitment, they feel established in their own righteousness.

Spurting out verbal rubbish you know nothing about is traditionally considered unwise at best. But ignorance has started to become less a handicap, and even a sense of pride!  One being belligerently ignorant is now offended if anyone dare suggest ignorance is less desirable than knowledge in the face of expertise. 

With a great deal of zeal, they go about thinking and saying they are serving God and country, but all they do is produce their own set of standards or realities. Their zeal is probably their greatest barrier to the truth and to justice.  

More importantly, it prevents them from objectively serving the ‘common good,’ i.e., the very American system and tradition they zealously try to revise in their own image and likeness by embracing ignorance as a virtue. Their minds are blinded by zeal, not served by it.

Frederic Bastiat said, "When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it."  I finally realize why we need 35 million laws to keep the 10 commandments.

We obsess about homeland security, ‘enemies’ all around us and threats to our way of life.  But America will never be destroyed from the outside.  If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves by not seeing truth within instead of taking a contemptuous view of reality and growing proudly ignorant day by day. 

Ignorance is not the equivalent of expertise nor is wishful thinking and unblinking prejudice the same as evidence and reason.