The Significance of Confederate Flag in Western Society - Assignment Example

The Confederate Flag Introduction William Porcher Miles, who was the Flag and Seal committee chairman, designed the Confederate flag. It became a widely recognized symbol of the American South. It also refers to as the “the rebel flag”, Dixie flag and Southern Cross and sometimes incorrectly known as the “Stars and Bars”. The Confederate flag is a controversial symbol to many Americans today; some people have a positive reaction towards the display of the flag while others have adverse reactions and others have no reactions at all. To some people, it symbolized racism, to others, it is exclusively racist, and they view it as both racist and as a symbol of pride in the region. Body The Confederate flag has been the backbone of white supremacist associations, from the Ku Klux Klan to the skinheads (Aron, 2013). They did not proper Confederate battle flag because it is pretty. They picked it because it was the flag of a nation dedicated to their ideals: that the blacks are less equal to the white man. Some people say it represents heritage, not hate. In South Carolina, the Confederate battle flag was raised over the state house on April 11th; 1961.The state Senate passed a bill in South Carolina to expel the Confederate flag from the highest point of the state house vault by a majority vote on April 12, 2000. Following the 2015 Charleston church shooting, many commentators questioned the continued display of the flag at the memorial on the Statehouse grounds (Entman&Rojecki, 2001). The flag later removed which led to many debates with some people, specifically the whites, claiming that the Confederate flag did not have anything to do with the church shooting. However, before the removal of the flag, there were rallies promoting the South Carolina’s governor to remove the flag. To the blacks, the shooting was racially motivated, and the shooter had a photo pausing while carrying the Confederate flag. 1) In what ways do western imperial and colonial legacies contribute to this debate? Wednesdays racially propelled slaughter of nine African-Americans at Emanuel AME Church in downtown Charleston has reignited the civil argument over flying the dissident flag at the Statehouse (Williams, 2000). Photographs of Dylan Roof, the admitted shooter, reveal him wearing politically-sanctioned racial segregation images and leaning toward a car with an ornamental license plate bearing tribute to the Confederate States (Entman &Rojecki, 2001).The shooter said that the races should be segregated, that whites should be with whites. It comes from the colonial history of America that the whites are more superior to the blacks. He is pegging his bitterness on the history of America. He chose Charleston because it is a most historical city in my state, and at one time had the most astounding proportion of Blacks to Whites in the nation. On Friday, White House representative Eric Schultz said, "as the president said before, he believes the Confederate flag has a place in the museum, that is still his position." Some people said that the flagdiddoes not represent them. For example, Fred Ellington is African-American, who lives three doors from Caddell, a woman who gladly flies the Confederate flag at the front of her yard. The legislators, including some 2016 presidential competitors, offered sympathies to the casualties, yet opposed crediting racial inspirations to the shooter, even as information about suspected killer Dylan Roof mounts (Aron, 2013). 2) In what ways do liberal ideals that emerged out of the Enlightenment inform the arguments ofthose opposing the flag? Annie Caddell gladly flies the Confederate flag in her front yard here in the Charleston areas. She keeps up a store of extra flags on her entryway patio, supplanting the one on her white flagpole at regular intervals after it gets worn. Caddell, who portrays herself as a Republican with tea party leanings, said her love for the flag stems from her history, as well as from a doubt of the national government (Williams, 2000). Despite the fact that the neighbors flinch at the flag in Caddell’s front yard. Large portions of her neighbors concurthat it ought to be inside of her rights to fly any flag she needs on her property. What they battle to comprehend is the statement that the flag is an image of a proud legacy, given the legacy of subjection. The Confederate flag is broadly divisive in South Carolina, with numerous white individuals calling it a proud identification of Southern society, and various African-Americans regarding it a disgraceful image of servitude and loot (McCarty, 2013). The flag used to fly on the state capital; after a heated battle over ten years prior, it was moved from the Capitol dome and made to operate at a Confederate memorial on statehouse grounds.That flag has no place in any government institution. There were days when Black people (Negros) was openly discriminated against in the United States; the days when Black people could not enter the front door of many restaurants. It was the days when organizations of whites publicly beat Black men, women, and children and sometimes murdered them, unmolested by the law. When Black people would cross the street to avoid passing a white policeman because they knew what would happen. Moreover, when politicians openly ran on their record of keeping segregation in place and what their standing was in the local KKK branch. Since those days, some in the United States have come to believe whites, as a society, have somehow become better at tolerance and race relations (Delgado &Stefancic, 2012). What has happened is that the courts, lawsuits, the "liberal media", and "political correctness", had driven the racists underground, but not cured the disease. Currently, there is the election of the first Black President, the increasing Latino population in the country, and the prevalence of interracial relationships. Moreover, other events have emboldened them to crawl out of the woodwork and begin their open campaign against non-Whites again. So, at least in one particular opinion, the whites are not much better than they were in the 50s and 60s(McCarty, 2013). It is an embarrassing since most of the rest of the civilized World got past racial differences many years ago. 3) How can a global perspective help us understand racial tension today and social movements suchas #Black Lives Matter? In a global perspective, people have different ideas that can help understand the racial tension today and social movements. South Carolina should pull down the Confederate flag from the capital. It needs to dawn on them that the civil war was long ago, and they lost. The flag is racist, and it is a losers flag. Deal with it. Take down the Confederate flag, this symbol of hate and racism and put it in a museum like the one our president has requested. We as a nation can move forward beyond all this racist agony, we all one race the Human Race and should love and respect as that and that alone. From this, the racial things that lead to indiscriminate killing of the blacks in America (Delgado &Stefancic, 2012). The national flag is a symbol of people not being racist.Making changes for the sole purpose to appease some, is not justification enough to take rights from others, regardless of race or anything else. The fact is that in this part of the country, there are more racist people than in all the rest of the US. The real start of the problem is many blacks that are strongly racists as there are whites in this country. Here both blacks and whites have been brought up to hate each other by their parents, and now they are teaching their children to hate. It is a powder keg ready to blow at any time. The way forward to solve this problem is to let the powder keg blow and pick up the pieces after. Maybe then those who are still carrying a grudge, both black and white, will see just how their hatred will take and how many get killed. Let the powder keg blow, the less there is of the both, the better America will be. Reference Aron, L. (2013). A meeting of minds: Mutuality in psychoanalysis (Vol. 4). New York : Routledge. Delgado, R., &Stefancic, J. (2012). Critical race theory: An introduction. New York City : New York UniversityPress. Entman, R. M., &Rojecki, A. (2001). The black image in the white mind: Media and Race in America (pp. 28-29). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. McCarty, P. (2013). Integrated Perspectives in Global Studies New York: Cognella. Williams, M. S. (2000). Voice, trust, and memory: Marginalized groups and the failings of liberal representation. Princeton UniversityPress. Read More