The Secesh category archive

In the Roanoke Times, Halford Ryan traces the history of the Stars and Bars. He concludes that its symbolism cannot be (you will pardon the expression) whitewashed:

Chauvinistic Neo-Confederates and their fellow travelers want currently to hawk the Stars and Bars without regard for its historical, symbolic and divisive impact on others.

But many recognize the flag’s disruptive symbolism for what it was then and for what it is now. They do not honor the flag now nor respect what it stood for then.

The Confederate flag in 1861-65 symbolized exactly what it signifies in 2014: rebellion over slavery against the United States of America.

Follow the link to see how he reached this conclusion.

I’m not sure which is worse: Racists or politicians who pander to racists. (Of course, sometimes, a pol is both at the same time.)

Nevertheless, it can be fun to watch them wriggle when they get caught, even when you know that, ultimately, they will slip off the hook because they do, indeed, represent their constituents.

I guess this shows some progress. At least, it has become–er–unseemly to be openly racist; now, racists are restricted to code words except when they are amongst their own. When I was a young ‘un, it was perfectly acceptable to be an openly racist politician.

John Crisp wonders about motivation and memory. A nugget:

But one wonders why it (the Sons of Confederate Veterans–ed.) wishes to force an image of its battle flag into such a prominent, publicly sanctioned place as a license plate, where it might cause in-your-face offense to a black citizen who happens to be sitting behind an SCV member at a red light.

For that matter, some white Texans might cringe a little, too. My mother’s direct line of descent includes Francis Marion Hayes, a Texas frontier lawyer and eventually a state legislator. On March 7, 1860, he wrote to his brother: “I have nothing of importance to write in the way of news. I attended another negro sale yesterday. Negroes did not sell so high as they did the first of January. I bought one little boy about 10 years old for $1151.00, about as good a bargain as was sold on that day.”

The next time you hear someone get all misty-eyed about the Old South and the Lost Cause, ask, “What, exactly, was the cause that was lost?”

Theft of labor, still a thing.

Meanwhile, in other news of labor thieves . . . .

Church burnings.

Brings back memories of being young and Southern.

One more time, when you hear persons romanticize “the Lost Cause,” be sure to ask them to explain clearly just exactly what cause was lost.

I’m not surprised, just disgusted.

In the South (and St. Louis is “South,” make no mistake), being white has long been all the reason you need to kill a Not White person.

Afterthought:

As much as I deride Twitter for debasing discourse (“Twitter discussion” is an oxymoron, with the emphasis on “moron”), John Cole’s tweet pretty much sums it up.

Steven M. notices that they aren’t even trying to hide the racism any more. He refers to the talk that Loretta Lynch might be nominated for Attorney-General:

But she’s a black woman, and the right-wing base isn’t even trying to hide its naked racial anger anymore — as far as conservatives are concerned, replacing Holder with another black person is, in and of itself, an act of racism (although I suppose it would be just fine if Obama somehow chose a black wingnut).

Do read the rest, then check out George Smith’s essay (be patient–his hosting service seems to have some issues).

CSA and CEOs.

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog, from which I stole the delightful title.

Halford Ryan, writing at the Roanoke Times, examines the myth of “Southern Honor” and finds it a utilitarian thing, a myth to rationalize a society based on bondage and exploitation. A nugget:

The common thread in these examples of historical Southern honor was slavery. Excepting Palmer, Raphall and Einhorn, all of the defenders of Southern honor were slavers. To preserve their slave-based Southern honor, plus the profits it promised, they threatened secession and attained it in 1860-61.

The leading lights of the Confederacy rebelled to preserve their communal honor by championing slavery.

Follow the link for the examples he provides.

The next time you hear someone say “states’ rights,” ask, “States’ rights to do just what, exactly?”

Sam Seder and Cliff Schecter discuss those who would exacerbate racial divides, rather than heal them.

In a longer post about Teabaggery’s record of failure in this year’s Republican Primaries, Dick Polman buries this nugget:

Tea-partying Chris McDaniel is still refusing to concede his June defeat, claiming anew on Monday that Cochran won unfairly by mobilizing too many black people. I kid you not. McDaniel’s formal complaint says that “a comparative analysis of county by county increases indicates that Cochran’s vote increases correlated to the percentage of blacks in each county.” Oh the injustice! Republican primaries should be for whites!