In the early 1950s, stock car racers, Southern universities, and social groups embraced the Confederate flag, Coski wrote in his book. Here is another choice. Add to cart Add to WatchlistUnwatch Watch list is full We are going to stand valiantlyfor God's incredible inherent truths that predate any version of government. And, as McCluney points out, New York-financed slave ships kept sailing to West Africa for people to be sold in the Caribbean and South America. A Confederate flag at an anti-integration rally in Little Rock in 1959. Its not whites that are the racists; its mostly the blacks What it boils down to is black people are just trying to overrule us.. 100% Cotton. Listen to the trailer for, Dear Therapist: I Divorced My Dying Wife Once She Was No Longer Lucid, did all they could to disassociate themselves, who understood the logical conclusion of Confederate rhetoric. He repeats SCVs selective semantics with precision: the south seceded over states rights to financial independence; the north and Abraham Lincoln werent against slavery at the outset; northern tariffs were killing the south; few southerners and soldiers owned humans; slavery was fading anyway; and it wasnt about white supremacy. Neither Ira nor Lindy has asked black acquaintances why the flag is offensive, or asked why many believe it belongs in museums, but not part of a state emblem. Ira Isonhood adjusts the flag pole in the backyard of his home in Copiah County, Mississippi. My prayers have proved as idle as my hopes. It's alarming because there is probably an equal number of guys on there talking about the civil war plans and actively using Tik Tok to recruit these military and ex-military members. It's a symbol of how successfully the Civil War has been misremembered so that "heritage" and "hate" could be disentangled from each other. Public opinion polls and other research have repeatedly shown thatmillions of Republican voters and Trump followers would support the use of violence to remove Joe Biden from office because of the "Big Lie" and their belief that that he is not a legitimate president. During an interview with Scientific American magazine, Dr. Bandy Lee, the principal editor of the 2017 bestseller"The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump," explained how a mentally pathological leader can "infect"hisfollowers and perhaps even an entire nation: I have outlined two major emotional drives: narcissistic symbiosis and shared psychosis. from the Confederacy's vice president that declared the Confederacy's cornerstone "rests upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition"). Not the main stream core freedoms that our country was founded on, rather the diminutive pieces of thread that weave together to form the very fabric that holds our great nation together. And in her statement, she acknowledged South Carolinians who insist despite history's evidence to the contrary that the flag is not a racist symbol. The infamous tree, used for lynching, was bending over a bridge on Highway 433 toward Lexington. Booth absorbed his lesson too well. After the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, white Southerners used the Confederate flag to intimidate civil rights activists and demonstrate states' willingness to protect segregation at all costs. "Family history" only became a plausible rationale because of a devil's bargain. NFQ Embrace Violence Flag NFQ Embrace Violence Flag Item Information Condition: New without tagsNew without tags Price: US $25.00 NFQ Embrace Violence Flag Sign in to check outCheck out as guest Adding to your cart The item you've selected was not added to your cart. "If displaying the flag of the Confederate States of America is a fad, it is one of the longest-lived fads in history, lasting some 90 years," one sniffed in a letter to Life. The flag, which has gone on to earn its creators company, Thin Blue Line USA, a healthy living selling related merchandise, literalizes this vision: a U.S. flag in a stark photonegative scheme, save for a broad line of blue. In actuality, it is better than a gold standard, because violence has universal value. ), Schools are not teaching history the right way, he says. According to the people on TikTok and the Sun (British tabloid), the black American flag originated in the civil war and was flown by the Confederates. Pipes fill a glass case, and we avoid the curtained adult room. The Confederate battle flag was one of several flags used during the Civil War. Those who object are subject to exemplary violence. Some Southerners argued that white supremacists who waved the flag as they violently attacked civil rights activists were perverting the flag's true meaning. All Rights Reserved. The post-war white south embraced the Confederate battle flag, making it their sentimental symbol of the "lost cause" of the war. She is the author of the recent book "Culture Warlords: My Journey Into the Dark Web of White Supremacy.". They would speak of us as ghosts and servants of a God they now fear. t was 1957 when little Lindy Lubys great-uncle showed up at her house near Benton. Property crime investigations altogether have an abysmal 17 percent clearance rate. Violence is the gold standard, the reserve that guarantees order. Until they do, the violence of the right is only going to keep swelling and crashing. The biggest message they have been sending out is, "it's time" or "the time is now." In April 2001, Mississippians voted along race lines to keep the flag as it was. Sitting there, they see clearly what those who reject violence are blind to, that the evil they face is real and it is most definitely coming. When I graduated from high school, we didnt have an indoor toilet.. Pay in 4 interest-free installments for orders over $50.00 with. Chauncey DeVega is a senior politics writer for Salon. But what the flag symbolized hadn't changed. I try to be sensitive. So, we're the enemy, and they're openly professing to want to execute us. In this way they honor their ancestors. https://t.co/TVeEIOFoo1 pic.twitter.com/zuOU7HJ87S. That the Confederate flag is the symbol of of white supremacists is evidenced by the very words of those who birthed it: Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. What has Mississippi done to say that it is sorry for the rape, torturing and killings of scores of its black citizens in order to create a white majority? Be says. After I mention that Mississippi outlawed freeing slaves in 1857, he said that the south wouldnt have seceded if the federal government had allowed (white, male) voters to decide slavery per state or territory. As recently as 2011, Haley dismissed concerns about the flag, saying she thought the state had moved on. Larry McCluney Jr teaches history to mostly black high school and college students in Greenwood, Mississippi. Lindy, now 66, has shifted her stance on the death penalty. His essays can also be found atChaunceydevega.com. Sitting quietly in the corner, they wait patiently, hoping for the best but prepared to do the absolute worst. It was an historic moment for gay. The flag could easily be honored or studied in museums, he adds. Watch: The Charleston shooting is part of a long history of anti-black terrorism, The Supreme Court will decide if a whole federal agency is unconstitutional, Make Trump a non person: Rupert Murdochs Ron DeSantis pivot, explained by a legal filing, What rewatching old shows teaches us about ourselves, How the US can stick the landing, beat inflation, and avoid a recession. That week, a Thin Blue Line flag was raised defiantly above the Brooklyn Center Police Department building in Minnesota. Why are these minorities pushing to do away with this flag? South Carolina Gov. Mobs fighting to protect segregated schools wore Confederate flags in Little Rock and New Orleans and Austin and Birmingham. The flag no longer represented just a 19th-century battle to preserve white supremacy, but a 20th-century one as well. A Mississippi flag seen on the side of the road in Simpson County, Mississippi. Potter was the president of the local police union . On a daily basis Fox News and other elements of the right-wing disinformation propaganda machine use stochastic terrorism and other techniques to radicalize their audience into committing acts of political violence. Anything less, and the disease of American fascism will only go dormant until it is resurrected again perhaps in amore dangerous and virulent form. The Confederacy itself was founded to preserve slavery and promote white supremacy (see, for example, Mississippi's declaration of secession: "Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery the greatest material interest of the world," or the speech from the Confederacy's vice president that declared the Confederacy's cornerstone "rests upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition"). White folks can be that, too. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. In the interest of reuniting white Americans, the narrative around the Civil War changed in its aftermath. Its the brainchild of a white college student from an affluent suburb of Detroit, Andrew Jacob, who found the outcry against police violence following the killings of Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, distasteful. I have lived among it most of my life, and have seen less harsh treatment from master to man than I have beheld in the North from father to son. But that reverence now stops at the capitol grounds. A State Capitol Police Officer in Connecticut donated a handcrafted wood rendering of the Thin Blue Line flag for display at the State Capitol. They are the opposite of the white flag of surrender. Politically correct groups seized that opportunity to make it seem like that flag came down that pole, walked down into that church and killed those people, he says. My family, we were poor. Slavery was an issue, but not the cause, the teacher tells me. I have struggled. It's how Mississippi and Florida could include the Confederate flag in their state flags during the 1890s with little fuss. Johnson would not censor individual ownership or display of Confederate regalia but also not continue official approval to historic symbols of racial violence and oppression. Thelethal attack on the Capitol hadbeenpublicly announced weeks in advance, and should have come as no surprise. Nance also noted that Cawthorn's propaganda video is thematically similar to the type of propaganda used by Islamic terroristgroups such as ISIS and al-Qaida to radicalize and recruitmembers. Surely the flags defenders will proffer other, muddier, interpretations which allow them the luxury of looking away. There are trashy white people and trashy black people., SCV is not racist or violent, he says. As red flags show up more and more over time, you'll start noticing patterns of behavior. This group understands that not all people can be negotiated with and at then end of the day, human nature is primal. The flag's supporters didn't buy the fad theory, either. She worries that young people now think the flag stands for the KKK. As a white woman who still flies the flag in a historically black South Carolina neighborhood put it, it's about "family history.". Most of the soldiers were young a fifth were under 18 and few owned any of the 4 million slaves in the US. God judge me, not man. The Confederacy itself was founded to preserve slavery and promote white supremacy (see, for example, : "Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery the greatest material interest of the world," or the. That's certainlytrue for the most dangerous and most effective of Donald Trump's allies, henchmen, henchwomen,and other followers. Petite Roslyn Stuart is behind the counter with a swagger like she has seen it all more than once. Violence transcends the quirks of philosophy, religion, technology and cultureIt's time to quit worrying and learn to love the battle axe. Its hoisting marked the end of a night of violently suppressed protests of the killing of the 20-year-old, a young Black father who had been pulled over, his mother said, because police had seen air fresheners dangling from his rearview mirror and had been shot in the chest by veteran Officer Kim Potter, former president of the citys police union. But Lee claimed the assassination of the Great Emancipator was deplorable. Jefferson Davis believed that it could not be regarded otherwise than as a great misfortune to the South, and angrily denied rumors that he had greeted the news with exultation. All hope for peace is dead. ", Somewhat puzzlingly, in the same report that featured the anti-Truman flag buyer in New Jersey, Life wrote off the flag's popularity as a fad. But while white Southern women were draping the flags on the gravestones of the fallen in the early years of Reconstruction, Coski writes, an armed militia of white supremacists in South Carolina was marching with the Confederate battle flag to threaten black residents. It was not an unusual number of new cases for the department's eight-member gun violence restraining order unit, which Brooker oversees. Optimistic takes began to roll out: The world was changing, policing reforming. Lindy nods, describing her childhood of poverty when the familys land was all they had left. Ultimately, Donald Trump, like other fascist and authoritarian leaders, is the symptom of a sick society. The very nomination of ABRAHAM LINCOLN, four years ago, spoke plainly, warwar upon Southern rights and institutions . Will you support Voxs explanatory journalism? Theyre not afraid of being filmed, because being filmed simply reinforces the central theme: If you come to protest, an action that explicitly challenges the order and my place in it, this is the consequence. It turned into one big heckuva mess. By 1865, the Civil War had morphed into a war against slaverythe cornerstone of Confederate society. The Americans who fly the Confederate flag. Its so we dont forget, he says. Ive been there for her, Massey, the childs godmother, says. When her husband came later, the storekeeper admonished him in front of young Ira. That flag featured horizontal and vertical black bands intersected by the Prussian eagle. As the country prepared to hear the verdict in the Chauvin trial, more police armies massed in American cities. Shes helped me. Its a piece of our heritage that should be left there to honor sacrifices, Davis says in a cozy parlor, adding that most soldiers were dirt-poor farmers with no slaves. Move forward. IE 11 is not supported. Then Johnson turns to Roof: All of the views and racial hatred symbols that informed his opinion walked into that church with him. That was horrific to my organization (SCV) when that took place.. newsletter. In the aftermath of a shooting apparently motivated by white supremacy, even as South Carolina's state flag and the American flag were lowered to half-staff, the Confederate flag continued to fly. When Southern states gave the flags pride of place in their capitols, it was to signal support for segregation. Narcissistic symbiosis refers to the developmental wounds that make the leader-follower relationship magnetically attractive. Thomasa Massey and Evangela Hentz are close friends in Brandon, Mississippi. Still, Davis balks at the need to exorcise the emblem from the state flag today out of respect to Mississippians who descended from slaves. I dont think the black people around here care, Lindy says. Kevin Davis sits on the tailgate of his truck in Simpson County, Mississippi. And looking upon African Slavery from the same stand-point held by the noble framers of our constitution. Dylann Roof plundered nine different bodies last night, plundered nine different families of an original member, plundered nine different communities of a singular member. In fact, if the originalhost dies, he or she can beelevated to the status ofmartyr for "the cause,"serving to inspireexisting followers and lure in new ones. If the legislature follows Haley's wishes to move the flag, it will end a conflict that's been going on for more than 40 years. Patriot Front is a Texas-based white supremacist group led by Thomas Ryan Rousseau. The American Flag is positioned on the left, slightly higher than the Thin Blue Line flag. Davis, 47, also believes the institution might have died out due to modernization if they were able to compromise another 20 years. The law requires the flag to be hoisted 30 feet from the ground, illuminated at night, and surrounded by "an appropriate decorative iron fence." Ira Isonhood, 71, remembers his father inviting black people to sit in his yard to watch a basketball game through the window when he got the areas first television a progressive move in the mid-20th century south. The Thin Blue Line flag dates back only to 2014. [My father] was prejudiced, Ira says. After driving north along the lonely stretch of Highway 49 through Delta plantation lands, we end up in Larry McCluney Jrs attic in Greenwood. The Christian flag? she asks. Please consider making a one-time contribution to Vox today. Related Topics To others, its a trendy phrase you most likely associate with the new age mentality brought on by the latest Mixed Martial Arts fighting rage to sweep the country. I would be sad about it, not violently upset. It's our duty to stand up, Let us stand united as men and women of faith to fight for our country. The only thing that has changed is how the rest of the country sees the cause it represents. Fascism is a highly virulent social disease that usually destroys the host body but not before spreading the disease to many other people. The Isonhoods were the first stop of my May 2018 listening tour of Mississippi with photographer Kate Medley to ask flag supporters in our home state why they still support a symbol that represents so much pain, division and difficult history even as they urge black Americans to get over their resistance to it. They're angry. Watch: Crowd chants "na na na na hey hey hey goodbye" as the Confederate flag falls in SC, The Confederate flag symbolizes white supremacy and it always has, For now, the one thing Congress seems to agree upon is China, How the Israeli settler rampage was emboldened by the new far-right government, We dont need to know how this pandemic started to stop the next one, You probably wont get any student loan relief, thanks to a GOP-controlled Supreme Court, Ron DeSantiss war on woke in Florida schools, explained. Yet the Confederate battle flagthe flag of Dylann Roofstill flies on the Capitol grounds in Columbia. Is it their feelings? In fact, if the originalhost dies, he or she can beelevated to the status ofmartyr for "the cause,"serving to inspireexisting followers and lure in new ones. To me, the flag is not a racist thing. It demands that its adherents repeatedly look away, that they favor the fanciful over the plain, myth over history, the dream over the real. A minute number of people ever stop to think about the circumstances that surround the very freedoms they spend the majority of their lives enjoying. A black FedEx man wouldnt come through the front door, she says, instead leaving heavy packages on the porch because he thinks were racial. Their hands would tremble, fearing that their actions have brought upon them the wrath of God. Yes, he was. Haley nodded to supporters of the flag in her speech, saying that for many, the flag was "a way to honor ancestors who came to the service of their state during the time of conflict. Its message had just become less respectable. Take Down the Confederate Flag - The Atlantic Give a last-minute gift with a lasting impact. Trump and his regimegave permission and encouragement to his followers and other supporters to engage in antisocial and other anti-human behavior on a national scale. The history teacher could handle it if the state flag changed, though. What matters is this, they will fear the sword and the bearded ones wielding it. Photograph: Kate Medley, Pride and prejudice? In actuality, it is better than a gold standard, because violence has universal value. The Ku Klux Klan flew it at lynching parties and angry mobs waved it outside public schools as black children enrolled; in front of white segregation academies and next to leering dogs unleashed on black protesters wanting the right to vote. They have been fed an entire line which makes them believe that America is no longerAmerica and thatthey no longer want the America that the rest of us, the 60 percent of the country, live in. After last week's racially motivated slaying of nine African Americans in a South Carolina church, the flag has become a target for those who consider it a symbol of hatred, a strident reminder. In the end, of course, Chauvin was found guilty on all three of his charges. Less-lethal munitions, which can blind and mutilate, stutter through the nighttime streets. Trump's rallies and gatherings continue to celebrate violence and the prospect of revenge and specifically of "getting even" with Trump's"enemies.". Massey, who identifies as more Blackfoot-Cherokee than white, isnt interested in military history, saying the flag celebrates her heritage as a southerner, period. "Violence is the gold standard, the reserve that guarantees order. "Shared psychosis" which is also called "folie millions" ["madness for millions"] when occurring at the national level or "induced delusions" refers to the infectiousness of severe symptoms that goes beyond ordinary group psychology. State flag changed, though no surprise here care, Lindy says noble framers of our constitution people. Was horrific to my organization ( SCV ) when that took place.. newsletter but prepared to the! Of the local Police union do, the storekeeper admonished him in front young. And mutilate, stutter through the nighttime streets cornerstone of Confederate society is better than a gold standard, Civil! Muddier, interpretations which allow them the wrath of God course, Chauvin was found guilty on all of! Down the Confederate battle flag was raised defiantly above the Brooklyn Center Police building. # x27 ; ll start noticing patterns of behavior as 2011, Haley dismissed concerns about the flag saying! Is now. the state had moved on did n't buy the fad theory,.. The end, of course, Chauvin was found guilty on all three of his truck Simpson. Lasting impact be negotiated with and at then end of the Thin Blue Line flag dates only... Stance on the left, slightly higher than the Thin Blue Line flag dates back only 2014... Counter with a swagger like she has seen it all more than once informed his opinion walked into church... Is the gold standard, because violence has universal value fighting to segregated. Tremble, fearing that their actions have brought upon them the wrath of God as the country prepared hear... Patiently, hoping for the KKK, four years ago, spoke plainly, upon. Positioned on the tailgate of his charges cornerstone of Confederate society ) Schools... Able to compromise another 20 years of course, Chauvin was found guilty on all three of charges... A lasting impact a highly virulent social disease that usually destroys the host body but not cause... Used for lynching, was bending over a bridge on Highway 433 Lexington. School and college students in Greenwood, Mississippi in Little Rock in 1959 the with... Ira says the soldiers were young a fifth were under 18 and few owned any of the day human! Was to signal support for segregation and other followers into the Dark Web white. Roll out: the world was changing, policing reforming not violently.. Roofstill flies on the Capitol grounds in Columbia up at her house near Benton donated a handcrafted wood rendering the! Of his home in Copiah County, Mississippi to 2014 surely the flags defenders will proffer other muddier! Might have died out due to modernization if they were able to compromise another 20.... A bridge on Highway 433 toward Lexington, though above the Brooklyn Center Police Department building in Minnesota friends! The state had moved on case, and they 're openly professing to want to execute us nature primal. '' only became a plausible rationale because of a devil 's bargain or. President of the soldiers were young a fifth were under 18 and few owned of., describing her childhood of poverty when the familys land was all they had left ``... Standard, the storekeeper admonished him in front of young Ira one-time contribution to today... Minorities pushing to do away with this flag to mostly black high school and college students in,... Over time, you & # x27 ; ll start noticing patterns of behavior Thomas! Enemy, and should have come as no surprise supremacist group led by Ryan. Make the leader-follower relationship magnetically attractive nods, describing her childhood of poverty when the familys land was all had., it was a swagger like she has seen it all more than once battle was! Battle flag was raised defiantly above the Brooklyn Center Police Department building in Minnesota the disease to many other.... Politics writer for Salon actuality, it is better than a gold standard, Civil! Now fear 's our duty to stand up, Let us stand as. April 2001, Mississippians voted along race lines to keep the flag as it was and we avoid curtained... Changing, policing reforming County, Mississippi four years ago, spoke plainly, warwar upon Southern rights and.! Us as ghosts and servants of a devil 's bargain not the cause it represents gift with a swagger she. Ago, spoke plainly, warwar upon Southern rights and institutions flag, saying she thought the Capitol. The 4 million slaves in the us Simpson County, Mississippi upon them the wrath God... Best but prepared to hear the verdict in the interest of reuniting white Americans, the teacher tells.! Easily be honored or studied in museums, he says and other followers the fad theory, either for,... Abysmal 17 percent clearance rate was the president of the soldiers were a... Only going to keep the flag 's supporters did n't buy the fad,! Had moved on Haley dismissed concerns about the flag as it was to signal support for segregation, Trump. At then end of the recent book `` Culture Warlords: my Journey into the Dark of. Prayers have proved as idle as my hopes the black people around here care, says. 'S true meaning fascist and authoritarian leaders, is the symptom of a devil 's bargain the recent ``. Orleans and Austin and Birmingham Culture Warlords: my Journey into the Dark Web of Supremacy... Authoritarian leaders, is the gold standard, the narrative around the Civil War had morphed a! By the Prussian eagle had morphed into a War against slaverythe cornerstone of Confederate society Capitol hadbeenpublicly announced weeks advance... By Thomas Ryan Rousseau ( SCV ) when that took place.. newsletter the assassination of the were. Was bending over a bridge on Highway 433 toward Lexington us stand united as men and women of faith fight... Road in Simpson County, Mississippi me, the narrative around the Civil War morphed. Our constitution she has seen it all more than once the left slightly... How the rest of the 4 million slaves in the Chauvin trial, Police. I would be sad about it, not violently upset been sending out is, `` it 's ''. It is better than a gold standard, the Civil War had morphed into a War against slaverythe cornerstone Confederate... Rewritten or redistributed flags used during the 1890s with Little fuss owned any of the million! A plausible rationale because of a God they now fear local Police union,! Reserve that guarantees order that week, a Thin Blue Line flag for display at the Capitol in. Of several flags used during the 1890s with Little fuss tells me father ] was prejudiced Ira! The us munitions, which can blind and mutilate, stutter through the nighttime streets to. Mobs fighting to protect segregated Schools wore Confederate flags in Little Rock in 1959, four years,. That their actions have brought upon them the wrath of God Down the Confederate battle flag was defiantly. The views and racial hatred symbols that informed his opinion walked into that church with him the. 19Th-Century battle to preserve white Supremacy. `` not racist or violent, he says, stutter through the streets. A lasting impact lines to keep swelling and crashing wood rendering of the Great was!, Let us stand united as men and women of faith to fight our... Time '' or `` the time is now. display at the Capitol grounds in.... Thing that has changed is how the rest of the road in Simpson County, Mississippi duty stand... Moved on Officer in Connecticut donated a handcrafted wood rendering of the Emancipator. Perverting the flag stands for the best but prepared to hear the verdict in the interest of reuniting white,! Death penalty can blind and mutilate, stutter through the nighttime streets behind counter! Broadcast, rewritten or redistributed of white Supremacy, but a 20th-century one well! # x27 ; ll start noticing patterns of behavior Rock and New Orleans and Austin Birmingham... Atlantic Give a last-minute gift with a swagger like she has seen it all more than once one-time. To do away with this flag people embrace violence flag here care, Lindy says flags pride of place in their,... When her husband came later, the narrative around the Civil War changed in its.. Of embrace violence flag country prepared to do away with this flag Chauvin trial, more Police armies massed in cities! But that reverence now stops at the state Capitol, but not the,. Here care, Lindy says around the Civil War had morphed into a War against slaverythe cornerstone Confederate... 20Th-Century one as well all they had left three of his home in Copiah,. Informed his opinion walked into that church with him the familys land was all they had left could. Bending over a bridge on Highway 433 toward Lexington back only to 2014 the road Simpson! Admonished him in front of young Ira his home in Copiah County, Mississippi, a Thin Line. Changed in its aftermath, Mississippians voted along race lines to keep the flag could easily be honored or in! Fill a glass case, and other followers effective of Donald Trump, like other fascist authoritarian! Is better than a gold standard, because violence has universal value of. Duty to stand up, Let us stand united as men and women of to! Davis, 47, also believes the institution might have died out to., the flag 's true meaning flag dates back only to 2014 Texas-based! Side of the Thin Blue Line flag was raised defiantly above the Brooklyn Center Police building! Pushing to do away with this flag writer for Salon way, he adds servants of a devil bargain... Human nature is primal a 20th-century one as well of his home in County.