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Happy Confederate History Month

Jill

That’s enough, white people.

(Really, you guys. Celebrating Confederate history is not celebrating our history. It’s celebrating the historical right of some people to own other people. It’s not celebrating states’ rights. It’s celebrating states’ rights to allow slavery. Let’s at least be up-front here).

64 thoughts on Happy Confederate History Month

  1. confederate history month? are you fucking kidding me?!
    dear celebrating whites: all you need to remember about the confederacy is: you lost. thank goodness. now step away from the confederate flag and go home.

  2. Can we give Virginia back to the English? I don’t want these idiots in my country.

  5. @politcalguineapig – I would expect more of people who post at this site, but there it is. As a Virginian and thus one of “these idiots,” I can assure you that not all of us are whatever you think we are. There is no need to disrespect an entire region of people based on one or few that you don’t like.

    @thetroubleis – absolutely, you’re right. I see nothing wrong with southern people being proud of where we come from, good and bad. “Confederate” history has a negative connotation which, for most people, cannot be separated from other aspects of southern history. I’m proud of where I come from because it’s MY history. I feel sorry and sad about the negative things that were done by southern people and proud of the positive – this is what it means to embrace your origins.

  6. I agree in principle, but as a Texas state employee, I get Confederate Heroes’ Day off as a state holiday, so I’m kind of conflicted.

  7. I agree with ohplease.

    The south has a distinct culture, who’s history involves the oppression of black people. In southern culture that history is addressed and talked about. In other US cultures, that history is denied despite it’s existence. What about the massacre of Native Americans throughout the US (the north included)? What about the oppression of immigrants and African-Americans in northern cities? What about the people in the north that hunted down “fugitive slaves” and sent them back? To dismiss the celebration of a culture and to call a whole region of the US ignorant doesn’t add anything to the discussion. I agree that calling it a celebration of southern culture would probably be better because it does not glorify a specific political body that fought for slavery, but I don’t think that shitting on southern culture is the best way to have that conversation.

  8. How fortunately timed, right when so many people are talking secession anyway. Coincidence? Ok, maybe. But there’s a good chance it’s not.

  9. I would have to agree with ohplease about Virginia. Though the British might agree to take it back. Virginia is ranked right with Colorado as having the most counties in the top 100 based on per capita income. Loudoun and Fairfax counties in Northern Virginia had the highest and second highest median incomes of all counties in the United States in 2006.

  10. Moments like this require a quote from a great American, general and namesake of the nation’s first anti-trust act: Sherman.

    Sherman was the superintendent of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy prior to the outbreak of hostilities, and when he learned of SC’s secession in 1860 he had the following to say to a southern friend and secessionist:

    “You people of the South don’t know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end. It is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization! You people speak so lightly of war; you don’t know what you’re talking about. War is a terrible thing! You mistake, too, the people of the North. They are a peaceable people but an earnest people, and they will fight, too. They are not going to let this country be destroyed without a mighty effort to save it… Besides, where are your men and appliances of war to contend against them? The North can make a steam engine, locomotive, or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or pair of shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical, and determined people on Earth—right at your doors. You are bound to fail. Only in your spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with. At first you will make headway, but as your limited resources begin to fail, shut out from the markets of Europe as you will be, your cause will begin to wane. If your people will but stop and think, they must see in the end that you will surely fail.”

    As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, While God is marching on.

    Eat it, South. Ever the finger in out nations’ eye. For no reason but spite.

  11. To all Southerners: Look, if you put the grown-ups in charge, I’ll stop dissing the South. ‘Til then, I reserve a right to pick on the toddlers.

  12. “To dismiss the celebration of a culture and to call a whole region of the US ignorant doesn’t add anything to the discussion.”

    Also: I dismiss celebration of an insane movement to celebrate the commission of treason for the express purpose of enshrining the inalienable right of a state to make laws allowing the ownership of human beings as chattel property.

    People have not traditionally “addressed” the evils of slavery or the insanity of getting 600,000 American men killed to protect the “peculiar institution” in the South either.

  13. Isn’t it fun how this (definitely very badly named) month got converted to “classism and nationalism against the south in general and Virginia in particular” month :/.

  14. @cump

    Pedant point: the first antitrust act was named after his younger brother John, a senator from Ohio.

    When Gov. McDonnell complains that Virginia was overhelmed by the North, does he ask himself how the North had that advatage in the first place? Why did the North attarct more immigrants and have more factories and better farms than the South? Could it be that free people are better at sustaining a diversified economy?

  15. Do y’all think it might be possible to address the substantive issues with anyone observing something as vile as “Confederate History Month” without using disability metaphors (cognitive variance in “idiots” and though it hasn’t turned up yet this is just the sort of topic where mental illness “crazy” “whacko” “lunatic” “batshit” is often used) and age metaphors (“grown-ups,” “toddlers”)? And it would be awfully considerate of you, Politicalguineapig to fucking stop telling those of us who are social justice activists living in the South that we get to just suck up your bigotry until we manage to completely replace the entire social and political structure down here. If you paid a little attention instead of being feeling so damn superior you might have noticed we are winning. Slowly. And not without setbacks. But we are winning.

    If you must play with your smug do it in private, won’t you?

  16. Why did the North attarct more immigrants and have more factories and better farms than the South? Could it be that free people are better at sustaining a diversified economy?

    The north had a more diversified economy, one primarily involved with manufacturing as time went by. Immigrants move where the jobs are. In contrast the south was rural, had very little industry, and relied on slave labor for allot of farm work. Strangely enough though the south had better military commanders. That’s the primary reason the war went on so long.

    Are free people better at sustaining a diversified economy? Good question. It’s apparently not necessary, as China will soon be the world’s biggest economy, and her people are certainly not free.

  17. To paraphrase: if we do not learn from the past, aren’t we condemned to repeat it? And it’s Confederate History month, not ‘Celebrate Confederacy’ month, right?

  18. The Confederacy assaulted the United States of America and killed our soldiers and sailors in their efforts to maintain and expand a sick, vile and unjust society. This the Confederacy has in common with al-Qaeda and the Third Reich. 150 years later, the readmission still appears to be a mistake.

    I would not have a problem with Virginia doing this if they would simply secede first, right now. Mississippi, too. If the Confederacy is so great, bring it back and clear our your Yankee Doodle desks, Dixie. And don’t let any damn fool tell you that the Civil War was not about slavery or had something to do with tariffs; a brief perusal of the various Confederate secession declarations will clear that up fast.

    If Southern USA citizens want to enjoy their culture, food, music, folk tales, religion but as patriotic CITIZENS of the USA, fine – their business. But if they really want to secede or find their violent, secessionist heritage such a source of identity, they should negotiate for secession in a manner consistent with law NOW. If they hate Washington so much, let them put their national capital in in Roanoke or Birmingham. Put down the tea bags and start drawing up a new constitution for the new Confederate republic.

    1. Ok, all: There is PLENTY to criticize about this ridiculous month. However. Not all Southerners, and not all Virginians, are responsible. So, yes, there is a lot worth criticizing about the culture of the South, and about the political climate that led to this month being recognized; but there’s also a LOT worth criticizing about the culture of the North. Which isn’t to equivocate the two, exactly; the US is a big place, and there are very different experiences and histories to be evaluated. But this line that Northerners are enlightened and Southerners aren’t is silly — even while I think we can all recognize that racism plays out in different ways in different cultural contexts. So maybe let’s not blame The South, and instead look at the various cultural and political and economic and racial structures that enable this kind of thing to happen in this particular place. And just like I roll my eyes whenever someone launches an All Northerners Are Rich Elitists argument? I would imagine Southerners — especially Southern readers of Feministe for goodness sakes — roll their eyes whenever someone assumes that All Southerners Are Racist Hicks.

      So let’s stop that, ok?

      What we’re dealing with here is a politically empowered group of individuals, whose clout is slowly (but blessedly) waning. And so they’re scrambling to stay on top by clinging to concepts like a shared (white) history. It’s racist, it’s bigoted and its wrong, but surely not all the residents of Virginia, or all Southerners, are to blame. I’ll also point out that there are a LOT of descendants of slaves who are Virginians and Southerners more generally. Just sayin’.

  19. I would not have a problem with Virginia doing this if they would simply secede first, right now. Mississippi, too. If the Confederacy is so great, bring it back and clear our your Yankee Doodle desks, Dixie.

    To be fair? They tried that. That was their solution in the first place. The Union didn’t allow it.

  20. Can we give Virginia back to the English?

    Yes, because the first people we should think of when we’re talking about giving back territory in North America should be the British.

  21. @ thetroubleis:

    The trouble is 🙂 — if it’s Southern History Month, everyone would get to celebrate.

    You’ll forgive my cynicism if I argue that might not necessarily be what those folks promoting Confederate History Month are interested in, exactly.

  22. JDP: Sorry, I assumed the Native Americans wouldn’t want it back. Then again, they’d probably be better at governing the various states then the current occupants.
    I think about the only governors who haven’t made asshats of themselves/cheated/embezzled are the governors of Missisippi, Louisiana, and possibly, Tennesee and Kentucky. Don’t know about the governor of Oklahoma, because the congressional delegation tends to grab headlines by fellating their feet.
    Piny: you’re right, I shouldn’t have insulted toddlers. But my patience with the Religious wrong and various varieties of Rethugs runs short these days.

  24. The anti-southern stuff coming from some of the earlier commenters has its roots in classism.

    I’m of post-civil war immigrant stock, and a toasty brown, so the fact that I like the South and feel there’s nothing wrong with celebrating it, is twice removed from the association the South has with the Civil War. Living in a city like Atlanta, which is full of POC, it’s clear that these so-called (Confederate) celebrations of the South are about excluding POC from what constitutes their mental image of what the South looks like.

  25. As someone who grew up in the south and then moved up north I’d like to make a few observations.

    Racism is openly talked about in the south and how the south’s history has perpetuated it. While living in the north there has been a discussion of racism in a more distant sense as something that “those people” do as opposed to something that is being struggled with by themselves. I think that having an awareness of that past is essential, and is something that I have not seen in the north (I cannot speak for other regions).

    As an activist, I can say that A LOT of work is being done to change attitudes toward race in the south (and maybe that work was reflected in the election results, just a little). Attitudes are changing and I think that a large portion of the southern population is getting on board. It’s unfortunate, but it seems like the loudest people are generally the most bigoted. Having lived in the culture that many of y’all find so disdainful, I can say that while those ideas are present, but they are not reflective of the entire culture. There is so much more to the south than hate.

    It makes me sad to see how quick people are to stereotype a whole subculture of US society and think nothing of it. You won’t be changing anyone’s beliefs or attitudes with that approach. I know this is probably more optimistic than is warranted, but I’d like to think that an investigation of confederate history could spark a better understanding of white privilege and black oppression in the south. I’m sure the majority of it will be a celebration of historical figures from the CSA, but maybe – just maybe – it’ll be an opportunity for even more change.

  26. Politicalguineapig, the first rule of debate is – when you’re in a hole, stop digging.

    Virginia isn’t yours to “give back” to the UK. However economically advantageous it would be to the State of Virginia to become part of the EU, a state cannot become part of the EU without first guaranteeing specific standards in human rights and equality to everyone who lives there: and Virginia falls well below EU standards in that respect.

    (As do many US states, I have to say, and so does the US as a whole: it’s not an anti-Southern observation to say that the EU has higher standards of basic human rights than the US does.)

  27. @littlem: I’m pretty sure that’s exactly why it isn’t called southern history month either. We wouldn’t want brown people to think they are real southerns.

    On the topic of how the south is so horrid, it would be really great to paint a whole area with a broad brush and classist statements. Northerners, and I am one, love to pretend that becuase we didn’t succeed to keep slavery that we are so much better and less racist, when honestly, the racism just plays out in different ways.

  29. Really? Racsim and classism meet the bar in terms of what is allowed on this site? I’m not ticked at pgp, I’m ticked at the moderators who are fine and dandy with letting through posts that only serve to express disdain for a region and a class.

  31. When I first saw this story, I couldn’t help but think that W.T. Sherman would recognize this instantly. The entire Sherman/Grant Southern Strategy, and the March to the Sea, was based on Sherman’s observations of Southern culture. He feared that unless total victory (including the humiliation of the South) was achieved, the war would be celebrated by the South for years after they lost. In essence, the war would resurface again and again.

    His belief was that total victory was necessary to show the South that the Union could and would take all steps necessary to win. This included taking the war to the heart of the Confederacy and making it personal. The burning of Atlanta and the freeing of slaves along the March all played into this strategy.

  32. Uh yeah. I lived in the South for 12 years. I am not amused by some of these comments.

    In essence, the war would resurface again and again.

    And yet, it does resurface. This Confederate History Month nonsense is proof of that, methinks.

  33. Really? Racsim and classism meet the bar in terms of what is allowed on this site? I’m not ticked at pgp, I’m ticked at the moderators who are fine and dandy with letting through posts that only serve to express disdain for a region and a class.

    Most comments go up automatically, so no, we aren’t “letting through” posts that are classist or regionalist. I’ve already jumped in and asked people to please knock if off, and I’m hoping they will. But we do not approve every comment; most go up without us seeing them.

  34. I just wanted to add that the North was not populated entirely by “free” people. To cite just one example, New York State did not legally emancipate slaves until 1827, and because of loopholes in the law there were still legally enslaved people in New York as late as 1841. Sojourner Truth, the famous feminist and anti-slavery activist, was born a slave in New York.

    That said, Confederate History month is a vile piece of white supremacist douchebaggery.

    I now return to my regularly scheduled lurking.

  35. I’ve always wanted to celebrate the Confederacy. I’d really like to be able to do it. I’d like to be able to celebrate the ideas that ought to have driven a secession movement in this country. I like to root for the rebel, the anti-federalist and I’d love to have a holiday in which I could. Unfortunately, the confederacy made it’s stand on people owning one another and that can’t ever really be erased. It would have been great if the war was about freedom, it would have been great if you could cast it as a hero and a villain. Unfortunately, the civil war was about one side wanting to own human beings and the other side refusing to tolerate any loss of territory or power. A fight between two groups of evil men drafting children to die for repugnant ideals just doesn’t seem worth celebrating to me.

  36. I went and read the article, and it made me sad. Forget all the Southerners that were slaves, or those that fought for the North, or the other complex reasons someone would fight and die in a war–no, that all falls to historical jingoism about “freedom”. The Confederacy is an important part of American history, and I would support knowing and learning more about the whole of it in context. But this gilded racism crap is making me sick, and even more, it makes white Southerners look ignorant, racist, and stupid.

  37. Karak,

    I agree- the blatant racism of the mere idea of a Confederate History Month makes me ill. However, it does NOT make white Southerners look ignorant, racist, and stupid. SOME might be, but I am a born-and-raised southerner. I’ve lived in Texas my whole life. And you know what? I’m white. Does that mean I “look” ignorant, racist, and stupid?

    I’m sick to death of people speaking in generalities and damning the whole because a part is wrong. I’m a liberal, bisexual, agnostic, educated feminist who is politically active trying to make a difference. I’m also a white Southerner.

  38. I just want to echo others comments. I’m a Texan, born and bred, and trying to make a difference in my state, my country, and my community as a progressive activist. I definitely don’t like the tone of some of the comments.

    That said, I’m all for celebrating Southern History (as it really is quite interesting), but celebrating Confederate History is pure bullshit.

    Also, I lived in Virginia, and it went for Obama, remember? It was a swing state. Ready to “give it back” to whomever now? State legislatures do crazy things during election years, but the voters also elect progressives.

  39. North Carolina went to Obama too. We did everything we could to make it happen – even from abroad. Some of ya’ll can kiss my lily-white immigrant ass on that account.

  40. I agree- the blatant racism of the mere idea of a Confederate History Month makes me ill. However, it does NOT make white Southerners look ignorant, racist, and stupid.

    Well, to be fair, it kind of does make white Southerners look ignorant, racist and stupid. I think it makes white Americans generally look ignorant, racist and stupid. That doesn’t mean that white Southerners or white Americans are universally ignorant, racist or stupid — I don’t think I’m ignorant, racist or stupid — but yeah, celebrating the Confederacy? Gives that impression.

  41. I think it makes white Americans generally look ignorant, racist and stupid.

    What happens in Virginia does not reflect on the majority of white Americans. This wasn’t even voted on by the public in that state. I seriously doubt that the majority of white Americans (most white Americans don’t live in the south anyway) would vote to approve a Confederate History month.

  42. … I don’t know about everyone in the South. I know that when my Texan aunt celebrates it she does so by making racing jokes against African Americans then apologizes to my Mexican/Japanese/Sue/White boyfriend.
    I also know that I live in a very small town in Colorado. When people celebrate anything Confederate here it’s by acting like a bunch of racist, redneck, jackasses. I know that the strongest Confederate supporters in town were angry at their grandson for going to prom with an African American single mom. I know that the people here with the Confederate flag bumper sticker do not have it to show their appreciation for southern culture or history.

    Most importantly, it’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and Poetry Month, and both of those are more important to me than some of my old highschool peers spouting the claim that they have any knowledge of history (Southern or otherwise).

  43. RE: PGP

    JDP: Sorry, I assumed the Native Americans wouldn’t want it back. Then again, they’d probably be better at governing the various states then the current occupants.

    Considering they’re fighting for basic recognition, yeah, I think they’d like it back. ‘Course, the state and federal government (especially the federal government) have been doing everything possible to prevent them from achieving it. Since the subject at hand is racism, you might want to contemplate the story about the glass house and the stones.

    RE: Yonmei:

    the EU has higher standards of basic human rights than the US does.

    Tell that to the Roma and Sinti. And, if Turkey is inducted into the EU, to the Armenians and Kurds, as well.

  44. If the comments were about some other marginalized group, they would be deleted. But they’re about southerner’s, so let ’em stand.

  46. OK, does everybody agree that 1. not all Northerners belong to the ACLU and 2. not all Southerners are racists? Good.

    The Governor has declared Confederate History Month. What is there to do about it? Anyone have any ideas for constructive action here?

    I suspect, as others have said, that it’s striking while the political iron is hot because states’ rights is an issue for the Right, cause some people don’t learn. BTW, I’m surprised That War is being referred to as The Civil War, and not The War Between The States!

    Yes, the Confederacy lost the war. I think. My mother’s from Texas and she says she wasn’t clear about that for a very long time, and my friend who grew up in Virginia in the 50s says kind of the same thing–well, hey, VA closed the public schools rather than comply w/ “Brown v Board of Education” and banned interracial marriage in that decade. My point is, they’re sore about it–still–and that’s relevant now.

    I’d like it if there was a look @ slavery as part of Hooray for the Confederacy Days, a historically truthful one. Then if they all wanna dress up like Scarlett O’Hara and wave that damn flag, well, there’s no accounting for stupid.

  47. “Well, to be fair, it kind of does make white Southerners look ignorant, racist and stupid. I think it makes white Americans generally look ignorant, racist and stupid. That doesn’t mean that white Southerners or white Americans are universally ignorant, racist or stupid — I don’t think I’m ignorant, racist or stupid — but yeah, celebrating the Confederacy? Gives that impression.”

    Saying that since ONE white governor of a Southern state did something stupid gives the impression that all white Southerners are also stupid is like saying that since the people who flew into the World Trade Center were Muslim that it gives the impression that all Muslims hate America and are militant. That’s just wrong, wrong, wrong. The only thing it should give the impression of is that one Southern governor did something stupid. Period. End of story. Anything more than that should be fought against.

    1. To clarify, I’m not saying that it’s GOOD that this gives the impression — or confirms stereotypes — that Southerners/white people/Americans are racist, but I do think that in a lot of peoples’ minds, it does do that, good or not good.

  48. As for what can be done, I would suggest that local activists work to make sure that the Confederacy is taught in school as something that was driven by slavery, and not “The War of Northern Aggression.” Also, use the time to teach about black soldiers and the conditions of slavery.

    As for the governor, there are term limits, so he’s gone at the end of his term anyway. But you can make sure that the next governor is more progressive.

  49. Does institutional racism still exist in the South masquerading as “Southern Culture”? I dunno, but when I was a little (Hispanic, Jewish) kid in Tennessee in the late 80s, we were taught racist minstrel-show mainstays like “Dixie” and “Blue Tail Fly” in public school. And we left the state after a teacher suggested to my parents that it was “in my blood” to be disruptive in class (a parent-teacher conference I remember crying at). Yes, that was 20 year ago, but I somehow doubt things have changed all that much.

  50. Because it’s a recurring theme on this website – allowing attacks on Southerners to continue with relatively weak checks – I’d like to remind us that hate exists everywhere, unfortunately: http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/hate-map#s=

    New York has approximately as many hate groups as Alabama, with a disturbingly similar distribution. This comment isn’t made as a sort of one-up. It’s not, “See, you have a problem too. Leave us alone.” It’s, “See, we all have a problem. Isn’t that frightening?”

    That said, the idea of celebrating the Confederacy is ridiculous and wrong. The south is far from perfect – everywhere is far from perfect – but a Republican governor attempting to pander to the kind of folks who would see this as a good thing? Isn’t that the same thing the Republican party has been doing across the nation? This smacks of political ploy, not the will of the people of Virginia. Does it please some of the people of Virginia? No doubt. Does it represent the majority? I sincerely doubt it.

    One of the problems here is that this governor felt safe in doing this – safe politically because he doesn’t fear backlash or worse, because he’ll get a pat on the head (HuffPo has a pic of him standing in front of a CPAC backdrop) – and because he feels that this will earn him some currency. My guess is that the currency he’s seeking isn’t exclusive to Virginia.

  51. “One of the problems here is that this governor felt safe in doing this – safe politically because he doesn’t fear backlash or worse, because he’ll get a pat on the head (HuffPo has a pic of him standing in front of a CPAC backdrop) – and because he feels that this will earn him some currency. My guess is that the currency he’s seeking isn’t exclusive to Virginia.”

    Good point! Maybe he wants to run for Senator when his term is up. Or heck, president. Virginia is where Palin made her infamous “real America” speech. It’s unfortunate that the “us v. them” game that divides the US in so many ways is now being playing out by glorifying a terrible consequence of the “us v. them” mentality. It seems like Confederate history month should be the perfect time to realize that the states’ fight against health care reform will and should FAIL. Instead the war is being glorified into a noble fight that was lost but somehow won and will be played out(?). It’s almost like there is a “we will finish what we started” mentality when it comes to breaking away from the federal government…. yet no one wants the federal government to stop their Medicare, Social Security, or veteran’s pension payments. They just want all those poor, lazy, dark people to stop taking their hard-earned money!! (uck!)

    Don’t forget, almost everyone in Northern Virginia works for the federal government. I don’t think this is playing out very well there.

    I’m from Texas, and my current governor made comments about seceding. It got him political capital (because Washington is evil and bad!) but no one wants to use Texas money (instead of federal money) to “protect” the border. Racism plays out in very different ways even in the South.

  52. ty ipens…because Northern politicians (ex. Guiliani) pandered to racism too during their reigns. I grew up in the South, live in the North now for the past 10 years and in the “border” states for 5. – What I noticed was that down South you know who the racists are – they fly Confederate flags on their porch, and they have no problem calling you “boy” to your face or striaght up tell little kids they’re going to hell for not being Christian. Up North the racists are in the closet – they hide out and pretend to be liberal – until they have to decide whether it’s ok for their kid to date someone of another race, you never know who is making comments about those “Jews” or other minorities (unless they fuck up and say somethign racist – since I do not have a tell-tale last name or dark enough skin – I’m at the point where I no longer reveal my religion or racial background to others. I don’t know which form of racism I “prefer” to endure – sometimes it’s nice knowing the address of your enemies – since they know yours.

  53. I’m also a lurker on this site inspired to comment due to the above.

    I am proud to be from the South. I recently moved to New York to pursue a career and publishing and never have I encountered so much ignorant classicism as in this city. Several people, knowing my background, have felt justified in commenting on how backwards they found the South based on brief experiences in rest stops on their way to Disney World or Florida for Spring Break. They ask me how happy I must be to be out. The part I love is when I object they say, “Oh, but you’re from Atlanta so that different.”

    Well, it’s not really. You cannot remove Atlanta from its region or its history. You must take the bad with the good. And in addition, why is a metropolitan area so much better than the rural south? The part of the country that gave us Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor?

    And so must we, Southerners, in our history! We cannot ignore the slavery and pretend that confederate soldiers were fighting for some “just” cause.

    I think the point I’m trying to make is that we should all just become “grown ups” and realize that each region of our country is plagued with its failings and what is important is that we recognize those failings and make an open and sincere effort to move forward. In that, the Governor of Virginia should be condemned. There are thousands of just causes this month could be better devoted to.

  55. “To all Southerners: Look, if you put the grown-ups in charge, I’ll stop dissing the South. ‘Til then, I reserve a right to pick on the toddlers.”

    Erm, we try.

    Signed,

    A Resident of North Carolina, an Obama state, damnit

    Frankly, I hate the regionalism and the smug attitudes of northerners over stuff like this. I never heard the n-word every week of my life in casual conversation until I moved to Pennsylvania.

    Those of us who fight these fights and deal with shit like “Confederacy appreciation” when it comes up in our states… Are here doing the fucking grunt work, and we do work to make things better. Blanket dismissals like yours are infuriating and really bloody elitist.

  56. “I also know that I live in a very small town in Colorado. When people celebrate anything Confederate here it’s by acting like a bunch of racist, redneck, jackasses. I know that the strongest Confederate supporters in town were angry at their grandson for going to prom with an African American single mom. I know that the people here with the Confederate flag bumper sticker do not have it to show their appreciation for southern culture or history.”

    I do tend to agree. I don’t have any Southern relatives who do things like celebrate Confederate History Month even though many are conservatives. But I agree with everyone who has stated that it’s all of about celebrating a White South or at least an Antebellum South (and, yeah, glorifying slavery). That’s why so many of us in the South are working to make sure that this *doesn’t* happen in our states. That’s why comments about giving us back to Britain are soul-killing and morale-crushing (And, yeah, damnit, I’ll be as hyperbolic about this as I please. I’m sick of the elitist, classist comments I keep seeing here.).

    That said, I do want to draw some distinctions wrt Confederate flag usage. In the South, as elsewhere, I tend to see it as a blanket manifestation of racism. Of course that’s what it is. But the racism *means* different things depending on where it shows up. When I lived in Pennsylvania, I learned quickly that the appearance of the Confederate flag meant that had just spotted a member of the Klan or of some other White Identity movement. My whiteness might protect me if we were in a rural area, but I’d better be damned quiet about my queerness if I wanted to get out of the area unharmed.

    In my part of the South, at least, the flag does not usually mean that one is a card-carrying owner of the white robe. It’s an obnoxious symbol and tends to be seen most prominently on t-shirts that say things like, “heritage, not hate.” Of course it’s impossible to separate “Confederate celebration” from a celebration of hate, and it’s maddening to see that kind of sloganeering anywhere. However… I see the flag *less frequently* in the Raleigh area than I ever saw it in central PA. I mean, I’m fairly shocked when I see it around here. Its presence usually means that I’m in the presence of a good ol’ redneck boy, and even if I’m presenting as queer, he tends to be polite, open doors for me, and refrain from saying anything inflammatory. This guy may secretly hate me and vote against me and say awful things about me to his family, but he is unlikely to be violent with me in passing.

    I can’t speak to the experiences of POC, obviously. But… When I see the flag in the South, I feel far safer than when I see it in the North. As a queer person. There is definitely a difference between running into your everyday redneck flag-wearer in North Carolina and running into a Klan/Aryan Nation/militia member.

    I guess what I want to say is… Race and racism are talked (and thought) about differently in the North and in the South. In the North, it’s generally thought of as a “Southern” problem. Those who can talk seriously about a “post-racial America” are generally from the North. In the South, it’s just impossible. Whatever your political persuasion, at *least* you know your history well enough to know that a “post racial” society is both impossible and undesirable/exclusionary (because it will continue to reward assimilation to the White Middle Class Ideal). I’ve yet to meet a Southern person who *can’t* speak about this stuff, or a Southern person who sputters and cries Speshul White Tears when confronted with racism. (I’m sure they exist, okay, so no need to disprove me… It’s just…. They’re less *ubiquitous* here.) Those of us who are white and from the South *know* that we come from a society that has perpetuated egregious crimes against POC. We *know* that we carry seeds of that racism inside us even if we’d like not to, and while we do fuck up a lot… Things are not as bad as they were 50 years ago (And I can’t say that about the North, where segregation has skyrocketed along with hate group activity). I will say that I have learned how to confront white people in the South about their racism–and how to have conversations and get it out in the open. When I lived in Pennsylvania, I had no idea how to respond when I was shut down every time with, “But that’s a problem in the South, not here.”

    Nor did I have the infrastructure of the Civil Rights Movement to go to when I needed to address, say, racially-motivated threats against my students. There’s not much of a mechanism for addressing it there. Here, we have a long history of trying and trying and failing and trying again to address it, so we’ve got…a powerful NAACP office for instance, and several local attorneys who made their careers within the civil rights movement and who know how to take on the criminal elements of racism. It’s scary (and shocking) to find oneself in the middle of nowhere, PA, learn that your black students are getting death threats, and find that there is no local Civil Rights infrastructure–or any infrastructure–that can support them.

  57. “The Governor has declared Confederate History Month. What is there to do about it? Anyone have any ideas for constructive action here?”

    You need to find out what people are doing locally before even beginning to touch this. I am sure that the most effective activism around something like this is going to be both (1) local and (2) spearheaded by the sizable POC population of VA. Give money to support what people are already doing. A bunch of white folk from NYC storming the capital (which I know is not exactly what anyone suggested, but just to be clear:) is likely to be perceived as elitist. Support grassroots efforts because there *are* effective grassroots efforts throughout the South.

  58. And, just as a point of observation… Having also lived in Virginia… There’s a resurgence of Confederacy romanticization throughout the South for sure, but Virginia has always seemed like a different animal altogether. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Richmond was the capitol of the Confederate States, but… Confederate battle reenactments, for instance, are *huge* in VA, as are plantation tours and other types tourism around the history of slavery. I am *not* saying that I want to start directing these broad, elitist judgments at Virginians as a whole, but I notice a big difference in the degree of Confederacy-celebration as soon as I cross the border into VA.

    In North Carolina, as I’ve said, I rarely see it (if at all, and, yes, that may have something to do with the fact that I’m from urban North Carolina.). North Carolina did have slaves, of course, but it had far less because its economy was based on a share-cropping (tobacco) economy rather than on a huge plantation economy. Thus, there is very little “plantation wealth” still in circulation here outside that of the Duke family (of Duke University). NC was not seen as a “reliable” state during the Civil War, as a large percentage of its soldiers defected to the Union (or had fought for the Union from the beginning). So, yes, the romanticization of the Confederate and/or Antebellum South is less ubiquitous here. It’s problematic where it exists, of course, but I think it’s much…bigger in Virginia. I mean, it’s the major tourism draw in that state, so they tend to play it up big time.

    It’s just… The South is not a monolithic entity. Let’s not speak of it as such.

  59. Kristin, much in what you wrote is bang on. I’d disagree, however, with this: “When I see the flag in the South, I feel far safer than when I see it in the North. As a queer person. There is definitely a difference between running into your everyday redneck flag-wearer in North Carolina and running into a Klan/Aryan Nation/militia member.”

    Perhaps as a queer white person you personally do feel safer. Specifically as a queer white woman I can understand feeling safer. When I was (when I occasionally still am) perceived as a queer man I am very much unsafe; I’ve had everything from homophobic slurs to beer bottles thrown at me from white men in pickup trucks. (There are reasons I score as prejudiced against white people and not brown people on Implicit Association Tests.) Being a dyke is safer than being a faggot. (As long as they don’t know you’re a trans dyke you’re safer. If they knew I was I’d be really ludicrously fucking unsafe.)

    I feel kind of uncomfortable mentioning my wife in this context. But we have actually talked about this exact thing, seeing Confederate pride shit on people and trucks and buildings, and it’s kind of relevant. So, disclaimers: My wife is not The Representative Black Person. Her opinions are her own and not the opinions of all USian black people never mind all USian non-white people or all black people in the world or all non-white people in the world. I get no slack for doing or thinking or saying racist crap because I am married to an actual black person. I do not have a ghetto pass. I will do my best to report her words accurately and not use my wife as a puppet to support my position.

    She finds the display of the battle standard of the Confederate Army[1] threatening and triggering as hell. It is a terrorist threat. Of course she’s a bit older than me and is an Actual Black Person so she’s had different experiences with racism and other bigotries than I have. For example: She vividly recalls being in the car with her family — her sister was alive so my wife was at least ten which would put this incident in the sixties. Her father had been promoted to Colonel by then so it was a pretty nice car. They were still in Mississippi when it started getting dark. My father in law told my wife to get her brother and sister and hide in the foot well and not come out until he said to. She did get her brother and sister down there but she peeked some before she joined them and pulled a blanket over them. She has never seen her parents more afraid than they were then; her father was sweating and tears rolled from his eyes — and this is a man who was part of the U.S. Army’s integration of its officer corps and served in combat. (I don’t recall what she said about her mother but she was most impressed by her father’s reaction.)

    When she peeked out the windows she could see there were people (probably men) on horses keeping pace with their car.

    They wore white robes. They wore hoods. They carried torches.

    This is what the battle standard of the Confederate States of America means for non-white people here in the USian South. It means exactly the same thing it does everywhere else: The person displaying it is a bigot and likes to intimidate people. I have found nothing that supports any other conclusion.

    [1] The flag commonly known as the “Confederate flag” was never the national flag of the Confederate States of America though several national flag designs incorporated similar images — it was the battle standard of the Army of Tennessee [source]. The display of the battle standard really is often intended as a threat to resume hostilities by those who don’t consider the surrender by Lee at Appomattox Court House to have been legitimate.

    Trust me; most of these assholes know the history of the flag. Their version of it is skewed — they believe the Union initiated hostilities which is demonstrably false — but they are seriously into the history of the antebellum South and especially the Confederacy when they were free and no northeasterner liberal faggots could tell them what they could and couldn’t do. They know what that flag means.

    They know damn well the “heritage” they are celebrating is apartheid, racism, institutionalised slavery based on skin colour, and treason and armed insurrection against the legitimately elected government. Most will admit with little prodding that if they could get the secession they want one of the first things they’d do with it is eject anyone non-white, non-Christian, “liberal,” queer, u.s.w. It is not-hate only by the most twisty of logic.

  60. kaninchenzero: You’re absolutely right–and that’s why I named my specific perspective as such. It’s definitely true that it’s safer to be a cis dyke here (as elsewhere in this country, probably) than to be read as anyone who is *not* cis or as a gay male.

    By the way, I completely agree with this, and hope that it didn’t appear that I was suggesting otherwise:

    “The person displaying it is a bigot and likes to intimidate people. I have found nothing that supports any other conclusion.”

    In hindsight, the comment I made that you’re questioning does over-simplify things–and is the result of a lot of privilege. Thanks for pointing it out.

    I do think there are regional differences, though, and while I agree that it is overly simplistic to speak of degrees of bigotry… I know a wide range of people in my state, and the people who wore the Confederate t-shirts consisted of a band of approximately five students who attended my high school in the Raleigh area (Confederate flag symbolism is *not* widely accepted or seen around here, though it is more accepted outside the Research Triangle and other “urban” areas.). They were uniformly looked down on in my public high school and didn’t enjoy a great deal of social acceptance (perhaps even less than I did, and I was badly bullied through much of my schooling). People made fun of them because they hunted deer on weekends, went to turkey shoots, showed up at Lynnyrd Skynnyrd concerts, etc. They came from working class families and were among the few in my large graduating class who could not go to college.

    None of this is meant to defend them or speak of them as victims, and YES, they were in many respects bullies who liked to intimidate people. And they were *undoubtedly* racists (Like I said, it’s impossible not to know the history around here.).

    When you get to the governor of Virginia, though, I think the motivations may be a bit different. In the end, it may not matter, but I think this stuff has such currency in Virginia mainly because it comprises such a large percentage of the state’s tourist industry. Compared to North Carolina, Virginia has an extremely well-educated and wealthy electorate. There are upper class people from groups like the Daughters of the Confederacy who want to sit around and drink tea and politely recount Civil War stories in measured tones while they plan Coming Out Parties for their debutante daughters. They’re not rednecks as much as Old South socialites, and they are every bit as dangerous as the small bands of rednecks who exist throughout the South. Probably more so. They have the money to fund political campaigns. They’re the people who put a “respectable” face on this kind of stuff. You can bet it’s not some working class rednecks driving pick-up trucks who accomplished this in Virginia. It’s Old Money from plantations–and people who feel entitled to continue being wealthy as a result of plantation tourism.

  61. kaninchenzero: I replied at greater length, but I appear to be perpetually in mod queue if I write a comment longer than three lines. Shorter version: You’re right. Thanks for the correction, and apologies for over-simplification on my part.

  62. Yeah the auto-mod does not like long posts — mine went into mod also. Not sure when it was let out (probably by the fantabulous Chally who works what’s the night shift in USian time zones) as I went to sleep. 🙂

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