Confederate Thin Blue Line Flag, the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Black Lives Matter movement

I was able to obtain the Confederate thin blue line flag.

When the Black Lives Matter movement started up in 2015 the Commander-in-Chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) started to have part of his reports discussing what was to me obviously the Black Lives Matter movement and in opposition to it.

I am going to use this flag as a starting point to discuss the Sons of Confederate Veterans and their writings which I think applies to the Black Lives Matter movement.

I think that this will make it very clear what the SCV and Confederate Heritage is about.

Dallas Jaycees carry giant Confederate flag down Commerce street in 1964. Confederate "heritage"

Note the time is 1:24 for the scene.

Neo-Confederate often like to go one that it was some fringe elements that "mis-used" the flag.

Here we see the Jaycees carrying the flag as a protest against possible civil rights legislation.

This is the link to the video so you can watch it in full.

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1062768/m1/

It is about the sit-ins at the Piccadilly restaurant in Dallas, Texas in 1964.

This is the link to the story. https://blogs.library.unt.edu/yesterdays-news/2018/02/19/piccadilly/

The Confederate flag wasn't misrepresented by a few fringe groups. It was understood as representing white supremacy by mainstream southern society.

The Confederate flag is down the tubes in South Carolina, elsewhere Confederate flags are going to be increasingly rejected

This article is titled, "SC GOP scuttles Confederate flag proposal before convention."

http://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article150186207.html

With Sheri Few's campaign for congress based on defending the Confederate flag went down to defeat and she only got 5% of the vote in the Republican primary, I think the South Carolina Republicans realized that there is really no substantial or even minor or slightly significant support for the Confederate flag in South Carolina and the Spartanburg County GOP resolution was dumped in the garbage.

The South Carolina Republican Party has dropped the Confederate flag and it is probably really clear to any politician with any ambition that supporting the Confederate flag will make you unwelcome in the Republican Party and additionally get you identified with Sheri Few http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2017/05/sheri-few-they-dont-love-you-gets-less.html#.WRZl-tIrKrw and Chris Corley http://newtknight.blogspot.com/2016/12/south-carolina-rep-chris-corley.html#.WRZl09IrKrw

Republicans in other states will see a developing trend and the Confederate flag isn't going to be welcome in a lot of places.

Mississippi Republicans will likely be informed that they are embarrassing the Republican Party nationally and that they should change their flag.

I think the battle over Confederate flags is going to be over Mississippi and a few rural towns. Now it is going to be over Confederate monuments

Confederate flag as an anti-LGBT flag in Maine

In this article there is an account of Kennebunk High School flying a Gay pride flag and then taking it down.

http://goingcoastal.bangordailynews.com/2017/03/22/politics/gay-pride-confederate-battle-flags-displayed-at-maine-high-schools/

Evidently it was taken down because according to the article:

The flag was lowered a few days later after a transgender student at the school expressed discomfort with the amount of media attention the flag was getting, according to a report by SeacoastOnline.com. Kennebunk High School reportedly is the first high school in Maine to raise a gay pride flag.

I suggest the transgender student should stop being a whiner.

What is interesting is that some other students flew the Confederate flag in response to the Gay pride flag.

This isn't a misappropriation of the Confederate flag. The Chaplain's Corps Chronicles  of the Sons of Confederate Veterans has lots of anti-LGBT hostility as does the neo-Confederate group in general.

Incidents like this publicize what Confederate "heritage" is really all about. It also explains why there isn't going to be any "Confederate fabulous."

Homophobic students in Indiana school decide to wear Confederate flags for anti-gay statement.

These are the articles.

This link has a video with a student wearing a Confederate flag.
http://www.wthr.com/article/superintendent-bans-confederate-flag-after-students-display-in-bloomington

"They were using the 'F' slur and they were saying that if the gays get to wear the rainbow flag, then they should get to wear the Confederate flag, because it represents their heritage," one student said.

"It also has become something that symbolizes anti-gay at our school," said student Gaia Hendrix-Petry as she and other students walked in to district offices to get a meeting with the superintendent.

This article is a good summary and has links to the other articles.
http://www.ibtimes.com/confederate-flag-schools-students-wear-rebel-banner-capes-use-lgbt-slurs-prompting-2439084

The argument that this is a misuse of the Confederate flag is nonsense. The Sons of Confederate Veterans has made it clear that they see Confederate heritage as homophobia.

Evidently you can wear a Confederate flag to jury duty in South Carolina

This is the link to the story.

http://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article98342522.html

From the article. 

As the lawyer for the defendant, Abusaft said that “I speak for my client” and he was concerned that the shirt and its message were potentially confrontational. The flag shirt and slogan meant to send a message to people, Abusaft said.

But the judge ruled that the woman had stated that she could be fair and impartial, and did not excuse the woman from the potential jury panel. 

Abusaft then chose to use one of his juror “strikes” – both sides have the right to dismiss a certain number of potential jurors when picking a jury. The woman was dismissed from the case and never was seated as a juror.

This is atrocious. The judge needs to be thrown off the bench. I don't see the name of the judge in the article which to me is how "The State" enables neo-Confederacy.

This is my article about not allowing jurors who identify with the Confederacy on juries.

http://www.blackcommentator.com/507/507_confederacy_jury_selection_sebesta_hague_guests_share.html

Even Donald Trump wants nothing to do with the Confederate flag.

A person bought a Confederate battle flag with the word Trump on it from a vendor outside a Trump rally in Florida.

When he unfurled it, the Trump campaign and local police moved quickly to have the flag removed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/12/us/politics/confederate-flag-trump-rally.html?_r=0

Even the Trump campaign the Confederate battle flag is too extreme.

Neo-Confederacy is coming down, Round up of articles

National Park Service is pulling Confederate flag items from its gift shops. About time. Someone should check that they are pulling all the Confederate flags, not just the Battle flag.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/24/politics/confederate-flag-national-park-service-sales/


Alabama governor has Confederate flag taken down.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/alabama-confederate-flag-removed-capitol-grounds-119370.html

Warner Brothers gets rid of Confederate flag "Dukes of Hazzard" toys.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/confederate-flag-furor/warner-bros-nixes-dukes-hazzard-toys-confederate-flags-n381116

Many retailers are banning the sale of Confederate merchandise: Walmart, Ebay, Amazon, Target, others.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-retailers-confederate-flag-20150623-story.html

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_28369143/amazon-ebay-and-other-retailers-ban-confederate-flag

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102785449


Virginia is getting rid of the Confederate license plate

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/confederate-flag-furor/virginia-stop-offering-confederate-license-plates-n380316

Other states are bound to re-think whether they should have Confederate flag license plates.

U.S. Congressmen Burnie Thompson wants to ban Confederate flags from the U.S. House.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/06/24/bennie-thompson-confederate-flag/29245839/

Even the "New York Times" has gotten with it. "Tearing Down a Confederate Flag is Just a Start."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/25/opinion/tearing-down-the-confederate-flag-is-just-a-start.html?_r=0


There is so much happening I can't keep up on it.

AMAZING COVERAGE: John Sims' Flag burning and burying event getting major media coverage, such as the "Wall Street Journal." UPDATING AS RESULTS COME IN

John Sim's event to burn and bury a Confederate flag in every former Confederate state is underway.

The twitter hash tag is #13flagfunerals

The Wall Street Journal has a major article on the upcoming event.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/battle-stirs-over-confederate-flag-1432332336

3,628 shares on Facebook alone.

It has also been covered at Grio.

http://thegrio.com/2015/05/22/artist-john-sims-burn-bury-confederate-flag/

35,000 people have liked the article.

On the Blaze 4,600 people have done Facebook shares.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/05/22/that-part-of-our-history-needs-to-be-buried-college-professor-plans-memorial-day-event-to-burn-the-confederate-flag/

Confederate flag burnings are scheduled on Memorial Day in New Orleans, Florida, Georgia, and Missouri.

This is his Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/john.sims.39142?fref=photo

This is his web page.

http://www.johnsimsprojects.com/home4.html

Asked Tim Donnelly to disavow his support for the Confederate flag.

I have finished with some other research business and I am starting to follow up with contacting people in California. I would like to see State Senator Stephen Knight be not re-elected if he doesn't disavow his vote for the Confederate flag. I am letting various people in California know about the neo-Confederate movement.

Tim Donnelly is a member of the California State Assembly. He was the lone vote in defense of the Confederate flag in a recent vote in the California State Assembly.

http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-confederate-flag-bill-20140820-story.html

He came in third in the recent Republican primary for governor.

I have asked Mr. Donnelly to reconsider his vote for the Confederate flag. I sent him the following email to his campaign website:

Dear Mr. Donnelly:

I learn with regret that you were the lone vote for the Confederate flag in the California Assembly. When I was young the Republican Party was the party of Abraham Lincoln and not Jefferson Davis.

I am an investigative academic researcher into the neo-Confederate movement. I am published by peer reviewed academic journals and university presses. My resume is online at www.templeofdemocracy.com/resume.htm.

People coming up with rationalizations for neo-Confederacy enable that movement.  At my online resume I think you will find material which will show why the neo-Confederate movement should not be enabled. Additionally there are free guest links to the my articles  and essays and reports at “Black Commentator” which I think you will find informative.

I ask you to disavow your vote in the Assembly regarding the ban on the Confederate flag.

A person who enables the neo-Confederate movement should not hold any office of public trust.

I hope that you will consider this.

Regards,

Edward H. Sebesta

Co-editor of “Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction,” Univ. of Texas Press, 2008 (http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/excerpts/exhagneo.html), and “The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: The ‘Great Truth’ About the ‘Lost Cause’” Univ. Press of Mississippi 2010. (http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1338).  Author of chapter about the Civil War and Reconstruction in the notorious Texas teaching standards in Politics and the History Curriculum: The Struggle over Standards in Texas and the Nation, published by Palgrave Macmillan.  http://www.keitherekson.com/books/politics-and-the-history-curriculum/

California and the Jefferson Davis Highway

Recently the California legislature has made it very clear that they don't care for the Confederate flag.

http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-confederate-flag-bill-20140820-story.html

I wonder if the California legislature knows that the California state government is allowing the United Daughters of the Confederacy to claim a stretch of highway as the Jefferson Davis Highway even though the California legislature was against it when they attempted to get an official designation.

I think that asking the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) to move their monuments off state property is a logical thing to ask for next.  The UDC had their Jefferson Davis highway monuments given back to them in the State of Washington, California would be next. That would get a trend going and the highway could be rolled back to Texas. Jefferson Davis was very explicit and negative in his opinions about Latin Americans.

I will likely write the whole legislature after the Confederate flag banning bill is signed by the governor.

The use of the term "flag flap" as revealing of the attitudes of the user

One of the frequently used phrases in reporting the news on the controversies regarding the use of the Confederate flag in public life is to use the phrase, "flag flap." This needs to be recognized as the editorial comment it is. The use of the phrase is a comment that the topic of controversy is trivial.

This dismissive tone is never taken in reporting holocaust deniers. You won't see an article titled or using the belittling phrases, "holocaust hassle," "history hiccup," "history hissyfit," or "holocaust flap."

Debates over American flag burning aren't dismissed as "Flag Flaps" either, but are reported as a serious issue.

Confederate identified governments and a Confederate identified landscape is a real issue. When a government body decides to use a Confederate flag or a place decides to use a Confederate flag they are defining who they are, their identity, and they are racializing the landscape. Attempting to achieve a Confederate identity or give a location a Confederate identity is a serious issue.

The trivializing language used for reporting Confederate flag controversies as opposed to controversies on the holocaust of the Jews is because, rightly so, we see Jewish people as being part of "us," and for many reporters, "African Americans" are still seen as "them." The use of the term "Flag flap" is revealing of the journalists' or writers most interior attitudes on race.

Also, I feel the constant use of the term "Flag Flap" is a means of defending the Confederate flag and symbols, by denigrating the opposition to them as being wrongly pre-occupied with triviality. The use of the term "flag flap" is a subtle defense of the status quo, thus a defense of the Confederate flag.