[lbo-talk] Re: dean and rebel flags

[andie nachgeborenen]

Well, actually, I grew up in the South, and I think
he's right. The Stars n Bars was re-introduced as a
racist anti-integration symbol in the post-Brown era,
but in our counry, with its short historical memory,
that's like ancient Rome. I think a lot of working
class Southern whites who have no particularly
consciously racist views, but are merely insensitive
to the way that Blacks perceive the symbol, use it to
show that they are good ol boys. It doesn't mean, I
hate n****s. It means, Whaooo! Yeehaw! Let's drink
beer 'n lissen to country music and go down to the
stock car races n watch the chicks in skimpy outfits!
It's a bit like the Indian mascots in sports. White
(and in Cleveland and DC, Black) sports fans and teams
who adhere to these are not racist, they just are
insensative to the way it reads to Native Americans. A
lot of the resentment and resistance comes from the
idea that it's hoity hoity look down yer nose Northern
libruls who are tellin us what to do. That's what I
think. jks

--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> frank scott wrote:
> 
> >liberals, and some others, who need oxygen over
> this "shocker" should
> >understand that many working class folks who sport
> rebel flags on trucks
> >or t-shirts , do so to indicate that they are,
> ahem, individuals, free,
> >not to be pushed around, oakland raider fans, etc.,
> and have nothing -
> >absolutely nothing - to do with racism, since the
> people who sport them
> >aren't as sophisticated as liberals and may not
> know about symbolism
> >that is, really, pretty outmoded, for most working
> class whites and many
> >if not most blacks as well...
> 
> How do you know this? Have you ever lived in the
> South?
> 
> Doug
> ___________________________________
>
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