@Alfa Romeo - Thanks

@oldschool3 - For the CSA material I used the CSA's own official documents. I didn't cite any historians, revisionist or otherwise, just the official documents and I provided links so any poster can read for him or herself. When I do research I try as much as I can to examine the original documents. I do consult what historians have to say, but I don't take then for their words on anything. That's one thing that I learned while researching the Mafia, and we know how much mythmaking occurs there. There is a lot of debate on the CSA, but when one examines its own documents everything is pretty cut and dry.

As for the symbolism issue...yes, it is symbolism, but symbols mean things and they have histories behind them. Symbols didn't develop out of thin air. In this case we can't, in my opinion, ignore the meaning of the Confederate symbols when they went hand-in-hand with slavery, racism, Jim Crow, lynching and the Klan. This doesn't mean that for those whom the flag means Southern pride are racists. I never said that, but this is one of those times and one of those objects that they have to consider what it means to those who experienced Jim Crow, and whose parents and grandparents experienced that and the other things I mentioned. Racism and discrimination didn't end with slavery. It continued for another hundred years.

I also want to make clear that this doesn't mean I'm advocating white guilt, as in the sense that if a person has white skin he or she should be ashamed and feel guilty for the acts of one's possible ancestors. Many people didn't have American ancestors that went back that far but are children or grandchildren of immigrants and had nothing to do with slavery or Jim Crow. More than that, for those who do have ancestors going back to slaveholders, children are not responsible for the evils that their ancestors did. After all, slavery and all types of other evils existed throughout history all over the world. Nor do I advocate this far-left "check your privilege" meme going all over college campuses that tries to impose white guilt and actually makes racists out of non-whites who push that on whites. It's exchanging one type of racism for another.

Ideally, it would be great if race became irrelevant and unimportant, and it may actually happen in the future. Being obese used to be a sign of wealth, but now it's a sign of gluttony and poor health, so that's one aspect of physical appearance that changed over time, and how people view color will change too. We ought to be past it already as a society, but instead certain quarters want to keep it for their own agendas.

My agenda is that we realize that there are certain things that are greatly offensive to certain people FOR GOOD REASONS, and that we can at least try to avoid offending them so we can be at peace. This is one thing where there is documented history behind it and it's not something that has no basis in reality. There's a reason why a rally was held FOR the flag by the KKK in South Carolina today; what role did they play in this issue? Answer: A Big Role. Remember, it was the Dixiecrats, who stood for the preservation of Jim Crow, that really brought the flag back. The Klan started promoting the flag after that. When it was raised on statehouses, it was as an act of defiance to attempts to bring down Jim Crow, like school integration in 1954. Now the Klan is relegated to a relatively small bunch of losers, but the one issue that they are fighting for today is complaining about the Confederate battle flag being removed from the SC state capital. Really, at this point, what does one need to understand that the flag is not a symbol to celebrate?