<Rainbow Heron>

Friday, April 19, 2002

<sigh>...not AGAIN!

First off- I am NOT a racist. Remember that.

It's happened again here in my state- somebody's bitching about the Confederate Flag. This has always either perplexed me or royally pissed me off. Today, someone got a ladder and reached up to the Confederate Flag on display outside the Capital building and set it on fire- right there on the flagpole. Come to think about it, the visual is rather funny, but the issue is beyond sanity by now.

For the LONGEST time here in South Carolina, the NAACP has been complaining about the Confederate Flag being on display at the Capital building. Most people never even noticed it until they started complaining about it. I, for one, couldn't care less...at least not until recently. The ONLY opinion I have regarding the issue is that the NAACP should shut the hell up about it.

Now, before you get upset, let me tell you what's going on right now:

Last year, both the NAACP and flag supporters agreed to a compromise: the flag would be taken down from the capital dome and moved to a display on the grounds. Within mere months after this was accomplished, the NAACP started complaining that there was a Confederate Flag on the State House grounds! <boggles> Histroy and racism aside- the issue is that the NAACP AGREED to have the flag be put there. So why the hell are they complaining about it now?! They AGREED to allow the thing to be there, so they have no right to complain about it being there! Somebody's going back on their word here, and it isn't the flag supporters.

What makes me sick about this is that:

1. the NAACP is going back on their word
2. the media is giving WAY too much attention to the damn flag and not to more important things like our ghastly education system or Medicare
3. the NAACP is being very immature and stupid in the way they are handling this whole thing

If the NAACP wants to elimiate racism, they're gonna have to choose a different method. The NAACP more or less represents the entire Black community in SC as far as the media goes, and the media goes everywhere. Whatever the NAACP does, it reflects more or less on each and every Black person living in the state, which means if the NAACP is gonna do something that gets everybody all pissed off, then people are gonna look at not just the NAACP with distain, but the entire Black community. Say an Earthling goes to another planet and behaves badly in front of the aliens who live there- the aliens are going to think that all Earthlings are gonna believe that all Earthlings behave just as badly or worse.

Now what the witnesses may then believe about the whole of the represented populace dosen't make it true, but when you're the one setting the example, the way you come across to others is every bit as important as the message you are trying to convey.

So down here, the NAACP is going back on their word about allowing the Confederate Flag to be on display. And today someone (I dunno if they were NAACP or not, but this proves my previous point either way) goes and burns it. They do something illegal and they get arrested. Good, he did something illegal so he should get arrested for it. But the whole thing is a joke. Earlier this year, the NAACP decided to hold a boycott on tourism as a protest to -what else- the Confederate Flag. The way in which they encouraged this boycott was also in an illegal manner- they all stood outside of the welcome centers with signs when it's posted all over the place that they are not allowed to do that. Was anyone arrested? No! I don't get it.

But more importantly, the NAACP is encouraging people to not spend money in SC which means that SC gets less money from non-residents, which means that we pay higher taxes and that even then, there is less money to fix our schools, feed the underpriviledged, and fewer jobs because no one is buying anything that anyone is selling. Now that's just plain stupid. I know there are some very wonderful and wise folks in the NAACP, but as a whole they're shooting themselves (and everyone else) in the foot with this.

Why do they do this? It boggles my mind. Remember, I am not a racist, but I am getting tired of things like this happening and I can honestly say that I am not alone (Black or White) in feeling this way.

If the NAACP wants to discourage racism, then they should reach out by doing POSITIVE things and not NEGATIVE things. The Confederate Flag issue has long since been beaten to death and is most definately a negative issue. I say leave it the hell alone. You wanna discourage racism? Then stop whining and complaining and trying to get the government to listen to it because when it comes right down to it, the ones you have to worry about aren't the *government* but *your fellow man*, the people who you live with on a daily basis and the regular people who are influenced by the media. You wanna discourage racism, talk with (not to) them and get on their good side. By continuing on the path you are now, you're only getting on their bad side. Stop it. Be mature about it and you'll be heard. Until then, I won't feel the least bit sorry for you. I hate to say it, but there it is.

I am not a racist and I do not hate the NAACP or Black people in general. I really don't. What I strongly dislike is the way in which they are conducting themselves. It's often said that if you want to change the world, you should begin with yourself. I think it's high time they did this. If they want to dispell hatred, then they themselves should not be hateful...and especially hateful about everyone else being hateful. It does go both ways after all, and so far everyone's in a deadlock because everyone's being highly hypocritical.

I honestly don't know if this whole thing will ever resolve itself, but until I see some major effort here, I will continue to cringe every time I see and hear that something like what happened today has gone down because I'm sick of this neverending hoopla. I really do hope that racism will disappear, but until then, I'll just have to hope that I have a mute button handy next time the media talks about the Confederate Flag. Racism and hatred aren't a flag, they're a way of being- of thinking, of acting, of doing, of representing, of believing, and of atmosphere. And right now, we're only seeing more fuel being added to the fire and just about nothing being done to extinguish if.

Now don't get me wrong, the media is every bit as much at fault over this whole thing...but I'll leave that particular commentary for another time.

posted @ 12:47 AM  |   0 comments  |