George Allen really needs to give up (WaPo):
RICHMOND, Sept. 28 — Sen. George Allen can’t seem to win: first, he apologizes for addressing an Indian American with a racial slur and acknowledges that many view the Confederate flag as a hate symbol. Now, the Sons of Confederate Veterans want him to apologize, too
[snip]
“What I was slow to appreciate and wish I had understood much sooner,” Allen told a black audience last month, “is that this symbol . . . is, for black Americans, an emblem of hate and terror, an emblem of intolerance and intimidation.”
[snip]
“He’s apologizing to others, certainly he should apologize to us as well,” said B. Frank Earnest Sr., the Virginia commander of the confederate group at a news conference. “We’re all aware, ourselves included, of the statements that got him into this. The infamous macaca statement. He’s using our flag to wipe the muck from his shoes that he’s now stepped in.”
Over the years, Allen has been a darling of the confederate group. As governor, he designated April as Confederate History Month. He has displayed the battle flag in his home as part of what he said is a flag collection. And his high school yearbook picture shows him wearing a Confederate flag pin.
As amusing as Sen. Allen’s follies are, though, this story provoked some other thoughts, too.
Polimom’s all over the concept of honoring our ancestors. I am, after all, a genealogist. And the Civil War is most definitely an interesting period. However, while the Confederacy has a place in our history books, it’s rather different conceptually and symbolically… and the Confederate Flag is nothing if not a symbol.
In all honesty, Polimom’s first thought when I see it flying in front of somebody’s property (or on the front of a pick-up truck) is…. racist redneck. Doesn’t always mean it’s true — it’s just the reaction I have.
Yes, it’s an historical artifact… but just out of curiousity, do you think of Nazi symbols as being offensive only to Jews?