Confederate Flag Attack Analysis

When I first came across the Negative Views assignment, I immediately thought of the Confederate Flag. It was an obvious choice considering all the attention and the controversy surrounding it in the past few weeks. For me personally, if I was asked six months ago what I thought about the Confederate flag, I would say I loosely associated it with the term “redneck.” I looked up the definition of “redneck” on Internet Slang and it said redneck means, “Unsophisticated rural person from Southeast USA.” That is a good explanation of what I think of when I think of the word “redneck” and when I associate it with the Confederate Flag. There was a mild negative association with this flag. But I need to back up a bit before I continue.

In David Sarratt’s article “The Confederate Flag: Controversy and Culture” (2005), he explains both sides of the Confederate Flag controversy, including current controversy and the issue of race involved in the Confederate Flag. Sarratt supports his claim with facts and examples of the Confederate Flag debate between David Beasley, who thinks the flag should be taken down and Charles Condon who opposes taking the flag down. He gives reasons in order to not support the Confederate Flag and a few details to elaborate it as well. His article interests readers who are mostly against the Confederate Flag.

Can the same flag that symbolizes southern heritage also be a symbol of hate? In 2015, a tragic shooting occurred at the Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charlestown, South Carolina. The Charleston shooter, Dylan Roof, was charged with killing nine African-Americans. After this horrible act, he waved the confederate flag in photographs sparking an issue with the flag. Two articles were released concerning whether or not the confederate flag should be removed from the South Carolina capitol. The first article, “Take Down the Confederate Flag, Symbol of Hatred”, was released by The New York Times editorial board on June 22, 2015. This article proposed that the flag should be removed. Following the release of this article, on June 24, 2015 “Keep the Confederate Flag Flying” was released by Selwyn Duke claiming the flag should remain. In these articles, both authors incorporated persona, audience, tone and style to effectively argue whether or not the flag should remain to Americans who may side with their argument.

The author includes many different polls that include removing the Confederate flag from public view and to stop the selling and manufacturing of items that feature the Confederate flag. The source had information that was very informational and it was interesting to read about how race affects the viewpoints on the Confederate flag. CNN is also a reliable source and I researched the author and she is the Polling Director for CNN. I chose the source because it was a reliable source that I knew I could trust. It also benefited my paper and gave me information that was interesting to talk about and it was relevant information.

The Confederate flag has now become a hot issue for South Carolina, which is the last state to have the original Confederate flag still flying on its Statehouse. What got the State’s attention was the economic boycott of South Carolina that was announced on January 1992 by the NAACP to pressure the State to remove the Confederate flag off of its Statehouse in Columbia. The NAACP’s removal request is based on the fact that they, the anti-flag groups, claim that the meaning of the Confederate flag is one of hate and discrimination. On the other hand, there are other groups that believe differently whom are called the pro-flag groups. They claim that the Confederate flag is a sign of heritage

The battle flag of the Confederates has psychological affect on the brain. An experiment in 2008 was made to see if participants exposed to the Confederate flag would be less willing to vote for Barrack Obama as president. The test results say most white participants was less likely to vote for Barrack Obama than those of the control group. The study says "It only took a 15 millisecond flash of the Confederate flag on screen to nudge people in this direction". In another experiment conducted by the same people by the same people was to see how people would rate a black man named Robert. His information states he refused to pay rent till the land lord conducted repairs. It didn't take long for people exposed to the Confederate flag to express

Recently history has hit the headlines. The overwhelming issue of whether or not Confederate monuments should be removed has many up in arms- in some cases, such as Charlottesville, Virgina, literally. Those for the removal of the statues argue that they honor a cruel regime and support white supremacy, while those opposing the removal argue that removing the statues would damage the preservation of America's history and lead to the removal of statues depicting other historical figures like President George Washington. The article "Confederate monuments should be removed in their entirety and it shouldn’t even be an argument" by Lucas Johnson on The Badger Herald website, argues the pro-removal side of the issue. Johnson's article is a prime example of the pro removal argument as he seeks to convince the reader to agree with his stance on the issue by using historical facts and addressing the connection white supremacists feel towards monuments from that era in an attempt to sway his audience to his side of the dispute.

The article that I chose to use for this assignment is “Why a Virginia principal refuses to take down her school’s Confederate flags” (Holley 2015). This article was published in the Washington Post and written by Peter Holley. Mr. Holley graduated from Columbia University with a masters in journalism. Prior to joining the Washington Post he was an associate editor at Houstonia Magazine. Mr. Holley has also worked as a reporter for the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express. While at the San Antonio Express he worked as a crime reporter, which is a job that would require attention to detail. In this article Mr. Holley uses statistics to show how divided people are when it comes to the Confederate flag and he

The outlining issue here is the Confederate Flag and its perception amongst the Alabama population. Debating on whether the flag should be taken down in respect to citizen who are offended because of its close relation to the history of slavery in America. The opposing side felt that it is a part of southern/the south’s history, pride and should be honored. Also, the opposing side feels that with other issues happening in the community; this debate is not something that should take priority over what they believe were severe matters.

My closing thoughts on the Confederate Flag. I feel that the future of this debate, if there is one, depends highly upon how well we understand history. When I look at history and the intricate relationships that formed the Confederate flag and what it represented at that time, I cannot help but to synthesize a conclusion that symbolism is both a powerful yet potentially dangerous motivator, in this case good or bad, you decide. The simple thought of symbolism and its implications from a bygone era contemporaneous with the emergence of divergence among millions of Americans is as powerful today as it was when slavery began. This is another area where even I have to admit, I did not know the full truth, and slavery came about long before racism.

The start of the Confederate flag controversy was due to the request of the NAACP to remove the flag off of South Carolina’s Statehouse. This request is based on the fact that they, the anti-flag groups, claim that the meaning of the Confederate flag is one of hate and discrimination. On the other hand, there are other groups that believe differently whom are called the pro-flag groups. They claim that the flag is a sign of heritage and should stay on the Statehouse. Liberals tend to be in the favor of the anti-flag groups, and conservatives are more likely to be supporting pro-flag groups. Both sides use evidential logos to prove their arguments, and pathos to show how wrong the other side is.

Thomas Jefferson’s motto, “Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God”, that originates from the Declaration of Independence sparked rebellious characters in U. S. History. Society has delineated the definition of rebel in several ways. Many, in the new era, do not know the history behind the meaning of a true rebel. The definition of rebel has changed in America from patriot in the time of the American Revolutionary war to confederate in the Civil War and to redneck in today’s societal controversy concerning the image of the Confederate flag.

Grandin, Greg. "Before It Was a Symbol of Racist Backlash, the Confederate Flag Was a Symbol

I am going to be talking about why I believe the confederate flag should not be outlawed. I believe it is a symbol of heritage. Some people view it as a hate symbol. If homosexual people can get married and fly their gay flag why can't we fly our confederate flag. Many will argue this because there was a church that was shot, it was a church for black people and they raised the confederate flag a hate symbol. That is a valuable argument. That person was using it as a hate symbol. that one person ruined it for everyone. The reason it needs to be addressed now is because they are banning it because people can keep their mouth shut and stop complaining. they view it as a hate symbol not as heritage. Yes i agree people have used it as a hate

Before August 12, 2017 many Americans neither cared about nor thought about Confederate flags or monuments in their daily lives. On that day in Charlottesville, Va. was “… one of the bloodiest fights to date over the removal of Confederate monuments across the South.” (Stolberg) This tragic event brought light to a movement that was able to fly under the national radar until that fateful day in August, the removal of the Confederate flag and monuments. This paper will demonstrate the need to move the Confederate flag and Confederate monuments to museums where they can be displayed in the context of history instead of in the public square where they glorify traitors and insurrectionists as heroes. This will be done by providing a brief