The Confederate Flag: The Racism No One Seems to See, Care About or Stand Against

So here's the article that recently was published in my school newspaper, after two months of battle with the teacher and administration at my school. The paper was strategically handed out at the end of the day of the last day before spring break, thanks to the teacher. So I hope to have at least some people remember it long enough to have an audience of protesters when I get back. A side note: the teacher also dulled the title without my knowledge the day before publication, so the following is my original title:


"Confederate Flag: The Racism No One to See, Care About, Or Stand Against"
I realize that anyone who knows me on any kind of a level knows that I am not originally from North Carolina, or the South for that matter. So with a title like the one that I have presented, and my personal background, I have successfully lost a good 80% of my audience without any of you reading a word; which leaves me with only twenty percent of you. But for those of you reading, I am here to analyze the Confederate/Rebel flag and the racism that it undoubtedly stands for.
Before I begin to evaluate why the Confederate/Rebel flag stands for racism, I feel the need to discredit a few common viewpoints that people take about the flag. Some people in the South are always claiming that the Confederate/Rebel flag does not represent racism, but simply "Southern pride." But let's think here for a second. The Civil War had a lot to do with the division between the North and South's differing economies: the North being industrial, while the South was agricultural. But when we investigate a little bit more, we find out that the South's agriculture-based economy was powered by slave labor. If one of the reasons behind the South breaking apart from the Union was its differing economies, then a large part of the Confederate/Rebel flag stands for is slavery. And with the way slavery was handled in America, it is not difficult to quickly go from slavery to racism.
Another point that the "it does not stand for racism" argument states is that the Confederate/Rebel flag is not offensive to black people. Now we need to take a deeper look at that. It is a fact that Nazi flags and swastikas are outlawed in our schools today. But in the same sense that the Nazi flag and swastikas are offensive to Jews, the Confederate/Rebel flag is offensive to some black people. Although the Nazi flag does not solely stand for the Holocaust, the first thing that any Jew immediately about when seeing the Nazi flag is in fact the Holocaust. The same concept goes for the Confederate/Rebel flag: the majority of black people (including those that I spoke to individually) see the Confederate/Rebel flag as standing for slavery, therefore racism and potentially more specific things such as groups like the Ku Klux Klan.
Another aspect of the Confederate/Rebel flag that no one seems to see is that the Confederate/Rebel flag was created when the South broke apart from the Union. Therefore the Confederate/Rebel flag is a symbol for division within our country. I do not see the point in glorifying a flag that stands for the separation of our country. In a nation where all we hear are slogans like "United We Stand," why do we need to praise a flag that completely contradicts those slogans? Every morning we are given the chance to "pledge allegiance to the flag, of the UNITED States of America." Not the Divided States of America, not the Confederate States of America, nor the Union States of America, but the UNITED States of America. If you are so willing to say the pledge, you should probably know what you are saying first.
Over the past few weeks, I have discussed this issue of racism with numerous people at this school and outside sources. As it was apparent I was not scoring any points from the beginning, I started looking for reasons behind our differences (besides me simply being a "Northerner" or "Yankee"). What I found in those discussions is that to some extent I am trying to be "politically correct." Now "politically correct," although most of the time is presented in a negative light to the more conservative groups, is not in fact always a bad thing. Part of the reason I have such a problem with the Confederate/Rebel flag and racism as a whole is that I try not to offend people. And I am sure you are now saying, "well you are doing a good job of offending me right now," but I have reason to speak controversially. I see others being hurt by a lack of control over the Confederate/Rebel flag issue, and so, for a second, I am thinking less about the people I will offend with this article, and more about the potential change this article could bring about.
Sometimes the only way we find out that something we did was wrong is by screwing up. But the next action is determined by whether or not you decide to change. In today's society, companies that support sweatshops or allow harsh treatment of animals lose business by their customers. Companies like Nike and the Gap have been charged recently of such things, and have lost a large amount of customers because of it. In the same way that those companies immediately changed after being accused, I, too, will change any behavior that I learn will offend someone. Even if your intent is not to offend people, you just might.
The Confederate/Rebel flag is offensive to some people, black and white, and it should be to anyone that does not support racism. You may not agree with me for whatever reason, but here is the question: will you continue to support a flag that you know offends people and divides our country?


So that's my article. Respond with anything you have to say, nice or mean. Honestly, I'm prepared to take both extremes. Peace.

Nothing Short of a Fiasco

So a while ago, I spoke about an article that I had written for my school newspaper, and the controversy that surrounded it. The teacher directly involved did not have the nerve to print a controversial article such as the one I presented, so I was then sent to the administration of the school. Long story short, one administrator was iffy about publishing it and another was a sharp "no" for having the article published. The actual principal didn't get to read the article until last, and was surprisingly supportive of the article. Which led to an overrule of the other principals to get the article published. I was ecstatic, until the following week, the lead principal went out of town/state on a conference, and the teacher proceeded to do nothing with the article and question the remaining administration on whether he should really publish the article. So finally this week, the lead principal was back, and I spoke to her today about the status of the article. She then took the article and emailed it to the district superintendent of the school system to look over it. I found out later today that the D.S. is in support of the article. So tomorrow, hopefully, the principal will "politely" tell the teacher to print the paper with my article in it. I say "hopefully" because I've had this article confirmed so many time already, that I'm a little hesitant to believe it. But if all goes well, my article will be published in the school newspaper within the next week or so, which I am very happy about.

With all this going on, along with a constant argument with one of my coaches, it has definitely been a testing time for me. But through all of it, I've attempted to have a little bit of faith that God would handle things (whatever that involves), and for the most part he's done a pretty good job (somewhat joking). So there's an update. I'll try to be having more legitimate discussion about spiritual things here shortly. I've just been a little busy with schoolwork. God bless.

Expect the Worst, Hope for the Best

If any of you know me, you'll know that I tend not to be an incredibly optimistic person when it comes to certain things. I'm very perceptive to what is really happening (to a fault) and sometimes assume things even before they happen. Or I get upset/sad because I know what is going to happen before it happens, especially when things could get bad. I recently had a conversation with a guy, that the whole day beforehand I was thinking about. I thought about all the possible ways that this conversation could go. I saw one single good way that the conversation could end well. Every other way was bad. Now I'm not saying I'm just overly depressing...I try not to be. But I could easily see this going in a whole lot of different ways, none of which would accomplish anything. So I met with this guy a little while ago, and when we met I almost couldn't do it. My nerves were completely shot the entire time. I'm pretty sure that my hands were shaking the whole time, and I had to stop my leg from doing so. I couldn't even think as to what I was trying to say, but somehow I said everything that I think needed to be said. Going into this discussion, I was expecting the worst. I could rationalize the worst, and see how the worst would fall into place. I couldn't see any good. I was expecting the worst, but somehow I came out of this discussion with peace of mind...something I had not expected. On a scale of where the discussion went, it didn't go well. So now I'm back to expecting the worst for the future, but hoping for the best. These are the instances that God is seen clearest. I see no light, no good, no hope in something, and I realize there's nothing I can do about it. But then out of nowhere somehow it ends better than expected.

This of course throws me two more observations. Does our expectation of where things go match up with where God thinks they should go? AND...do we not sometimes miss the sucecss that we have through the journey, as opposed to the destination? These can both be talked about for quite a while, but I'm done here for the day.

Ticketed

So Monday, I'm coming home from school early in order to get lunch before a haircut, and on one of the roads there is a stop sign. Now the two roads come together at a T that is more slanted, almost like a merge lane. So as I'm in a bit of hurry to get home, I look left as I approach the stop sign, and see no one. So I, like the idiot that I am, continue to go through the stop sign without stopping, only to be welcomed by two county sheriffs in a cop car coming the other way. Long story short, the ticket they gave me is $170, and with it being a time where I already owe $150 for piling up bills, I went from owing $150 to $320. Not exactly the best way to start off a week, let alone the week which includes my birthday. So I'm hoping for some cash from people for the birthday party, in order to pay off this ticket. Definitely a jacked way of using your birthday money.

Then the day got better when the article that I fought tooth and nail over Friday to get published in my school newspaper, and FINALLY got approved by the principal, is now in question by the spineless journalism teacher. It's only appropriate that the principal that okayed the article is now in San Diego for a conference, and the teacher is rallying up support amongst the assistant principals against me. Now I'm not a violent person at all, but I've never wanted to physically harm a person more than this teacher. I would like nothing more than to just beat this man with a book. But then comes my father who calms me down (or at least enough to get me to go home with storming to the administration and start to protest).

On top of all this, I've got some major friendship issues about to go down very soon with a few people, that I'm really not looking forward to, but things that have to be done nonetheless.

So that's my week so far. Great, I know. But on a more positive note, I'm still reading my Bible every day so far (a feat in my book), and it's actually pretty nice. So there's an update. Peace.

Wake-up call

Last night I was having a Bible study with my dad, as we've done our best to have one once or twice a week the past three weeks. The first week that we had it was the week that I read the Genesis passage that gave me the whole new view on religion and science working together together to tell the same story. So last night we're reading a passage from the Bible, and it didn't really do much for me. It was all stuff I knew, and core factors to who God is and all that, but it just wasn't all that significant to me. This is one of my problems. I need to be influenced by something or I discard it. Perfect example (which my father said about me)...when I watch TV, I flip channels. If whatever is on a channel doesn't grab my attention within about five seconds I change the channel. And since I've seen an unhealthy amount of movies, I usually flip long enough because I've already seen everything that's playing. So when I read the Bible if I don't get something out of it right away, I disregard it and it's relevance. This is going to be a MAJOR problem that I'm going to have to tackle in order to grow at all.

So the conversation continued, and at one point it got pretty heated, and he finally just laid it on me. He said, "stop being so lazy and get off your ass and do something". Now this sounds really harsh, but it was honestly something that I had been waiting for for someone to say to me for the longest times. Finally someone who has the spine to call me out on my complete whiny, spoiled, complaining, procrastinating actions. It was the wake-up call that I have been waiting for in so long. He then said, "do something about it or shut up." Looking back on it (and even when it was happening) it's so funny. I wanted to say so many things to him, make so many excuses to my behavior. But he shot every single one of those down. It's so great. He finally shouted, "stop making excuses." It was one of those frustrating moments, but I was humble enough to say to myself, "there is absolutely nothing I can say in this moment to justify anything." So I started reading my Bible today. Reading on my own, not for a Bible study, but just to become familiar with the Word. It was encouraging. Not because I got a lot out of what I read (although I did learn from it) but because I was finally doing what I knew I should have been doing all along. It's really exciting.

So today, I went to church, and thanks in large part to my new church, I have had the desire to become more generous now. So I was at Blockbuster between my church service and my parent's church service getting out, and I saw this huge poster/painting of the Office. It had a handful of the characters and some of their quotes. My dad's a nut about the show, and so I bought it for him. At church we've been talking about giving for no reason. It's such a bizarre concept to our society, but let me tell you, it feels freaking great when you do it.

So this is just an update of my day today. It's definitely been a great Sunday, and weekend. Something that I have not had in way too long. I just thought I'd document it, so that whenever I'm having an exceptionally bad day, I can come back to this post and remember what a good day feels like. Peace.

It started with simply "darkness is the absence of light" and it has evolved into peace of mind...for the moment

So I know that I said I would be sharing about something that greatly influenced me. But the fact is, to completley share everything that has gone on since last week would take up way too much space for anyone to want to read it. So I'll recap very briefly. Three weeks ago yesterday, I read the creation story like I had never before. I got more out of that one chapter in Genesis than anything I have ever read from the Bible. One of the things that I took from that passage though, that has been on my mind since I read it, was the when God creates light. It says he "separated the light from darkness" without specifically creating darkness at all. My conclusion is that darkness is the absence of light. As my father is a high school history teacher, one of the things that he has are "memorable concepts"...things that are simple statements that have so much more meaning and applicability. One is "if you know anything about a group of people, know their religion". This has huge ramifications to it, which can be used throughout history. So I think that through this one passage, I have found one my own memorable concepts: darkness is the absence of light. From this one concept, I've analyzed good and evil, the role of Satan, is hell an actual place that you are sent to?, what is faith?, free will/choice, and so much more. I've taken this one statement and run with it further than I thought possible, and somehow I know that I have not taken it as far as it can go.

In one of the conversations that I had with my father, somehow we got the point where we were talking about the good and bad things that happened to us, and I was asking basically how you make it through all the bad times. His response: "You look for the good, and be thankful for them, and thank God for blessing you". Now I was pretty doubtful of this, because I was more "glass-half-empty" mindset at the time. But as my journey with this memorable concepts has grown, I have started being thankful for the small things. Yesterday was a perfect end of the week. A lot of crap had built up, and it seemed as if what happened was straight out of a season finale of a TV show...everything got wrapped up. I have been fighting the administration at my school for weeks now to get an article for the school newspaper approved that is talking about a very sensitive topic, but yesterday, through what can only be described as a circus of events, it got approved, and the paper will be coming out next week sometime. I have met people in the last few days that I now cherish meeting. I am at a church that I am thankful for, and am excited every weekend to go to. I have pastors at this church who are amazing, and have given me hope that I have not had in a while. There are so many bad variables with my tennis team, but I this morning I have peace of mind over them. I am going to be hearing back from five colleges this week, and specifically about how much scholarship money and loans they will give me. It is scary, but I have peace of mind right now. School has been stressful recently with classes, but for the first time in a months I have a Saturday free of work. I woke up this morning at 9:30...the latest I've slept in for months!!!

Even it all this is just for the morning, and is all gone by this afternoon, at least for now I have peace of mind. The tale end of the movie Alfie has a great line that connects with where I'm at now. He's giving this long monologue at the end, and at one point he says: "But I don't have peace of mind. And if you don't have that, you've got nothing." I am blessed at the moment to have peace of mind. I only have one person to thank for that, and I am finally realizing who it is.