After this weeks class discussion
on the racism that generated in the New World and the recent tragedy of the 9
killed in South Carolina, I feel it is only necessary to address the racism
that is still prevalent today.
In the aftermath of the
shooting, racial tensions have increased and the heat of the public’s attention
has shifted to the Confederate flag that still flies over the South Carolina
Statehouse. While the support for the flag deems it Southern heritage,
proponents of the flag feel it is still a symbol of slavery. It is clear that
racism is still felt and engrained in southern culture.
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| Demonstrators protest at the South Carolina Statehouse calling for the Confederate flag to remain on the Statehouse grounds on June 27, 2015. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images) USA Today | Pro-Confederate flag rally held at S.C. Statehouse |
Slavery in the United States
did not coexist with the ideology of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness
that New World settlers prided themselves on. This ultimately led to the
abolition movements. However, long before these events the slave trade was an
ugly stain in the United State’s history book. Slavery took a particularly ugly
role in the US due to the cultural divide between slaves and their masters.
In merely 300 years, an
estimated 11 million people were exported from Africa to surrounding countries
due to a high demand for labor. From the Roman’s all the way up to 17th
Century Africa, slavery was present. Slavery goes back to human history, when
humans began to settle and become more established agriculturally. As the
slaves arrived in the New World, slavery became “racialized around Africa.” (Inhuman
Bondage) Nowhere else in the world, had the population become so clearly
color-coded. Blacks were laborious slaves, and whites were wealthy landowners. Many
who have described the conditions of US slaves use the term “dehumanized”
because of the lack of humanity shown to these people.
There is no doubt that history
lives on and can enflame passions on both sides. The Confederate Flag was used
in the 1860’s and is nicknamed the “Stars and Bars.” It represented the
Confederate States of America that seceded from the Union after President Lincoln
was elected. The Confederate Flag became a rebel symbol and is strongly linked
to southern culture, which captivates intense slavery and racism.
So how, after 100+ years of
progress do we still as a nation play into these racial stigmas and still use
it in our everyday language? Why do we use terms like “African-American” to
describe people? I’m not referred to as a German-American and yet I have
lineage that connects me to Germany, but does that make me German? It’s as if
we’re saying you were only brought here so we only grant you half a citizenship
when we say “African-American.” As if any American, other than the Native
Americans can claim they are truly American.
In regards to the Confederate
Flag, the actual American flag was intended to unify these two groups of
people. A symbol they could stand under together. The only people that proudly
stood under the Confederate Flag were racist bigots. Somehow in the last 100
years the flag has survived on and been romanticized as a southern symbol. To
these people I would say that you can fly that flag above your own home, that’s
free speech. But it has no place flying over the South Carolina Statehouse
where Senators and Representatives are supposed to represent the interests of
their black and white constituents. It is not a symbol of unity. "Americans are finally accepting what...many others believe it has represented all along: not heritage, nor pride, nor a badge of Southern identity, but a regime of white supremacists who went to war against the Union in order to preserve the inhuman institution of slavery." (The Washington Post, Tharoor)
Audio Source: "Inhuman Bondage" interview with author David Bryon Davis.
All other sources are linked.
