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 Social Class and Race 
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I have always seen myself as a person and a Christian. It wasn’t until I fell in-love with my white husband that I learned from society, mainly Southern-white males of educational power in society, that I was altogether someone else: a black female. This fact made me the lowest of the lowest of the hierarchical structure of society. To be more specific, I was told by my Junior High School principal that if I wanted to succeed in Burke County, it would be better if I didn’t date a white boy, especially one who was not of the same social class as my middle-class white friends. As a girl of 14 or 15, I didn’t know what to say or do, or how to feel. I’d always looked up to my principal and never saw myself inferior or superior to anyone else. All of my best friends—friends I still have today—were white. My black cousins and classmates ostracized me because I was “different” to them…I began to understand why. I was in a class by myself, it seemed. I’ve never felt like I fit in anywhere.

The reason I’m sharing this is because it seems that there are other blacks like me who don’t “fit in” anywhere and are constantly trying to fit in somewhere. As a person who has only wanted to be accepted for who she is in terms of what I can contribute to society and any commonalities I have with others in this country, I am beginning to resent never having any form of education about the heritage and cultures of Black Americans (I know the politically correct term is African American, but I honestly don’t see myself as an African because I was born in America. Nor have I ever thought of my white family and friends as being Anglo-European Americans since each of them were born in America as well. I wish those living in America, whether native or naturalized, would come to be known as merely American). As I was saying about heritage and cultures, I never enjoyed “family tree” projects in school because it has always been easier for a white person to trace his or her lineage possibly to some historical figure from Europe or the birth of our country; however, it is difficult for more blacks to trace his/her heritage beyond that of the slavery period, unless one knows if he/she has white ancestors. There are success stories of some black persons tracing their heritage back to some great figure in Africa, but that type of research is more complicated and is often costly.

I also wish that white Southerners understood why the Confederate flag offends many blacks across the nation, and statements like, “I’m proud of my Southern white heritage. Flying or wearing clothing with the Confederate flag has nothing to do with me being prejudiced!” are usually deemed offensive. When public schools across the nation fail to include Black History in the core curriculum, when most blacks have to conduct their own research about historical black figures and events involving black ancestors, and when it seems easier for a white person to trace his/her family tree back centuries and can usually find at least one great historical figure in his/her bloodline, statements like the aforementioned can be interpreted as prejudicial. How many times does a white person consider the fact that most Black Americans can only trace their heritage back to slavery? Unless the offspring of slaves learned their parents’ native African tongue, or stories about life in Africa were somehow passed down from one generation to the next, it is difficult for some Black Americans to feel proud about learning that his/her forbear was a slave for one of their white classmate’s forefather’s.

I guess I could write forever about this, but I don’t really know what else to say except my thoughts were in no way meant to offend, but merely to share a perspective.

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Charlanda Ollis


Tue Jul 20, 2004 5:09 pm
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I guess I never realized how tracing a family could make a person feel. And I do understand how Black Americans find Confederate flag offencize, I personally have never owned one, but those who do have that right. But yes people should think about others' feelings before they act or display an item.

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Tracy Benfield


Tue Jul 20, 2004 5:45 pm
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I understand your feelings exactly Charlanda. I myself have a daughter who is bi-racial. Her father is a black man. Everyday it seems we face looks, leers, and remarks. My daughter is a wonderfully bright child with a tremendous drive and character, but it seems some only notice her skin not her charisma. I have always known that life would be somewhat be different and even more difficult for her, but I had a child by the man I loved so I saw no wrong. It still surprises me today how things have not progressed much at all over the 10 years of Daizi's life. I hope that by the time she is grown that doors will open for her despite her color, but I can only hope. I will never understand how people characterize and place in little boxes all other people who are different from them. However, I can find comfort in knowing that Daizi is one of a growing "race" and each day more children are born like her. I know that somehow she will find her way through successfully despite the criticism and difficulties she will surely face in her life. I have hope and that is enough for now.

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Christy J. Hall


Tue Jul 20, 2004 6:00 pm
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Charlanda,

I think I understand why many blacks are offended by the Confederate flag. May I suggest that many people find the flag offensive due to what they have been told. Some people, black, white, and brown, are very proud of the flag.

From 1861 to 1865 after declaring independence from the U.S., the South was invaded by northern forces. William Tecumseh Sherman said, "I will leave them nothing but their eyes to cry with." He was a man of his word. Phil Sheridan said he would turn the Shenandoah Valley into a desert. He came very close. In his "famous" march to the sea, Sherman burned his way down the length of Georgia. He made a 40 mile wide swath of destruction. He destroyed anything not of any value to the troops. Women were violated, civilians assalted, and all condemned to death because winter was coming on and back then all you had to eat was what you had stored up. Farm animals and farm impliments were also destroyed. Atlanta was burned after it had been surrendered, many towns were mercilessly shelled with civilians in them. In 1877, in reference to the Nez Pearce Indians, Sherman was quoted, "Looks like the only way to solve this Indian problem it to kill them all." So what was he thinking in 1864? He retired as head of the U.S. Army in 1890.

It cannot be denied that slavery was an issue in the war, but if the North found slavery so repugnant, why were all U.S. slave ships registered in New York and Boston? As you know, 1/2 of the slaves enroute from Africa would die because it was cheaper than caring for them and feeding them properly.

If Lincoln's motivation was to free the slaves, then why did he repeatedly deny this early in the war? Why did he wait until mid-1863 to issue the Emancipation Proclaimation and why were northern controlled areas exempt from the proclaimation? If the flag is a symbol of white supremacy as many claim, why do you even today find the flag on prominent display on the Cherokee Indian Reservation here in North Carolina?

Once the war was over, Southern suffering was not over. Unlike Germany and Japan at the end of WWII, the South did not get a Marshall Plan. It got Reconstruction. The South was put under military rule. This lasted til the mid-1870's for most states. The display of the flag or wearing of the Confederate uniform was declared illegal. For many their uniform was all they had left to wear.

In 1868 the radical Republicans passed the fourteenth amendment and in it anyone who had fought for the Confederacy could not vote or hold public office.

Section 2 says you shall not be denied the right to vote"...,except for participation in rebellion..."

In section 4, all Confederate debts were repudiated. This meant that people holding Confederate bonds were bankrupt.

Once this was in place, the state governments were systematically looted. Many of the state governments were still somehow solvent at the end of the war. I understand the greatest expense for the state of Mississipi in 1866 was for artifical arms and legs. One quarter of all military age men had died in the war and another quarter permanently maimed.

By the mid-1870's the entire South was pretty well bankrupt. Rutherford B. Hayes agreed to end Reconstruction in the remaining states if the South would vote for him. He won the election and local control reverted back to the remaining states.

This is when many states enacted "Jim Crow" laws and had grandfather clauses put in their voting laws.

In the 1890's many states patterned their state flags after the flag of the Confederacy so it could never again be outlawed. There was also a flurry of monument building from 1890 to 1910. These monuments were built with money ladies raised with bake sales all over the South. No government money was used as I understand it.

This is why some people see the Confederate flag as a symbol of freedom and a willingness to defy tyranny against all odds.

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Graham Ponder


Fri Jul 23, 2004 4:24 pm
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Graham,
That maybe the way you see the confederate flag but that is not the view that most people take. For example, when I see someone in the grocery store wearing a confederate flag shirt or a confederate flag flying in the air on a 7 foot antennae attached to a pick up truck, I hardly think of that person as being an intelligent history buff, I think more on the lines of white supremacist red neck hick. I think intelligent people, knowing the background of the confederate flag and how offensive it can be to others (white or black) choose not to display it out of respect.

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Melissa McNeilly


Sat Jul 24, 2004 9:35 pm
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Charlanda,
That is terrible what your principal told you when you were 15. what terrible thing to tell anyone of any age or race.

You brought up something very interesting. I never thought about how difficult it could be for someone from another race to trace their family heritage. Like I said in class, I'd like to think I treat everyone fairly (in regards to race), but how fairly can I be treating people from other races when in the past week in class and in your message, there are things that have been brought to my attention that I have never even thought about?

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Melissa McNeilly


Sat Jul 24, 2004 9:46 pm
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Charlanda,
Thankyou for sharing your experience with that principle. It's hard to read stuff like that, but it's good to read stuff like that. I wish it hadn't happened. Im glad to see it didn't stop you.

I don't know how to react to your need to fit in. You are being a lot more honest than some in admitting that you feel that need. I believe that we all feel that need. We all need to have places and people with whom we are comfortable. The real question is why can't everyone be comfortable with and around everyone else?

Can dialogue trump racism? Most kneejerk bigotry that I know of is based on ignorance. If people honestly talk to one another and listen wouldn't it help?

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Jerry Long


Mon Jul 26, 2004 2:51 pm
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Charlanda,

I sensed everyone in class felt I was offended by your post on Social Class and Race. I was not offended at all. What you expressed is a commonly held perception and I am glad you talked openly about it.

My intent was to give a different perspective and to try and explain why some people feel differently.

I have really enjoyed this class for that reason. Dr. Turner has brought up many things that affect us, but we do not directly address. It seems to me that if we do not discuss these things and discover the truth about them, then how can we go about solving them.

Again, I was not offended in any way and would like to hear from everyone else on what they think.

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Graham Ponder


Tue Jul 27, 2004 6:48 am
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All people need to be educated about issues such as the Confederate Flag. The reason people have racial feelings is because of what their family and friends tell them. Which is usually one sided, may or may not be the truthl. People take things told to them by friends and family and teachers as the gospel. People just don't know the history behind issues. If everyone was educated about such issues seeing both sides of every story, we wouldn't have as many problems.
Wendy Smith


Wed Jul 28, 2004 2:16 pm
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I agree with Graham and Wendy, rednecks who wear the Condederate flag so freely are uneducated and do not know what the flag really stands for. I was angered deeply about two years ago when a black man pulled a Confederate flag off a Confederate Soldier Memorial in South Carolina and burned the flag. I was outraged because Confederate soldiers had died under that flag and this man had the audacity to deny these men the right to have a Confederate flag fly at their memorial. Several of my ancestors fought in the Civil War, and a few died. I believe that the Condederate Flag is a symbol of heritage and not hate. Unfortunately too many groups like the KKK have misused the flag. I personally do not have a Confederate flag and have no desire to buy one. I only wish that people were more educated behind the truth of the Confederate flag.

Michelle Rogers


Wed Jul 28, 2004 2:56 pm
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Any way you cut it, color it, or try to (with some bizarre revisionist credo) dress it up: the Confederate flag is, was, and will continue to be a symbol of repression, of hate, and of death - just like the swastika (lots of revisionist hyperbole available with this one, as well)

I was born in the South, raised in the South, and I know just what it means


Sat Jul 31, 2004 7:26 pm
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I know that at my daughters high school this past year there were issues about the confederate flag. I think if someone wants to wear a confederate flag (with no wording) should be allowed to as long as they do not try to offend someone else. I had talked to some other teachers at another high school that had a more populatation of black students and they said all their students if they wanted too no matter of race would wear a shirt with a confederate flag and there were never any issues caused by it. I don't think any student should be degraded by other students no matter what.

Susan Pope

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Susan


Fri Aug 06, 2004 4:12 pm
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