When The Flag Means What It Doesn't Mean...Rainbows and Battle Flags

Houston - I guess I can say that I'm a child of the 70's, born just as America was preparing to say it's farewell to President Richard Nixon, probably one of the nations most untrusted presidents in modern history. We, as a nation, were also closing the door on what had come to be known as the Civil Rights Movement. America was a few years from almost having it's first Black and female Vice-President (Governor Jimmy Carter wanted Congresswoman Barbara Jordan to be his running mate), and America seemed to be making great strides in leaving behind her sleazy dark past of hatred and bigotry. 

During the 70's the Jesus Movement was sweeping the nation and the evangelicals were closing in on taking hold of the political reigns that would change the scope of American politics, for the good or the horrible. It was fashionable to let everyone know you were a "Jesus Follower". As you drove down the street there were two things you were likely to see when a car passed by, the Christian symbol of the fish and a rainbow sticker.

Rainbow stickers, flags, and car ornaments were the symbol of Christian pride that the faithful believers were all to happy to collect and plaster on anything they could find space to display their commitment to Christ. Christian artist found ways to put the rainbow on their album covers and you knew you had genuine Christian t-shirt when it had a big rainbow that covered your chest.

The rainbow was the symbol of Love, Hope, and JESUS throughout the 70's. But somewhere in the 80's the rainbow begin to fade away. Instead of seeing the rainbow on the back of a Christian's car or in a groovy church, that was keeping up with the hippie style of the Imperials (one of the top Christian groups of the 70's and 80's), you started to see it being plastered on buildings in rather questionable parts of American cities. Quickly rainbow objects and rainbow flags lost any Christian meaning, taking on a more sexual queer tone with no or very little objection from the Christian community.

Today, some Christian organizations and assemblies are trying to revive the Christian meaning of the rainbow, while others are repulsed by the sight of it being brought into the church. This reminds me of another symbol that seems to be in a similar battle for who has the right to define it's meaning.

The Confederate Flag.

I guess I should correct myself and say the Battle Flag of Virginia, that has been confiscated by those who claim to be keepers or guardians of Confederate history.

Prior to the mid-seventies I don't believe there was any question what the Battle Flag represented because those who were quick to wield it in public places made it clear what the flag stood for, and very few, to my knowledge endeavored to correct or offer a subsequent definition until the 80's as the tide of cultural attitude started to change in America.

The Battle Flag, during the "Civil Rights Movement", was a clear form of propaganda and marketing of the strong believe in State's Rights by white southerners (as it pertained to Jim Crow laws, or legal segregation as many prefer to call it), southern historical pride despite the Civil War outcome, White supremacy and hierarchy (not to be confused with open hate groups like the KKK). However, one thing the flag did not traditionally represent, pre-eighties redefinement, was the inclusion of non-white Americans (Jews, Blacks, Native Americans, and often Southern European descendants to name a few) or non-protestant whites. While it is true many Blacks fought in the Civil War, most against their will, the Battle Flag was not meant to represent their contribution to Southern Glory, though there would be no Glorious Antebellum South if it were not for the glorious Negroes who's labor was the despised envy of the proclaimed "free north". The pride in the Battle Flag was meant to remind everyone, including blacks and white Northerners, that Southern whites were not shamed by the defeat of the Civil War, and in fact they still controlled and dictated legislation in the deep south and the northern south, including the nations Capital.

As the tide of embarrassment swept through the deep south, there was a push to reestablish the meaning of the "Confederate Flag", altering it from it's once symbol of hatred and murder to that of southern charm and loyalty thanks in part to 80's shows like The Dukes of Hazzard and it's good o'l boys who never meant no harm.

Unfortunately, the attitude of the rural and deep south has been slow to change, and the continuation of separate but equal, or well thought out segregation, has kept old feelings between ethnic groups on a slow simmer.  Meaning that the lingering pain felt by those who lived in the days when the Battle Flag was reminder for people of color to stay in their place will not be soothed by an attempt to rebrand (in ideology) the Confederate Flag. Even minority southerners, those who are considered Generation X, have felt the linger southern defiance to American inclusionism (seeing all Americans as Americans regardless of ethnicity or culture).

Also, there is a growing faction of American whites, who have yet to understand the greatness of inclusionism or unity of our ethnicity and culture as a nation, and feel that their "White Heritage" is being threatened and they are in danger of loosing their rightful privileges, though they hate for non-whites to call it white privilege. Instead they simply see it as whites being pushed out to make room for the "others" to take what has been theirs. It is often offensive for them to be expected to celebrate non-traditional and non-white American culture. And many of them have been successful in getting non-whites to join the campaign to protect the endangered history and rights of white America.

Unlike the Rainbow symbol, whose past meaning has become a fog in the minds of most Americans over 40, the early marketing of the Battle Flag has stained any attempts by current fans to abolish true historical facts and replace them with delightful mythical fantasies that many Confederate Flag drum-majors have tried to pass off as realities, historical facts or the only truth. This is one time that the rewriting of history, and shifting facts around the game board, is not working out too well. It seems that the Confederate Flag just can't shake the noose around it's neck.

One of the most painful tragedies of this great country, America, is it has done a lousy job of properly dealing with it's past in contrast to other developed and developing nations, such as Germany and South Africa. We have shied away from truth, repentance, and reconciliation. And therefore we find ourselves dealing with old wounds that appear to be more infected each time we remove the filthy and worn out bandages. We make excuses for our limp, bragging about it much like the wealthy glutinous once did when they were diagnosed with gout. Yes we are a complex nation with a complex history. But complexity has a way of strangling the life out of the simple and reasonable. We celebrate our complexity, and we should, but we have yet to reach deeper in to our once healthy simplicity...a time when human beings lived in North America as neighbors and friends whether finding their heritage rooted in the native soil, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, or the Euro-African diaspora.

The Battle Flag of Virginia, and other confederate symbols, will continue to be a source of pain and division in these United States of ours until we stop lying to ourselves, face truth - on both sides of the debate, be willing to learn and understand various points of view, and accept and correct where our history got it wrong. For some there are no feelings either way. But for many, there are strong ties to history and truth (reality). We need not be agitators, but instead mediators and wise moderators in the discussion and conversation.

Meanings are not always defined by the originator, sometimes they are defined by the receiver. 

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