Confederate Flag Flying

[PineapplePrincess]

Neighbour has started flying a Confederate flag today.

We are a mixed raced family, and I’m feeling a little unsettled by this. They are generally nice people, although we don’t tend to spend much time in their company. They perhaps don’t understand the impact flying the flag would have.

Don’t think I would say anything (altho’ DH May feel differently). But is it unreasonable to feel slightly offended?

@Winterlife I think you want @user1471565182.

I apologize for my error, user.

@PineapplePrincess, as you posted the neighbour seems nice, I would ask her what the story is behind the flag. If her answer is innocuous, tell her what it symbolizes. You don’t have to tell her it makes you uncomfortable, but her response to that history will tell you who she is.

She’s already posted that she’s spoken to them.

PicsInRed

Perhaps we should pay as much public health attention to racism as we do to drink driving and seatbelt use. Ad campaigns and social pressure might do the trick to see racism out of fashion.

Perhaps we should, but would this mean that we would lose those symbols that have been appropriated by racists (such as the cross of st George and the Valknut)?

The original point was, just as not everyone is upset by a Soviet flag even though it symbolizes atrocities, not everyone is upset by a Confederate flag, even though it symbolizes a heinous history.

You would be hard pressed to find any black people in the US who would not be upset by it. I don't know about the UK, but my guess is that the number of black people not upset by it would be very low. White people not upset by it, if they know the history, are racists or at the very least, enablers of racism.

How are things OP? I hope they've taken in down in light of what has happened since you spoke to her last week.

I am mixed raced and have lived opposite a man who flies political flags "associated" with racism. I chose to ignore. Nearby where I live a man had his Happy Eid flat confiscated by police e but racist flags against ethnic minorities never seem to matter. You could call the police, he SHOULD be arrested. But I wouldn't hold out much hope. Stay indoors and stay safe from this vile klansman please x

Any update OP?

I’m really keen to find out what they thought the flag represented!

In the late 90s, as a teen I had a Confederate flag sticker on my car. I loved Pantera, and I thought it represented rebellion - I had no idea about the actual history of the flag. It was on the Dukes of Hazzard, I thought it was just a Texan pride thing.

Yeah, I felt like a right twat years later when I realised I'd been driving around with a pro-slavery flag.

Have they taken it down? Any update ?

If you’ve not had any issues with them it could just be pure ignorance.

Some Americans refer to it as the “rebel flag”, and it may be that they had been on holiday there and picked one up as a souvenir.

I once had an older relative who came back from Florida with a pair of confederate flag braces and was mortified when I told him about the history of it. He genuinely had know idea and never wore them again.

Perhaps approach the neighbour neutrally, and with a friendly tone.

The conversation might go something like this:

“Hey interesting flag! Where did you get it?”

“On holiday in Florida. We brought it back as a souvenir”.

“That’s the Confederate Flag isn’t it? It’s worth googling the history...you’ll find it very interesting”

“Thanks”

Next day...

“I am soooooooooooooooo sorry...”

*no idea

Nobody could be ignorant of this anymore given events of recent months - unless they live without TV, radio, newspapers and conversation with others.

Even the US military have banned them now, thankfully.