The Southern Cross Flag

I know many of you were not fortunate enough to be raised in the south. So let me explain to you why the Confederate Battle Flag, also known as the Southern Cross means so much to those of us that were raised here. I was born in 1960, the infancy of the civil rights movement here in the south. Being raised in the Atlanta area, we were also subject to  lot of the Martin Luther King Jr speeches and the news coverage of him. As a child, I remember some of the names of the times being used. Names like J Edgar Hoover, Barry Goldwater, and many other politicians of the time.The big thing I remember the most as a child was the space race, and achieving orbiting the moon. I remember  the April night when MLK was shot down and never really understanding what was so important about him dying.

Not one time was I ever taught to hate a particular race of people, or to use a flag as a symbol of hatred. As I got older, the “battle flag’ became more of a symbol of where I came from more than what the revisionists had written about the south and what they had wanted the flag to symbolize.For those of you tht still to this day believe that the Civil war was about slavery and racisim, please take a few minutes and read this website http://www.americasfreedomfighters.com/2015/03/13/the-truth-about-confederate-history-its-not-what-you-think/ . This might enlighten your thoughts on what the civil war was truly about. Keep in mind, the truth is not always the truth when you are the winners of such wars. If you win, you get to tell the story the way you want it told, even if it isn’t true. Also keep in mind, if you have never read the Emancipation Proclamation, you probably do not know that only the southern slaves were freed, not the northern slaves.

What the revisionists don’t want the average person to know is that slavery was on its way out in the south before the war ever began. Also, after the war started, there were many blacks that fought on the side of the confederacy, voluntarily.Speaking for myself, I was raised with a lot of southern pride. Pride in the fact that we could take care of ourselves.The battle flag became a symbol of that pride. It wasn’t about forcing slavery or promoting racism. I remember when the Confederate Memorial Carving was dedicated in the mid 70s. Another  proud milestone for us in the south. Many years after the carving was complete, I would say in the mid 80s, Stone Mountain park began having lasers shows on the side of the mountain that the carving was on. One of the continuous features of the laser show, is bringing the carving to life with the lasers.

There are all types of people that view the laser shows there during the summer, a lot of tourist tht show up to see just what all of the hoopla is all about. Once that show is over though, everyone leaves as a southerner. Yes, we celebrate Confederate Memorial day here, We are a proud people here, and we are proud of our culture. Personally, I think many other parts of the country are jealous of the south simply because we do have a physical symbol that we love and represents everything we are and what we are about. So speaking for many of the true southerners, if you don’t like what we do and how we do things down here, you can just kiss our southern asses!