Common wisdom holds for one to be true to thy self. If you’re a self-described Southerner, odds are good you might still be licking your wounds from the flogging the north dished out 150 years ago.
If this is so, I don’t blame you, since it would be hypocritical for me to cast judgment. I, too, am visited frequently with pangs of shame over the outcome of the Ecuadorian-Colombian War of 1863, in which my Ecuadorian ancestors were embarrassingly coerced into capitulation, courtesy of Colombia. I haven’t found my posture since.
But it might be time for me to do so.
Although I have no plan or words of reassurance for those still vindictive about the wars their forefathers fought in, I might have a useable idea for those Southerners who are still bitter over the outcome of the Civil War and remain adamant in purporting the glory of the rebellion.
Be true to thy self.
Gainesville is a strange place. A quintessential existence, in that the culture of higher education and the mythos of the good Old South are able to avoid clashing together, instead mingling agreeably. The latter is not limited to bumper stickers nor proud flags on private property, but can also be found in class discussions on our college campuses, debating whether the Civil War was fought primarily for states’ rights or for slavery. In this matter, the doctrine of "heritage, not hate" is favorably espoused to defend the presence of Confederate America.
Well, there should be no gray area, no purgatory for a culture of racism. To clarify, my point is not to attack those who have refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing on the part of slave-owning states; the cause for educating them in the atrocities perpetrated by our ancestors was lost long ago. Rather, it is those who have opted for higher education and continue to speak highly of blatantly offensive and patently incorrect symbolism that I take umbrage with.
Here’s my point: If you’re a Southerner in college, willfully waving the "Stars ‘n’ Bars," be true to yourself.
Abandon the cowardliness of jingoisms like "heritage, not hate." Just be racist. Join the ranks of those big-rigged, Luke Bryan-blaring country bumpkins (Disclaimer: Luke Bryan is a sweet dude and although I don’t particularly like commercial country music, he’s alright with me … even though we all know a good chunk of his fan base is racist). Because that’s what you reduce yourself to when you insist that the war was fought to defend states’ rights. You’re either ignorant, or you’ve deliberately decided to adopt a heinous culture of passive racism.
When I was working in Southeast Florida this past summer, each morning I would drive by a disheveled home whose green-brown yard was bordered by a chain-link fence. On this property resided two totems to willful ignorance. The first was a lifted, Dixie-adorned Ford 350, with metal testicles dangling in the rear, all too proud to boast its prowess for dispensing smog. The second was the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, which flew high and proud, albeit tucked gingerly under a larger American flag.
Each time I passed it I would say to myself — opting not to knock on the door of our presumably affable rebels — how can you do that?
It was just two months ago that nine African-Americans were cut down by a malleable-minded white supremacist trumpeting the doctrines of the Confederacy. How can one consider themselves a forward-thinking, decent individual, yet still fly a flag that represents oppression and death for a people our country has manipulated and continues to abuse to this day? How can one consider themselves a good American?
I’m more than aware that this will, more likely than not, fall on deaf ears. Although I sincerely doubt my words will change the tunes of those set in their ways, it must fall on the ears of college students, who are not deaf, to disavow a heritage of hate, discrimination and terror.
Justin Ford is a Santa Fe journalism junior. His column appears on Tuesdays.
