Millions of Americans still embrace the Confederate flag. Should we dismiss them all as racists?
However, there are still millions of Americans in the South who (probably quietly, these days) remain deeply invested in the Confederate flag. I am not one of them. But I do believe their concerns and beliefs are worth considering without dismissing them wholesale as a bunch of backwards racists, as much of the American left seems eager to do.
Some defenders of the flag worry about a slippery slope. They oppose its removal from state capitols and insignias because they think there's no logical stopping point.
First came the calls to take down the Confederate flags flying over state property. Then Virginia moved to scrap a small license plate program for the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Before long, private companies said they would discontinue selling Confederate-themed products. Now everything from roads to statutes commemorating Confederate figures could wind up on the chopping block.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/millions-of-americans-still-embrace-the-confederate-flag-dont-dismiss-them-all-as-racists/ar-AAc9zqW
Was the Civil War About Slavery?
What caused the Civil War? Did the North care about abolishing slavery? Did the South secede because of slavery? Or was it about something else entirely...pe...
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/10/us/conderate-flag-southern-economics/index.html
One battle the Confederate flag is still winning - CNN.com
If you want to understand Southern heritage, don't follow the Confederate flag debate, follow the money, say historians.
Charleston state Sen. Paul Thurmond, whose father ran as a Dixiecrat, will vote to remove the...
State Sen. Paul Thurmond of Charleston, the son of longtime U.S. Senator and once-ardent segregationist Strom Thurmond, took the podium this morning and declared “the time is right” to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol.
My mother's father John V. Gallardo (FROM CALIFORNIA) is still buried in the Philippines, KIA March 14th, 1945. Earl O Brake of Alabama was killed with him repelling a Jap Dawn banzai Attack. Earl was awarded the DSC Posthumously.
http://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient.php?recipientid=6498 All families of the fallen should have the type of closure that our families had. The families never really get over their loss of their love one. I know that neither Earl's family in Alabama or my family has ever really stopped missing a son, a father, a grandfather, or a brother. Earl's family reached out to my family 65 years after their deaths and it was very special. Southern families don't forget their war dead, whether they are Confederate dead from the Civil War or WWI or WWII or Korea, Vietnam, and now Afghanistan and Iraq. This is something my family found out when Earl's niece presented my family a ringed binder full of first-hand accounts of the men in their platoon and company who knew Earl and my grandfather and how they met their end defending their company's strong point, armed with two BARS and grenades. The platoon commander put two of his best men in that fighting hole, because he knew if the Japs attacked, that is where the company defensive perimeter would get hit first and hardest. He needed two men who would not run, but would fight until they could not fight anymore. He was right. Both men died where they were placed and accounted for close to a hundred dead Japs. Earl's family spent 60 years trying to get Earl upgrade to the Medal of Honor. No matter. We know what my grandfather and Earl did, that day in the jungle hills outside of Manila.
Valor awards for Earl O. Brake
(Citation Needed) - SYNOPSIS: Private First Class Earl O. Brake (ASN: 34807192), United States Army, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with Company F, 103d Infantry Regiment, 43d Infantry Division, in action against enemy forces on 14 March 1945. Private First Class Brake's intrepid actions, personal bravery and...