WaPo: Some white Northerners want to redefine a flag rooted in racism as a symbol of patriotism

[VOX]

While this appears in the liberal Washington Post, it’s another case of reporting two sides somewhat equally, thus giving the insane side some unwarranted legitimacy. Still, an interesting (if not utterly disturbing) development in the increasing craziness of the deplorables.
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Some white Northerners want to redefine a flag rooted in racism as a symbol of patriotism

The Washington Post
By Frances Stead Sellers and Michael S. Williamson

October 22
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/national/wp/2018/10/22/feature/some-white-northerners-want-to-redefine-a-flag-rooted-in-racism-as-a-symbol-of-patriotism/

TOLONO, ILL. — A short walk from where President-elect Abraham Lincoln made the last train stop in his home state before leaving for Washington on the verge of the Civil War, a Confederate battle flag flies from a home garage.
<snip>
The Confederate flag’s appearance at Trump rallies in 2016, sometimes emblazoned with his name, cemented its link to his “Make America Great Again” brand of patriotism, which appealed to many disaffected white people. Some supporters say the country under President Barack Obama put the needs of minorities before theirs.
<snip>
Historians wrestle with how a flag that stood for treason can be seen as patriotic. In the more than 150 years since it was adopted by the Confederacy, the battle flag has been redefined numerous times by the people who display it — at times worn as a symbol of youthful rebellion and at others wielded as a show of racial hatred.
The effort to pair it with displays of patriotism is met with resistance from those who note that Dixiecrats brandished the Confederate battle flag in opposition to the civil rights movement, and that neo-Nazis paraded it through Charlottesville last year.
<snip>
But it has often carried a racially charged message, said Barbara J. Fields, a professor of American history at Columbia University. “It was weaponized in the era of Jim Crow, the civil rights era and again recently” by far-right activists who rampaged through Charlottesville.
When it showed up at Trump rallies — in Kissimmee, Fla., in Pittsburgh, in West Bend, Wis. — it often mingled with the star-spangled banner and chants of “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!”
“Given this political moment in which whiteness is central to political discourse, I don’t think it’s surprising that people would seize on the [Confederate] flag as a symbol,” said Edda Fields-Black, a historian at Carnegie Mellon University who has written widely about enslavement.
<snip>

[jcgoldie]

1. They aren't trying to redefine it

For these people patriotism=racism... that's why they love Trump America... there's no disconnect for them between the two. They aren't trying to redefine that terrible flag, they are trying to redefine America.

[VOX]

2. Precisely! 100 percent on the money.

Outstanding response, jcgoldie.

[zipplewrath]

3. Exactly

The "base" are people that love pulling children out of their parents hands. The cruelty is the point.

The base wants America defined by racism. They are in the minority by a long stretch. But since the US is not currently governed by a majority, they can make their desires come true. It may ultimately back fire, but it will take time.