have you ever seen a Confederate flag or bumper outside of the South?

[pstokely]

I see them from time to time in Kansas and Missouri around the Kansas City area, I saw one on a truck near River Falls, Wis, the trucks did not have out of state license plates

the flags is meaningless if you're outside of the South or not from the South

why are they seen outside of the South? has it become of symbol of white trash and rednecks

[proud patriot]

1. Yes ...I live in the SF Bay Area

I see about one a year here :hi:

[cherryperry]

2. ashamed to admit it

I have seen them on cars here in California; the only hopeful thing is they are always on cars with out-of-state license plates and I'm thinking: go home already!

[alphafemale]

3. Not as frequently...but yeah. They're around.

Southern Rock may bear some responsibility for it.

[sasquatch]

4. I see them in Ohio all the time

I live in southwest Ohio which borders with Kentucky so we get "good ol' boys" all the time. To me the confederate flag is as Anti-American as the Nazi flag

[elcondor]

42. I see them too

Except I live north of Columbus. I can see why you might spot a few (with Kentucky, even though, if I'm remembering my history teacher correctly, it never technically seceeded). But seeing one up here always puzzles me.

Quick story: a guy in my high school drove a truck with Confederate flag decals in the window and wore t-shirts enblazoned with the Confederate flag on a regular basis. One day he went out to the parking lot to find that his precious truck had been vandalized! (I didn't do it, and I normally wouldn't approve, but I'll make an exception in this case!)

[NYC]

5. Midtown Manhattan. Lexington Avenue.

A pick up truck drove by with a big confederate flag flying out the back. That was about two months ago. I don't remember exactly when, but I was astonished. (I didn't see the license plates, so I don't know from where.)

[SweetZombieJesus]

6. See them in Nebraska, and I ask the idiots if they know that...

Nebraska was a fucking FREE state. We were in the Union, I say, and they stare at me blankly, say nothing, and then drag their knuckles away.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

7. Yep California rednecks think they are all the rage

Frankly, I think they are unAmerican

[colorado_ufo]

15. Yes and no.

Yes, they are not American in the sense that they are not the flag of the United States of America; they are a battle flag (NOT the national flag) of the Confederate States of America.

But no, they are American, in the sense that they are indeed part of our country's history. Too often we try to pick and choose what is part of our history and sweep the rest under the rug.

In truth, what these flags have come to represent for the vast majority of the people who wish to display them (and I am not one of them)is a symbol of a rebel or independent attitude, not a reference to history, race, hatred, or anything deeper than the Dukes of Hazard.

[Maddy McCall]

21. Oh yes they do display them as a symbol of heritage...

a heritage or racism and hatred.

[qandnotq]

31. maybe they're just Ole Miss fans?

seeing's how you're seeing them in Mississippi (judging by your profile).

[uhhuh]

34. I saw an odd one

There was an African American man driving a car that had one on it. I thought that was really strange, but I just assumed he purchased it from someone else and hadn't thought about it, or had a chance to remove it yet. He was driving so I couldn't ask him.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

39. Probably cheap insurance

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

28. Heck the Mexican flag is part of our history (in California and Texas)

Does anyone fly it as a symbol of America? That's all I am saying...as for the rest, if a southerner honors their ancestors fine...but the flag itself is a symbol of division and anymore is intended as such. Ask Sonny Purdue who made sure of it.

BTW, no issue with your post, it's just that it really has been co-opted by a more covert agenda that needs a glaring floodlight shined on it.

[Moosenose]

54. Do people flying the confederate flag...

fly it as a symbol of America? I don't think so. We've got a lot of mexicans locally, and I certainly do see mexican flags, especially on mexican holidays. Same with flags of El Salvadore, et cetera, but those are normally hanging from their rearview mirrors or on their bumpers.

[Room101]

8. Yes, also in SF bay area..

And yes it was a pick up truck. It was a license plate cover.

[Wapsie B]

9. Yes I have.

My son has several. But he's a Civil War Reinactor who belongs to a Confederate unit in town.

[madrchsod]

10. whoaaaaaa

i just saw a pick -up truck tonight with a full sized cloth confederate flag on one side of the tailgate and on the otherside the"union" flag yup, they were flapping proudly behind the truck..just another stupid ass cracker in rockfalls,il....

[QC]

11. Used to see lots in Pennsylvania

when I lived there.

[colorado_ufo]

12. I've seen them in Western Colorado

but not for a year or so.

[pasadenademocrat]

13. Yes. and I live in So Cal nt

nt

[Hogarth]

14. I'm no anthropologist

but understand that the auto industry here in Michigan attracted a whole lot of labor from the south. That accounts for an abundance of Confederate flags, southern dialect, Dale Earnhardt (#3) decales, and bumper stickers that read, "Wife and Dog Missing--Reward for Dog."

[Cascadian]

16. Yeah. In Washington state of all places.

This was a couple of years ago. I was coming back from my ex-girlfiend's family Thanksgiving in Oregon and just outside of Centralia (about 90 miles from Seattle.). There was this big pick-up truck with a huge Confederate Flag flying on the back. The guy obviously wasn't from Alabama or wherever. He had Washington state plates. I was taken back by it. I cannot understand what the allure of the Confederate flag is especially outside of the South. Of course I was in "redneck" territory. Not all Washington state is as progressive as it may seem.

John

[laconicsax]

22. I've seen a few in WA

In Issaquah too.

To those who don't know Issaquah
Issaquah is about 17 miles East of Seattle. It's a rapidly growing suburb type place with development after development springing up and a road system designed for a small farming town (Issaquah 15 years ago) It's strongly Rethug territory deep in the Washington State 'bible belt.'

[Cascadian]

27. I thought the Wa. state "Bible Belt" was East of the Cascades.

Check out the small town of Zillah sometime. Just 15 miles away from Yakima. Totally fundyland. God, Guts, and Guns sort of place.

John

[no_arbusto]

37. I've got cousins in Issaquah.

They used to live in Orange County, California (Reagan, Nixon) too. I've never considered them to be political, but given what you've just said, I pray to mother nature that they are not Repukes. I never gave it much thought, but my uncle is a buyer for a major corporation and my one cousin is a 19 year old real estate agent that drives a Beamer. I do remember my uncle telling my dad (a Democrat) that the stock market would do "bla, bla, bla" if Bush got elected instead of Gore. Obviously he lost a lot of money but that's not the point. Say it ain't so. Please!

[bicentennial_baby]

17. Rural Western MA

Yes, and in this case, it is a redneck symbol, for sure. :P

[Classical_Liberal]

18. Yes, here in free state Iowa. A pickup in a Rebel Flag motif

With a bumper sticker, reading "proud redneck" the other day at the mall. It maybe just a dukes of hazard thing, but it also maybe racist.

[REP]

50. Some Confederate Soldiers Moved to Iowa

Not many - there are fewer than a dozen Confederate graves in Iowa - but they're there.

[proud patriot]

19. Here is the Get over it you lost bumper sticker

Fourth sticker down ...I printed it up , I can't wait
to show it to a Confederate flag owner :evilgrin:
http://www.thebumperbanner.com/regional.php

[REP]

20. Some of Us Have Confederate and Union Ancestors

and have both flags. There are many reasons men joined either army, and are more complex than "they were racist assholes" or "they were enlightened." Did you know both armies offered a good amount of money to enlist?

[Classical_Liberal]

24. If you have ancestors that might explain it, but most

people in my state don't. We aren't even a border state. I have never met anyone it my state that flew it that didn't have extremely conservative views.

[REP]

35. People Move

I'm in California. One great great grandfather served with the 3rd Missouri Cavalry (Co K); another served with the 4th Iowa Cavalry (Co I). And of course, a foster son of my great great uncle led the march to the sea - we like to think it was us that made him like that.

I don't display any flag, by the way - I just get a little tired of the knee-jerk reaction to Confederate flags.

[Classical_Liberal]

40. It is a conservative statement even when not racist

My incedent even included a "proud redneck" bumper sticker. Not uncommon.

[REP]

43. You Know What a Red Neck Is?

A farmer. What's wrong with being a farmer? Why is it city people want to put down the people who grow the food?

You seem to want to prove how open-minded you are by stereotyping a group of people. I prefer not to.

[Classical_Liberal]

45. Someone who calls themselves a redneck is doing it to themselves

My grandpa is a farmer, but don't you dare call him redneck. Being a farmer has nothing to do with the confederate flag or the South either.

[REP]

47. Duh

Being a farmer has nothing to do with the confederate flag or the South either.

But it has everything to do with being a redneck. My grandfather was a redneck. He was also a builder, but he farmed, too.

It is smug pseudointellectuals who think that being a redneck is to be a poor, backward farmer. Many farmers don't agree and are proud to be rednecks.

Okay, since you don't know, I'll tell you: the term "redneck" came about because farmers' necks got sunburned working on the farm.

[Name removed]

49. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[REP]

51. Say What?

Read my post again, and then I'll accept your apology for so blatantly misrepresenting my words and for smearing my grandfather.

[Classical_Liberal]

52. If your grandfather called himself a redneck

he doesn't mind getting smeared.

[REP]

55. Your Apology for Your Blatant Misrepresentation Goes Here:

If you don't apologize for what out of kindness I will assume was a simple misreading on your part, that assumption will become that you were purposely dishonest. Which is it?

[Classical_Liberal]

58. Your yanking my chain

I don't fucking have time. your grandfather called himself a redneck and you want ME to apologize for it. PLONK!

[REP]

61. Declare Victory and Retreat - Classic Move

And it's "you're" - a contraction of "you are" and no, I'm not. You made a dishonest representation of my words and you do not have the integrity to apologize.

[dsc]

23. Sadly they are pretty common in my area

Ironically I live in the old Congressional district of one of the most Radical of the Radical Republicans. My part of Ohio also has several houses on the Underground Railroad. But Confederate Flags seem to be more common now than ever around here. I also have seen lawn jockeys as well. Most bizarrely across the street from me a guy was selling both Pride flags and Confederate flags. I have no idea what was up with that.

[Journeyman]

25. In California, coming South over the Grapevine. . .

the major approach to Los Angeles from the San Joaquin Valley (Central California), an enormous Confederate Navy Jack -- perhaps as long as 20 feet in width -- hung for years from a tall flagpole at the base of the pass. It was almost the first sight drivers saw as they entered the Southland -- and imparted a raw edge to that common nickname for the LA Basin and environs.

It hung there for a number of years and generated, as you can imagine, a storm of controversy. Why it was flown and why it was ultimately removed, I can't say. As I think back on it, I can't remember the last time I saw it, though I suspect it's been gone since the mid '90s. It's not the sort of thing you notice when it's missing, only when it's there.

I could give you a range of reasons why people would choose to fly the Stars & Bars, everything from overt racism and hatred of the U.S. to nostalgia for an era long gone and the discredited antebellum ideal of state's rights. All the reasons would fit, though perhaps never all at the same time. Its display on the outreaches of a major metropolitan area, and in such a provocative manner, was an affront to every citizen who passed it and its removal the only proper resolution.

[UnapologeticLiberal]

26. I saw one on the way to New Hampshire

and it was on a car with a Connecticut license plate, which was really strange. They also had a Bush bumper sticker. Since we were driving up to New Hampshire to do canvassing for Dean and then go to the declaration in Vermont on the 23rd, we had decorated our car with Dean signs and named it "the Dean Machine." So the people in the car with the Bush and Confederate flag stickers made a sign and flashed it at us that said "Bush is God." We made one to flash back saying "show me the weapons," but unfortunately we did not encounter them again.

[qandnotq]

29. lots of people from the South don't live there

and to many of them the rebel flag has not a thing to do with racism. it's about being proud of your roots. so, maybe you're seeing ex-pat flags. i don't have one myself because i understand that other people view it as racist. but growing up in mississippi, no one i knew thought of the flag as having anything to do with race. of course it did historically, but that's not the meaning most white southerners associate with it.

[Classical_Liberal]

30. I've seen people fly it that had no Southern ancestors to there knowledge

i admit with people from the South it maybe heritage. It is making some other kind of statement, when worn in the north, and in my experience it is generally extremely conservative, and in some cases openly racist. In the 80s it might have been a Dukes of Hazard thing but now it seems most associated with militia types.

[REP]

36. But No One Wants To Hear That!

My Southern roots go back to 1620 Virginia, and I live on the opposite coast now. I also have Union and Confederate ancestors. I don't display any flag, but this "Confederate flag = racist asshole" is an annoying knee-jerk reaction, and seems to imply that some stereotypes are okay. No, they're not. It's just as offensive as when a rightwinger assumes "liberal = nonpatriotic."

Yes, there are racist assholes who want to claim the Confederate flag as their own; there are also racist assholes who want to claim the American flag as theirs alone. Don't let them define what our American symbols mean.

[Classical_Liberal]

38. Well, I would say the percentages are consideraly higher on

the Confederate Flag. I am sorry. I don't want to make the damned thing illegal as I have better priorities, but in my case we had the had the one/two punch of confederate flag + proud red neck bumper sticker. This isn't uncommon. It is an angry white male moniker. People who feel picked on by civil rights activistss, and other progressive causes. Even if they don't where white sheets many are openly hostile to "libruls" It isn't a symbol of America by the way. It is a symbol of people who did't want to be Citizens of the USA, atleast admit to this fact.

[REP]

46. History Lesson For You

The Civil War happened in America, making it part of American history. The Gadston flag is considered part of American heritage, though those 13 states were still English colonies when it was originally flown.

I am sure you do not see the irony in you deciding what a bunch of people whom you have never meet think, and deciding that they are bad, angry and intolerant. That's mighty, well, intolerant of you. That kind of superior attitude will not win many to your side. Unfortunately, many see that attitude as the classical liberal position - someone telling someone else how they are.

Please don't try to teach your grandmother to suck eggs, child.

[Classical_Liberal]

48. The Gadston people fought for the USA

The Civil War people fought against it. The redneck called himself a redneck. He is stereotyping himself, by associating with the Confederate flag and calling himself a redneck. Not my problem. I feel no obligation to revere a flag that is not the flag of my country.

[REP]

53. Great. Stop Stereotyping People

Yes, farmers call themselves rednecks. They are not letting snotty pseudointellectuals define redneck for them.

By the way, "Civil War people" includes both Union and Confederates. Are you saying that the Union Army fought against the Union?

Additionally, how could the "Gadston people" be fighting for the USA when it didn't even exist? And who are these "Gadston people"?

[Classical_Liberal]

56. The people who fought under the Gadstone flag fought to create

the USA. The people fought under the Reble flag fought to dispand it. By saying farmers call themselves redneck you're the one who is stereotyping not me. Farmers that call themselves that obviously don't mind stereotyping or embrace the stereotype. Why defend someone who won't defend themselves.

[REP]

60. Wrong

Another history lesson for you: Revolutionary soldiers fought for independence from the British crown. There was no "Reble"{sic} flag; the flag you are demonstrating little knowledge of is a battle flag of the CSA, sometimes called "The Southern Cross." Racists sometimes fly Quantrill's "No Quarter" flag.

[curse10]

32. I've seen them here in Colorado

and in Wyoming.

[corarose]

33. I have spotted several in the northern suburbs of Chicago

I honked my horn one time and gave the guy that was driving the large pick up truck the finger.

You see them when you start to get up near the Wisconsin/Illinois line.

[no_arbusto]

41. I've seen a few in CA, but where I'm from in PA...

they're commonplace. The area between Washington, PA and Wheeling, WV is probably one of the most racist areas in the country. Mel Blount (an African-American ex-Steeler) opened a youth camp in this area about 10 years ago and was greeted with cross burnings on several occasions. For some reason, the people here feel a connection to the south.

Yes, Washington, PA is home to the Whiskey Rebellion and was also a stop on the Underground Railroad. I'll never get it.

[CanuckAmok]

44. Even in Canada... n/t

[9215]

57. I saw one in Seattle

it had a cross through it and statement: "You lost, get over it!"

LMAO!

[bluestateguy]

59. Not many in Austin

But once you leave Travis County the political climate changes real fast.