Featured A Georgetown law professor just perfectly captured the absurdity of Confederate pride

A Georgetown law professor just perfectly captured the absurdity of Confederate pride



It has been 150 years since the Civil War officially ended, but take a trip to certain regions in the South and you may get a different impression.
Especially since last week's shooting in South Carolina, the Confederate battle flag has become an iconic and often unwelcome reminder that race relations in the US still face a staggering uphill battle.

But some people still wave the flag with pride, and Georgetown University law professor Paul Butler has some words for those people.

On a Monday episode of "The Diane Rehm Show," a caller said her Confederate ancestors deserved respect, even though the Confederate flag represented "racial hatred."

To which Butler replied:

I have no respect for your ancestors. As far as your ancestors are concerned, I shouldn't be a law professor at Georgetown. I should be a slave. That's why they fought that war. I don't understand what it means to be proud of a legacy of terrorism and violence.

Last week at this time, I was in Israel. The idea that a German would say, you know, that thing we did called the Holocaust, that was wrong, but I respect the courage of my Nazi ancestors. That wouldn't happen.

The reason people can say what you said in the United States, is because, again, black life just doesn't matter to a lot of people.

Butler isn't alone in that bleak assessment.

Just ask the students at the University of Texas, who recently spray-painted "Black Lives Matter" on a Confederate statue.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/georgetown-law-professor-just-perfectly-223100907.html

 

I ardently disagree with what he said. This is the United States of America. If you don't like what is going on, then CHANGE it.

Saying we need to put down the American flag, IMO, is an act of aggression against the United States.

However, I understand his sentiment. If the United States is going to for 400+ years continue to treat Blacks and other people of color as second hand citizens economically, socially and legal system wise, then perhaps the United States does need to take a look at itself and exactly what the Constitution and the Declaration were supposed to mean.

Because as it stands, human rights violations should brought against this country. And an international body of her peers should hold her accountable.

 

You're sounding like quite the fool yourself.

 

It doesn't blow anyone's mind. Everybody knows that the GOP and the media will always try to find the person who goes against the grain because they think it makes for "riveting" tv.

 

And then explain to them that there were black soldiers who fought and survived the Civil War and got home and were lynched by folks carrying that flag as their symbol. .

And then explain to them that there were black soldiers who fought and survived the WWI and WWII and got home and were hanged from a tree by folks carrying that flag as their symbol..

And then explain to them that there were black soldiers who fought and survived Vietnam and got home and were burned alive by folks carrying that flag as their symbol.

 

I know. And there are plenty more in his community who have lived through some stuff who will always shed some light on the foolishness of their tongues for them.

 

That might be your perception of reality, but in the black community, that's not reality.

He might say that stuff for the cameras, but wait until his family sees it. Wait until his parents and grandparents and grand aunts and uncles see it. He might not change his mind, but they are for sure gonna let him know how ridiculously foolish his statements were in lieu of the folks who lived through that time and Jim Crow.

 

I didn't see any expression of venom. Is there a statehouse flying the flag of that era?

Did they fly their flags in opposition to ending slavery? They are state flags. They didn't fly them in remembrance of a treasonous , pro-enslavement regime.

Again, no venom. Just a professor of law expressing that he has no respect for anyone who would fly a flag representative of a treasonous, pro-enslavement regime.

Is there a state still flying that Union flag as an expression of their using slaves?

The US isn't gonna move forward until the millions in the majority acknowledge what took place in this country and what continues to take place.

Perhaps. But 400+ years of slavery and a continued atmosphere that says the majority still views the minority in some regards as slaves when it comes to their lives doesn't bode well for reconciliation. People don't reconcile when the ones doing the wrong keep doing the wrong and denying it.

 

The one on the south side of Philly.