Spurrier: Take that damned flag down

South Carolina's seccession?

 

The war was about slavery. The Confederates left a paper trail, including this almighty gem from March 21, 1861 by Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens:

Good for the ball coach for telling it how it is.

 

This entire issue comes down to one very simple point: People ON BOTH SIDES are itching for a fight.

I've never heard one single white person (with any clout) say: "You know what. I can understand why blacks are offended. I think the honorable thing would be to remove the flag."
I've never heard one single black person (with any clout) say: "The fact that the flag flies on a small monument in Columbia doesn't affect me in the slightest. Let them fly it, if it means so much to them."

My opinion: The flag still flies because nobody wants to look weak. The white politicians won't retire it because it would mean backing down. They feel like they've already compromised once, by taking it off the Statehouse. The NAACP won't back down because the flag issue distracts from all the other things they're not doing -- all the fights they should be waging, but aren't.

As for people who still wave the battle flag ... they're simply being assholes. If they cared, or believed, or in many instances, even knew the first damn thing about the CSA, they'd know which flag they SHOULD be waving.

 

All of you who said it's really not about history are totally correct.

It's defiant assholes looking to raise hell.

 

Technically, isn't the use of this flag still treason?

 

Buck, your story illustrates the situation beautifully.

Racism is taught. Passed down from one generation to another. We are in many ways products of our environment. Some of us see/hear things that are morally wrong and are compelled to do something about it, however minute it might seem in the big picture.

In other words, some shit is gonna bother us.

I've lived in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi in all but one of my 27 years in the business. (Even if three of 'em were on the border, which is more like Texico, the Gateway to the Third World.) A lot of racial/racist stuff is accepted, passed off as 'boys bein' boys.'

(And yeah, Mizzou, some of the stereotypes apply. To a minority of misguided morons, the likes of which is shrinking all the time.)

There are different ways to deal with it. I've tried anger, outrage. I've tried indifference, feigned or otherwise. I've tried to enlighten some of the good-natures rubes I've encountered over the years, some of them actually willing to listen to what me or others had to say.

Parents are the most important element in this critical aspect of American society and its direction for the future. I can't speak for one, because I have no kids (no paternity suit jokes, please, Johnny Dangerously, I'm free as the wind there) and my expertise on the parent-child relationship specializes on the side of extended adolescence, a byproduct of your typical single, sarcastic Southern sportswriter.

I be keepin' it real. I've been a Fred G. Sanford guy since Day one, and the G. stands for Got No Time for Confederacy-obsessed nincompoops.

It's a simple argument, really, for white folks such as myself, my friends and loved ones.

Put yourselves in the shoes of a black family. Think about what the Stars and Bars means to them. Think about the cost of that war, in terms of human life and loss. Think about what's happened since. (Yeah, throw 'Nam and Iraq in there, I know I do.)

As Patrick Swayze's character Dalton said in the notoriously cheesy/poignant "Road House," it's easy to follow one simple aspect in the code of a mercenary bouncer on the make for Kelly Lynch:

"Be nice."

Not askin' that much, is it?

 

By its strictest definition, I'd say no. It might actually be closer to sedition, but I'd say it's not that, either.

 

Until recently, it flew over a "small monument" in SC that was called the State capitol.

 

Take the fucking flag down. It's time has come and gone.

 

Pull your fucking pants up.

 

This issue comes up every year in South Carolina around the time of the NCAA baseball regionals. The NCAA has yet to take those away, but it always comes up because of the quality of baseball in this state and the fact that 2-4 teams are bidding for a first-round home regional.
Every year, though, hardly anyone notices.
Spurrier opens his mouth, speaks his oppinion and people do listen. Good for him for not tucking tail. As someone else said, he's got a set of huge ones, something we should expect from someone who's also taken on and made a difference in gender issues in his time as a coach.