I can't believe I lived to see the day that the Confederate flag (CF) is going down in the South. The Confederate states, those who fought for secession (separation) from the U.S. are seriously considering or have decided to fly the Confederate flag no more. Those states include Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky,
Texas, Florida (North of Orlando), and Oklahoma.
The state of Missouri was a swing state that sent soldiers both to the Union, 110,000 and to the Confederate army, 30,000. Below St. Louis went with the South, above St.Louis to the North. I grew up in the state of Missouri, the Bootheel, which is bordered by Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky. Several Civil war battles were fought in the state, one at Cape Girardeau, where I taught. Needless to say, Confederate flags were flown in Missouri, but not at the State house once the war was over.
Believe it or not, what is truly amazing is that big business has decided to stop selling Confederate flags and merchandise. Where corporate America goes, so goes the country. Walmart, Kmart, ebay, Amazon and Sears will no longer carry Confederate merchandise. Even Alibaba of China, a huge merchandising company, will no longer sell it. America is speaking from its pocketbook, not just mouthing words. Things in America have changed and are continuing to do so.
Many well meaning Whites defend the Confederate flag,
saying that it is part of the cultural history of the region
and does not mean racism.
It is important to remember that any flag is just a symbol and symbols can only be understood through the lens of the beholders. It is necessary to recognize that the stance of the defenders of the CF is valid. To many White southerners, the Confederate flag does not mean racist. It means courage and family and good times. Understanding what it means to them is important. However, to people of colour, especially African Americans, the Confederate flag means danger and oppression.
Legalized Discrimination
Though I never saw the Confederate flag fly in Missouri, I lived under its shadow.
I grew up during segregation (American apartheid) under Jim Crow laws. When I saw an establishment where the Confederate flag was displayed, that meant Blacks were not welcome. I knew not to go there unless I was having a serious emergency and even then I was very scared. If I saw a truck with the Confederate flag displayed on the back window I knew that meant danger: especially if it was full of white men. I made sure I got away from the truck as soon as possible or turned my eyes away as I walked by. Mind you, I saw these things often. When I see the CF flown or displayed I hear this song, Dixie, a de facto anthem of the Confederacy.
Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton,
Old times there are not forgotten.
Look away, look away, look away Dixie Land!
Dixie, the land of cotton, where old times are not forgotten
Here's what the "old times" meant for me. I
1. could not eat in a restaurant
2. could not stay in a hotel
3. had to drink from the colored water fountain and use the colored bathroom
(if there were none then I had no water and no restroom)
4. paid the same as Whites for a bus ride, then got off and went to sit in the back
5. could buy a soda at the counter in the drug store, but had to go outside to drink it
6. had to go to the back of the Greyhound bus station to buy food from a hole in the
wall : the store and fast food counter were off limits to Blacks
7. could not go the the public swimming pool
8. attended a school where there were excellent teachers, but out of date, ragged
textbooks handed down from the White school
9. had no access to the public library
10. had to watch my parents grovel when a police officer stopped us on the streets and highways for driving while Black.
When my parents drove long distances they had to make sure they could get from one
town to another during the day because we could not stop in Sundowner towns at
night where they had, "No niggers after dark signs" hanging in prominent places. That
meant if we stopped and slept on the road we might have been beaten or killed.
This is what the "old times" mean to me,
not courage, not family, and certainly not fun times.
And when I see the Confederate flag, that signifies to me, the white sentiment that we
go back to the good ole days when Blacks were "kept in their place."
I have no problem with people who want to fly the CF at their homes, at their
businesses, wear it on the clothes, wave it at parades, hang it in their trucks. Those
are personal choices and this is America. Personal choice is what the nation is built
on.
However, I do take exception to seeing the CF flown at the seats of government:
governments to which people of colour pay taxes and support. The CF flying at the
state capitol and other government facilities says to me,
"this government still honors the "good ole times", a time and place where you
were not free."
Personal use of the CF flag is fine and selling them to whomever wants to buy them is
fine, but I think the ones flying at government facilities should be laid to rest.
Yesterday, women asked for fair pay. I was silent because I had a living wage. Then an outdoor citizen asked for somewhere to stay. I turned my head, didn't say a word, refused to look into her face. Baltimore denounced police brutality. I turned off the TV because the police weren't shooting me. When Queers at Stonewall were beaten in the streets: I said nothing because "I thought I was free". Disabled people shouted "this is not fair." I held my tongue because I just knew I was already there. Then, a mosque burned down to the ground. I was not Muslim, I didn't care. I heard the elders had to choose, medicine or food. I was quiet because I just wasn't in the mood. When "the other" cried for help I stood still, I said nothing, I refused to move. Now,
I live from paycheck to paycheck, homelessness knocking at the door. My gay child bullied at
the school door. I can't get into my apartment because I can't walk the
stairs, found my parents eating cat food because no food stamps were
there. Yesterday I thought, "I'll just let everybody be". Today, I am scared because there is no one to speak for me. *Feel free to use with proper citation. Byrd, M. (2015). I was silent when you cried. Culture chat: living in a multicultural society. www.blogger.com
The massacre at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. happened six days ago, June 17, 2015.
It has taken six days for me to respond. This is unusual. I am an African American, a woman and a College Professor. I always have something to say. But this act, this senseless taking of innocent life, has left me speechless. I took a look at my Facebook and thought to myself,
"Why have I not made any posts--what the heck is going on?"
And, then to my dismay, I realized that I felt nothing,absolutely nothing about the killing of nine innocent Black people by a white stranger whom they had welcomed into their house of worship. I realized that I was numb, numb, you hear me! And you ask, "how can that be?"
Well, this tragedy is just the latest in a long line of incidents involving the loss of Black life at the hands of whites during my life time. I have no outrage because this kind of horror is normal in the US. It is a constant happening in America. Police killings of unarmed black people, both women and men, happen on a regular basis. A bomb killed three little black girls in church one Sunday morning just as I and they were stepping out of Sunday school. Blacks are still being hung in the South and harassed on college campuses throughout the nation. I'm all cried out, I'm no longer incredulous, no longer shocked. I am numb! Though it seems like nothing has changed, I would be lying if I said that was true. Though I started my education in segregated schools in the 50's, I was in the first integrated class in my hometown in the 60's. My teaching career has been in predominately white schools from the late 70's to the present. The president of the nation is African American, our major institutions are integrated, Millennials of all races work together and socialize freely with each other and people of colour are embedded in all facets of American life. Yes, things have changed and yet, the malignancy of racism continues to survive.
Those who were taken by race hatred include...
Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd
Susie Jackson
Ethel Lee Lance
Depayne Middleton-Doctor
Clementa C. Pinckney
Tywanza Sanders
Daniel Simmons
Sharonda Coleman-Singleton
Myra Thompson
The fight against racism is like fighting a hydra. We cut off one head and another emerges. This time the name of the head is Dylann Roof.
Somebody, please wake me.
While I sit here are my desk ruminating about the state of America, I can also see the stack of books and papers I need to prepare for my Fall classes. In just a couple of months I will step into my classrooms with one-hundred new, bright and shiny faces. Students who will look to me for instruction and guidance in both academics and life. They come with hope, exuberance, and expectations of a bright future. They come from all walks of life: all races & ethnicities, genders & orientations, ages & classes, religions & abilities. In the face of this teeming life I cannot teach from a state of numbness. But, what am I to do with it? There are many different causes of numbness. Numbness usually arises from a lack of blood supply to an area, nerve compression, or nerve damage. It is an abnormal state and is unhealthy.
Who do I call on to help me emerge from this numbness?
To the people of "good conscience" of all races who walked before me on this battle field...where can I go to rest? To my quiet place, where I can take time to reflect on the good? How can I restart the blood supply to my spiritual heart?
By removing the blockage of race hatred and race trauma I have suffered. What can I do to relieve the compression of my emotions: talk to others of like mind and those who are not? When will the psychological trauma of the Charleston massacre heal? Never, but it will lessen with time and I will use it to motivate me to stay on the battlefield.
The Healing Begins
My restoration begins as I look forward to and prepare for the new semester. I am already getting excited about the prospect of teaching students, not just about the problems of our society, but about their charge to make it anew, to make it better. I can't wait to see the sense of empowerment they gain from the acquisition of new ideas and new skills that will enable them to thrive in our multicultural nation. I look forward to them acknowledging their differences from and similarities to all of humanity. And, I hope that they weave a new fabric of American life: a fabric that is resistant to the stain of racism and the destruction of life in its wake. My vision is that each and every one of us will be a strong, healthy thread in the new multi-textured tomorrow. Apart, we are mere threads. Together, we can weave wonders.
We are two College Professors who love talking about Culture. Chatting about Culture.
There's a lot to be said about it, and since we teach Communication Studies, we thought we'd bring the two together, and stimulate your thinking about Culture in everyday life.
Join us on this journey as we make meaning of the things we share, join our Culture Chat Videos on Youtube, our regular Blog Posts here, and follow us on Twitter @culturechatshow !
Do you remember playing with LEGO blocks as a kid?
So many different shapes, colors and abilities.
No two perfectly alike it seemed, yet they made a great set.
And it took all of them to create something amazing.
Missing a piece? Job is incomplete!
For a long time now, the US has been on the road to realizing it's people.
Realizing what they are capable of, willing and able to do, and how they express themselves. For that's what people are - uniquely capable, and similar in so many ways, just different in how they express it.
Sometimes, the differences in how we express our uniqueness can rub others the wrong way. And when there are different kinds of people at work, in your neighborhood, at school or even in your family, that can make for quite a lot of friction.
But it doesn't have to be that way.
It is with this challenge - the challenge of living in a multicultural society - that we are starting Culture Chat, a YouTube and Blog series to identify Communication challenges and solutions around Culture.
Click on the link below to watch Episode 1!
Watch Episode 1 of 'Culture Chat' - How can we live in a Multicultural Society?
Have you ever wondered what 'Culture' means?
When a group of people share something - beliefs, a sense of right vs. wrong, a set of traditions to pass on, some rules to live by - this becomes a 'thing', a reality, a sort of Communication bubble we live in to get along. A Culture, in other words.
With the US though, we have two interesting things happening - we have people whose parentage is from over 100 countries around the world - AND we have individualism - where people wish to express themselves to their fullest potential, in their way.
That makes for a lot of dialectic stress - push and pull - of sameness and difference, but in a good way. Our sameness as humans and US Americans binds us together, and our differences as cultural others challenges our thinking and broadens our mind.
Neither one is successful without the other.
Our Goal
"What should I say in this situation?" "Is this an okay word to use?"
"I saw this on the internet, what does it mean?"
Much of the discomfort around Culture is the doubts and misunderstandings around word usage, appropriate behavior, historical contexts and the like.
As Professors of Communication and Culture, we hope to rest some of these doubts, create understanding and help contextualize US and World events.
Don't know the difference between an Archetype or Stereotype? We'll talk about it.
Not sure if Race and Ethnicity are the same thing? Read about it here.
Unsure how to deal with inappropriate behavior? There may be a solution for that too.
We welcome you on this journey of better understanding the cultural strangers in your life, including the strangers at home.
