More on Cheney and the Confederate Flag

Cheney may have hung the flag himself.

You know my Irish ancestors where mistreated when they first arrived in America….called names, given horrible wages. Hmmmmm maybe we need a spokesman to decry the wrongs everytime someone makes an Irish joke or teases someone with red hair.

Your southern roots are a “nation” that invaded the United States of America. Why would you be proud. If you are a terrorist, then you would be proud.

The club has a right to hang whatever flag it wants. It has nothing to do with VP Cheney.

You southern roots keep black people enslaved for centuries. Why would you be proud of that? Oh yeah, the Bible that you shoved down the throat of your captured slaves, says that it is OK to enslave people. Even gives tips, 1 Peter 2:18. How pathetic. Be proud of your “roots”

Funny how people get distracted. Focus on the VP and his misdeeds. He doesn’t see the flag of a “nation” that attacked the US. Why? You think that this is the best someone can frame him? The VP shot a man and got away with it. People in the military are in jail for the same thing. Are you kidding me? You people need to focus on the facts. The VP should know where he is hunting. You think the secret service didn’t go through this place with a fine toothed comb? Are you kidding? POTUS and the VP don’t go anywhere with the secret service going through the place first. So he may not have know. But his security detail did. That is a fact.

“The widest door sold is 36 inches wide.” Does that include garage doors? Focus on the facts. The VP knew. You are trying to cover. It is not a conspiracy. The VP has already gotten away with shooting someone. Focus. You are making excuses for backing a “nation” that attacked America. You stand with the VP on the wrong side.

Al Sharpton lives in a state (New York) that proudly displays three slave ships in its state flag. The flag was adopted from the state seal in the 1700′s , a time when slaves from Africa were New York’s most profitable import. New York’s flag plainly and proudly displays slavery while the Confederate battle flag represents the men who died on the battlefield defending their homes from an invading Union Army. Al has never said anything about the New York state flag so the only conclusion is that he approved of New York slavery.

I would hope that some people would wake up to the things that are right in front of their face. Concentrate on the story. But your lack of education and critical thinking has made you lazy. Made you into automatons that will protect the interests that are counter to this country’s true security. We were weaker because when he was SECDEF, the VP weakened us. And we get weaker by him associating with hunters who display this crap. The secret service vetted this place. So don’t blame anyone else.

Does anyone even read a history book? The Confederate flag does not sybolize racism. Just as the Civil War was not fought because the North wanted to free slaves. The war, for people living in the southern states, was fought to stop Northern Aggression, you would think Al Sharpton, being a public leader would at least know a little about history. Who cares if Dick Cheney was hunting at a club where the flag was hung? It would be different if they were burning crosses or dressed up in white sheets. Al Sharpton, for all his glory, has done nothing but make an idiot out of himself and anyone who follows him. He will do or say anything to get publicity. I see he didn’t get enough attention from the Jena 6 March. I say get a life, Al, read a history book and find out the true story of the ancestory of African Americans.

IDK, I have read my history books. In fact, I have a degree in American history. The south seceeded first. They took over United States forts, like Fort Sumter. It was not built by the Confederacy. It was built by and for the United States. Focus. That is an act of war. The south started it. It is you haven’t read.

The reason that racism is still such a problem in this country is because of people like Al Sharpton. By perpetuating moronic claims that people really don’t care about. A confederate flag? Please, although I don’t support what it stands for this country will always have people that will fly that flag. Mr. Sharpton needs to focus on more worthwhile claims and problems, and try to find issues in this country that can be corrected instead of focusing on the inevitable dead ends.

Talk about racist, what about the title “African American”. I like the “American” part but the majority of Blacks have never been to Africa and were born and raised in the US. Why would they want to be associated with a Continent that has oppressed all races for 100′s of years. Now religious discrimination/hatred is running rampant around the whole of Africa. Al Sharpton needs to get his ideals in order and become more “American” instead of “African” rather than the “We versus Them” garbage.

This is drama, Rev. Al Sharpton is just looking for something to do. He has nothing else to do but cause conflict with people over nothing.We need to ignore him.

dunno – your name fits you don not know!
The Civil war was a war of the Northern US versus the Southern US, where the North attacked the South to stop them from seceding from the Country!
Now I looked at the picture, if it a garage on the site, the Flag is INSIDE the Garage, do you think VP Cheney goes inside the garage, do you think he investigates all the rooms. I do not think so! Yes the security does but they are looking for threats not political issues, so they probably did not report it.
So get over it, When I see the Flag I think of it as saying Never Again!, i do not see it as supporting the south!
Heres a question how come more racial issues happen in so called Blue states then in Red? Is that because the libs are very racist?
How come Sharpton is not asking for KKK Recruiter Sen Byrd to resign? Oh thats right hes a lib!

Sorry Jake going a little off topic but you should report on the Clinton’s support of the Confederate Flag.
During Clinton’s term as Governor of Arkansas the Confederate Flag flew unopposed by the Clintons, how come Sharpton says nothing about that!

Focus. This is not about Al Sharpton. Not about African Americans. This about the second most powerful man in the world associating with racists. Walking the presence of a flag of a “nation” that attacked the US. This about the secret service knowing every detail of every place that the VP goes. Someone knew. You people who focus on the wrong things are dangerous. Focus on the facts. If you haven’t seen the pictures, they are on other websites. I saw them on Fox News this morning. You aren’t looking. You are burying your head in the sand until another terrorist attack wakes you up. But you may not be around next time unless you FOCUS.

Everyone should read more about the flags of the Civil War. The so called “Confederate Flag” was never used during the civil war, during the civil war there were three flags used as the National Flag of the South and the Confederate Flag is only a variation of one of these flags. The “Confederate Flag” was designed and used well after the Civil War, and as far as I’am concerned does not represent the South at all. It only represents those ignorant about their own history.

Al is at it again. He goes around stirring people up about rediculous things.

Letsee: If I go back just 5 generations I have, Blackfeet, Irish, Croatian, Dutch, Welsh, African (Negro), and they lived all over this country. What does that make me and my children? Americans you idiots! Democracy is beautiful until it’s inherent weakness is exploited by grifters such as Sharpton and co.

Phillip you’re right. He’s the only one that can be proud of his heritage. He doesn’t know what else to do with his self. If he can’t stir up hate, he doesn’t have a job.

I’ve live therefore I am alive. To be or not to be THAT is the question.
Once I was swimming down turtle creek, man them snappers were around my feet.
And in conclusion, as I travel to work today realizing you all are the people I will meet, I just wonder why I bothered getting out of the sheets.

The Politically Correct running a muck again. This is sooooooo not news

WOW, YOU LEMINGS RAN OFF THAT CLIFF JUST LIKE YOU WERE TOLD. THIS IS LUST WHAT OLD AL WANTS, MORE HATRED. LOOK FURTHER BACK IN HISTORY & FIND ME A PEOPLE WHO DIDN’T HAVE SLAVES & WE WILL ONLY LIKE THEM. SO IF THE VP IS TO STAY AWAY FROM ALL NEGATIVE ICONS HE SHOULD NEVER LEAVE THE WHITE HOUSE. THE SECRET SERVICE IS NOT THERE TO PROTECT HIS IMAGE JUST HIS LIFE. THEY SHOULD HAVE SENT HIS PR PEOPLE OUT FIRST. JUST A FINAL NOTE ON THE CSA FLAG, IT IS PART OF OUR HISTORY; A LOT OF COUNTIES HAVE SKELETONS IN THEIR CLOSETS. JUST BE GLAD OURS ARE NOT AS BAD AS GERMANY.

The only thing that Al Sharpton is concerned about is the promotion of Al Sharpton. His continual blather about race is doing nothing more than keeping old resentments and grievances alive. And he knows that full well.
As far as the Confederate flag, that flag represents my heritage and family history. Sharpton can keep his hands .. and his bit mouth…off it. It doesn’t not represent slavery to us; it represents our families and the culture of the region. To the know it alls who claim that all white people sat around and let the black people work, it’s rather apparent that they don’t know what they’re talking about. There were many, many whites in the South who didn’t have slaves, just as there were slave owners who freed their slaves before the war between the states.
I’ve seen more racism and outright racial hatred since I’ve lived in the North than I ever saw living in the South. Bigots are not relegated to a specific area. And really, when you think about it, Al, Jesse and company are the biggest bigots of all.

Cara: Cotton can occur in nature. But it in the United States during the colonial and pre civil war period, it was farmed. People were in involved in the planting, cultivating, picking and turning it into a product. That was a quick lesson for someone who properly never got their hands dirty. The farms didn’t grow up around the cotton, it was the other way around. But it was the expertise of the people who did the work that made the whole system work. Also, some expertise of the overseers who actually did get their hands dirty but were at best middle management. slave owner who didn’t have to change or mar the stars and bars and whose ancestors like Nathan Bedford Forrest would found the KKK knew nothing about any true work. The aristoscracy sat our their butts while blacks and poor whites did the hard work.

How can anyone say that the Confederate Flag doesn’t symbolize racism??? The Confederate states endorsed SLAVERY! Southern states, in their laws, endorsed and embraced SLAVERY.
The Confederate Flag = SLAVERY SLAVERY SLAVERY!

Moochy-
If Haterid is what holds the republican party together, then lazyness (and being a moocher) and following like sheep is what holds the democratic party together.

When are we going to stop giving jerks like Al Sharpton the spotlight? All he does is go around looking for ways to stir things up, then steps into the spotlight. I have yet to hear anything resembling an apology from him for his hateful comments about the Duke LaCrosse players, who as it turned out were not guilty of any of his accusations. And as far as him being “African” . .. well, I have several friends who were born and raised in Africa. They are as white as I am; they’re parents were missionaries, and they spent much of their lives there. But they don’t call themselves “African Americans”, even though they have every right to . . . much more so than people of color in this country do. Don’t pull that line on me; where your ancestors come from doesn’t matter near as much as where YOU are and what you do with your life. So stop whining and looking for more handouts and entitlements . . . become Americans like the rest of us, starting with Mr Sharpton.

Why must all these issues be turned into a racial tiff? The Confederate flag is a symbol of racial strife for blacks and the majority of whites alike. It should be retired and condemned just like the swastika. I hate racist people and I know they hate me, mainly because I am black and of a different ethnicity than they are. However, in a world of differences, one must learn to embrace them all. Symbols that constantly remind us of our differences, (i.e. the Confederate flag and the swastika) have no place in the world. When looking for things to burn, don’t burn the Cross or ‘Old Glory’ burn the symbols of racial injustice and intolerance.

Wow. I didn’t realize the burning hatred that still exists for all of the people from the South. Tells me I need to stay down here for my own safety.

Sharpton just needs an excuse to try and stay relevant … this is low even for him.

At least he did not shoot anybody in the face this time.
Jay Leno: “Vice President Dick Cheney went out hunting again today. God, I didn’t even know it was lawyer season.”
“No, actually, Cheney said he was in upstate New York to hunt peasants. Pheasants, I’m sorry.”

The confederate flag does not stand for slavery. It is a fact that the Union officers in the Civil War had more “black body servants” aka slaves than did the Confederate Officers

why does this even matter, so what if there was a confederate flag hanging there, stop getting your panties in a knot people.

You know what if you don’t like the south don’t move down here, don’t tear down our trees to build your expensive cookie cutter houses, don’t over populate our schools and don’t come down here bitching that the south is not like the north, If you don’t like the way we do things here then go back where you came from! The confederate flag is a part of the south’s heritage, No matter what Yankee passes a law that says I can’t hang it up I will. If your don’t like that flag then pack you bags and go back to whatever state and or country you came from, we don’t need you here listening to your dumb opinions, Go to work, do you job and make a good living and stop making a fuss over the stupid issues that should never be brought up to begin with. You want peace in this nation? Then everyone can have an opinion but on crap that really matters, like us running out of fresh water for us to drink, why we pay for convicted murders and rapist to stay in prison for life sentences but can’t afford to pay our teachers, Why we build bombs and sell them to our enemies and then wonder why they attack us with them. Ask your self the important questions and not the stupid ones. No matter what color you are your always going to be offended by something- if you feel your not treated fairly here I dare you to go back to your home (or ancestral home) country and find out how they treat you there. After you return from your trip, That is if you survive- then you can tell everyone here in the US how sorry you are for whining and complaining about someone hanging a flag on their garage.

Al Sharpton has a habit of making very self-serving declarations at others expense. I don’t know why a Confederate flag is hanging in a garage in a Yankee state like New York. I am not beyond thinking that it could very well be a trophy, not unlike the deer heads and moose heads that decorate many a hunting lodge. Perhaps Al Shartpon will gather a group of protestors to picket Ken Burns’ PBS office where he created the documentary that took an even-handed look at the Civil War, confederate flags and all. I, too, would find the prominent display of a Confederate flag disturbing. If a Confederate flag was waving high at the main entrance or in the main hall of the hunting lodge, I would be disturbed by the display. The Stars and Stripes should always get top billing. However, at some point we have to come to terms with the fact that the Confederate flag is part of our history. I don’t hate Southerners so much that I intend to embarass them for all eternity because the place where they live and love was once a Confederate state. When Al Sharpton stops going to places where they use the N word; when Al Sharpton demands an end to the glorification of pimps and gangsters and refuses to enter any place where any individual would suggest that pimping is cool or that being a gangsta is good, then I will stop and take notice. Until Al Sharpton can set the example, I will have to ignore his shrieks as diversionary tactics. Go protest the gangstas and pimps, Al. The Confederate flag stopped hurting people a long time ago. The gangstas and pimps are ruining the African American community right now, Al. Where’s Al Sharpton when the real fight is going down?

Black people don’t hang Confederate Flags in there garages (or their “civil war rooms”, Kid Rock), just like Republicans don’t attend presidential forums where Black people ask questions.

Sharpton is nothing but a huckster, a snake oil peddler, a grifter (pick one)
He is nothing but a trouble maker. How many times has he gotten all out of sorts about situations that were false, then never a word of apology – he just sneaks out the back door.

mmj022:
I don’t recall making the point that flying the Confederate flag endorsed slavery in the modern age. I said that j’s point that white union officers had servants didn’t disprove the fact that the Confederate government was a racist regime in addition to the Union.

The Confederate flag is a symbol of a lost course. If the south had seceeded, today it will be no better than the Banana Republics of South America.
It was the industrial North that developed the South

“The civil war was not fought over slavery.”
The heck it wasn’t. People who say that are reciting revisionis propoganda. Read the secession documents of the various Confederate states.

Mars:
Don’t be a fool. I never said you’d get your house vandalized for flying the stars and bars. Read the post again. My point was don’t be shocked when half the country is offended by the flag outside your home.

Stop living in the past dunno, the south isn’t ur enemy, no more than spain, england or the indians (who also “attacked America” at one time or another) among many others. We who live in the south are not your enemy. Sure there is racism in the south but so is there in the north, in the east, in the west, everywhere, even in other countries. Doesn’t mean that everyone living in the same area, such as the south is a racist red neck, we aren’t guilty by association. Thinking something like that, well, that would be prejudice wouldn’t it.

Who really gives a care what that political hack Al Sharpton says. He has discredited himself and done more to set race relations back than most anyone on the political scene.

Actually that flag is not one of the three official flags of the Confederate States of America it is in fact the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. The battle flag in recent years has taken on a negative image through it’s association with fringe hate groups and lunatics in general. As a student of history I choose to see that flag as a remembrance of the 600,000 AMERICANS killed in that war.

Mars:
When I say you’d get your house vandalized in IRELAND for flying the UNION JACK thats not the same as saying you’d get your house vandalized in the UNITED STATES for flying the STARS AND BARS. I made the point about Ireland to demonstrate how passionate people get about symbols, and how you take a risk by flying one that offends alot of people. I didn’t literally say you’d get your house vandalized here in America did I?
And for the record I think Sharpton is a complete fool overall. But he also represents the opinion of a large cross section of America that would like to see the Confederate flag simply banned.

I am wondering when Al Sharpton is going to publically apologize to the Duke La Cross players. He organized hate marches and was quick to condem them without a trial. When proven wrong, he disappears. This man does not seem to serve any useful function in society other than to stir up hate. Besides, the “union” army was still segregated in WWII and that was under the Stars and Stripes.

When was the last time America had some respectable leaders in the Black community anyways? Late 1960′s? I’d hate to be represented by people like Sharpton.

Al Sharpton goes around sniffing out something he can get his big ugly face on the news about… thats his job. and the sooner he realizes people dont give a big fat rats a### about what he says or does the better off he will be!

Sick of idoits says: “the stupid vp couldnt even see his hunting buddy in his line of fire do you really think he noticed the flag”
Well, that about sums it up nicely. Great comment!

Actually, why should there be a Martin Luther King, Jr. day? No other race leaders are celebrated in this country.

I see one of America’s biggest racist it at it agaim.

/offtopic
I’m wondering – had the Confederate States of America survived, would you be allowed to BURN the CSA flag in the CSA?

Does the hunting club have the right to hang the confederate flag? yes. Did Cheney have to hunt there? no. It happened, let’s move on to more urgent matters than a flag that was on a wall somewhere.

Why has no one said anything about the club that owns and displays the flag? Because they are Cheney and Republican bashers, that’s why! Plus, is this flag illegal in the US?

I only hope that Cheney took the guys that hung the flag with him hunting.

yea, you got me!

Al Sharpton is the problem. He should use his large mouth and spend time on the illegal alien problem and leave history alone OR he may see the Mexican flag hanging next to the Confederate flag.

This is silly, even downright childish. Certainly not news. There was a flag hanging in the garage of a club where the VP hunted that he may have seen. So what. Should he have left if he saw the flag? No.
People are treating the Confederate flag as if it were something dirty, spouting half truths about a war 140 years in the past. Let it go and find real issues to discuss, like Cheney and Bush’s mishandling of the war.

Let’s keep a perspective on this issue. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would have no reason to live if the subject of racism were taken from them. You’d almost think they, themselves were former slaves! Ha The only thing they know about slavery is what they’ve read.
They didn’t live in slavery and they have no idea what it was really like. As a boy in the South I hand picked cotton right along with African Americans in the hot southern sun and know how hard it was. Do they?

Posted by: Howard | Oct 30, 2007 12:15:46 PM…..I have no problem with celebrating Southern heritage. It is part of America’s history. Only closed minded people consider the flag as only a racist symbol.
OK. but same is true on the flip side with the Southern Heritage crowd because the confederate flag has been, kkkind of, used as a racist symbol in the past.
And as far as teaching Southern Heritage as part of American History, hope you include this unfortune little nugget in your celebration.

Even the discrimination faced by Chinese …. immigrants at the end of hte 19th and early- to mid-20th Centuries doesn’t compare.
Ever hear of the phrase “he does’t have a chinaman’s chance”?

To the person who posted that the civil war was fought over slavery needs to go back to school. There is NEVER a reason to go to war….there are ALWAYS multiple reasons and so it is with the civil war. It was mainly taxation and the dividing of the west that spurred the war. The south was getting taxed so hard by the industrial north for their cotton that it actually became economical to ship it to textile factories in Europe to be made into cloth than to ship it to New England.
Licoln himself said that he’d keep slavery if it kept the union together.
It wasn’t until after the battle of Sharpsburg that he decided to embrace the slavery issue because the north was taking a blood bath in the war and wanted to end it. He needed another reason to keep the war going and so decided to declare slaves free.
To say that the civil war was fought over slavery is like saying WWII was fought to give the jews a homeland.
BTW I’m only prejudice against only one thing…..ignorance. Please go back to school…..6th grade is not enough in this world.

The flag wasn’t readily viewable, it wasn’t on a garage door, it was inside a garage on a door, if the garage door was shut you wouldn’t see it -
- I can understand that the flag is offensive, but being offensive isn’t illegal… yet

There is a Conferdate Flag flying at the Texas welcome center at I-75 on the Red River; six Flags over Texas !

I am just glad that Al. is a Democrat.

Wow! So many people are so hot about both sides of this, but apparently have not done their homework. I have no axe to grind here; like some of the other posters I can be considered a “mongrel” (ie, German, Dutch, English, Irish, and a significant touch of Osage in my background). However, I did do some quick fact-checking when this story first broke, and discovered the following:
1) There are actual pictures of the flag available on-line. It hangs on a regular door on what may be a garage but note that it is NOT a “garage door”. From other clues in the picture the door is a 30″ people-door, which means claims that the flag is either 5′x5′ or 3′x5′ are completely bogus. The flag shown cannot be more than 28″ wide by maybe 20″ long. No one could honestly mistake this for a flag of the size reported.
2) There is nothing in the picture to identify where it was taken. It could very well be at this hunt club – it could just as easily be at Jake’s Garage and BBQ in Lower Sqaullor, MS!
3) As has been noted by other posters, the job of the Secret Service is to protect the VP from physical harm. The agent in charge may have felt that the flag was not going to attempt to assassinate the VP and so did not fret about it the way the VP’s press flack would have.
4) As has also been noted by others, it is extremely unlikely that the VP saw the garage, much less a small flag pasted against one door. He was there to hunt, not examine oil stains.
For those who are now foaming at the mouth about my status as a Republican nay-sayer, let me add that I am a registered Democrat and tend more toward conservatism than most. This removes me from the ranks of knee-jerk Cheney supporters. Truth be told, I don’t like the man but I like distortions of the truth even less, and that is what we have here.
Al Sharpton either knew all of this, or could easily have discovered it before he started with his racist ranting. Big Al needs to start by cleaning his own house – he owes apologies to the police officer he charged with the rape of a black girl (proven not to be true, but Al never took back his florid accusations); he owes a lot to the mistress he got pregnant and then disowned; he owes apologies to the Duke players and their families for the ugly, defamatory remarks made about them – the list goes on and on. Perhaps when he does those things, and actually does something to help those of “his people” who are living in poverty and despair, perhaps then he will gain some credibility with me. In the meantime, he should shut up and slink away; he has no moral grounds for judging anyone else’s actions. At this point, I too consider him to be one of the biggest racist hate-mongers in this country; we’d all be better off without his “help”.

Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are NOT the problems. They just expose America’s continued denial that the problem(s) still exist and are driving constants in America. Forget about China ande their alleged human rights violations. America commits their own mass human rights violations on a massive scale, but most are so busy point fingers at China and other countries that you don’t see and don’t want to see your own inhumanity committed against American citizens. A young black boy brutally beaten to death at a death, torture camp under the pretense of being a boot camp. A 92yr. old Atlanta black woman gunned down in the privacy of her own home by rogue narc cops trying to meet drug bust “quotas”, then planting drugs in her home to cover their as*s. A five months pregnant school principal forced at gunpoint to lie down on her stomach by police, with two small traumatized children in the backseat. And these are only a tip of the iceberg of “human rights” violations being committed in America against Americans. Take your blinders off people! America isn’t any better than some of your most brutal countries when it comes to violating and disrespecting human rights.

Thane, not one cares where you grew up. And I can assure you the flag is far more to many white southerns than just where they grew up. You need to study more of your history. There are still diehard southerners out there angry about losing the Civil War or War Against The States, as it is sometimes referred. And they are aiming to bring the south back to its old misguided and twisted “glory.” In many parts of the south an individual is more like than not to be killed for disrespecting the Confederate Flag than the American Flag. Some of those people are diehard serious! You can only determine what the flag means to you personally. But you are not everyone, and I assure you, most have a different perspective than yours. The south is, once again, trying to take an ugly, dirtier, nastier, and darker period in its history and make it out to be a thing of beauty.

After the divorce Jake got a second on the double-wide to stay open. He has the all-you-can-eat with a $5 bucket-o-beer special on Saturday nights now a days :)

Walker Evans – You seem to be a Democrat of past, when the party was true. Hopefully you can get the majority of the Democrats back from the left.

The good Rev. Al Sharpton does more to stir up the pot of racism and discontent than anyone else I know. His song is old, his words are hurtful and his message is FAR from the one Jesus taught.

So its a confederate flag, who cares. Im a democrat and cant stand what bush/cheney has done to our country but if its something they are proud of then let them fly it as long as its not in a hurtful way to offend someone, they are still americans too you know. Its just sad that neo nazi’s and racist groups are using it as their symbol and ruining the image of it, making it seem bad for someone to own one and display it. I have southern roots, I dont own a confederate flag but I should be able to own one if I decide I want one and not offend someone in the process. I believe slavery was horrible and I regret that it played a part in american history but the flag stood for many other things, not just the slavery issue. There was a lot more involved in the flags use during the civil war, too lengthy to discuss on here. I do wonder why theres never anything mentioned about what white southerners and their families went through during the invasion by the north. I guess the prices some of them paid doesnt matter. Sharpton needs to educate himself further about the former CSA and not just focus on slavery.

here we all are fighting about racism and civil rights just as al hoped we would this message board is as divided as our country the point of the matter is that there is rampant racism and hate against everyone by everyone it is not just against blacks but hispanic white oriental gay straight republican democrat it does not matter who you are what color religion race or sexual orientation you are somewhere someone hates you and what you stand for its a fact of life we will never overcome with people like al sharpton around pointing out stupid sh@@ that no one thought twice about (including the black secret service agents) we will stay as hateful and distrustful as we always have been instead of fighting about this maybe we should be banding together to stop the war or homelessness or aids or or or ……

The Stars and Bars are the American equivalent of the Swastika. If you fly that flag you are sending out a deliberate although coded message. A message that comes through loud and clear.
It has nothing to do with Southern pride. There are plenty of positive symbols of the South one can display, This has to do with Black oppression.

And dunno’s Irish ancestors came to America of their own free will TO ESCAPE oppression. They weren’t kidnapped and brought here against their will to be sold as slaves. To be oppressed by White Americans.
How ignorant to believe that the ordinary tale of another American immigration is somehow the equivalent to the story of slavery. That poor wages for Irish immigrants is the same as being bought and sold as property.
Astounding!

There were a lot of people that came as indentured servants they were cheated out of their so-called pay and kept like slaves so you don’t know everything.

Get the facts
Darn! Seems you want to burn the south all over again for some reason, as if that would change history. Again the Southern flag means only where I grew up, nothing more. So there are some of us that don’t belong to the KKK. Let’s not forget who captured Africans and sold them to Europeans and the States. Africans, other Africans. Who forced Africans into slavery… By the way I have an interracial marriage if that makes any sense to you.

It seems clear to me that Mr. Sharpton has his own agenda that is based upon dishonest means and motives. He has a history of disgraceful actions that do nothing but shame upon the good works of others that truly represent those he claims to represent.
The Confederate flag is a symbol of many parts. To the thousands of good men and women that fought and gave their lives during that time of war, I find it difficult to think that the only reason they fought to was to keep slaves. I believe it was much more then that.
Mr. Sharpton’s actions and motives bring nothing but shame upon himself and disgraces the ideas that he claims to hold dear.

At least that Dick Cheney didn’t shoot anyone this time.
BTW it is a fool’s errand to try and separate slavery from the confederate flag, no matter what else it may mean to you.

OK…fisrt of all…SHARPTON!–SHUT UP! I have heard enough of this “let’s-feel-sorry-for-the-blacks” crap. The Conderate Flag was a STATE Flag. Learn to appreciate it and respect it! Should we take down the California flag because California has the highest black mortality rate in the U.S.? NO! Grow up and respect YOUR AMERICAN HISTORY and quite trying to change it. DEAL WITH IT! Instead of bring us all down with your “holyer-than-thou” attitude, try coming up with a way to educate, and I mean really educate everyone in a positve way. Enough lip flappin’ and let’s try to be a “kinder, gentler” nation. By the way, you ain’t Afro-American! You’re either and America, or you aren’t. If you want to continue slapping us in the face with your “Afro” heritage…go back to Africa, because we’re Americans…I’m not a “Caucasian-Anglo-European- American”…I’M AN AMERICAN AND I’M DAMN PROUD OF IT!

Andy:
You err in your understanding of the Confederate Flag…..This flag has no place in our culture…..get it???
Al Sharpton is doing a wonderful job exposing this symbol of evil….This flag should be aligned with the nazi flag…..A state flag? Are you kidding? This flag still flies at the state ground in Columbia, SC….for what? they already have a state flag….
The flag needs to go!!!!

I’m Native American, can I complain about the Stars and Stripes? . ….. Sounds stupid doesn’t it. Go find a job Sharpton. Burger King is hiring.

Sharpton is one of the biggest racists I have ever heard open their mouth.

I must admit, Black Americans don’t have many example to look up to. Truly great examples… From my own readings and experience I think of MLK, George Washington Carver, Colin Powell, Conde Rice. These individuals have tried to unite, not divide America, either to a cause or an ideal. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have done exactly the opposite, divide the races by their endless retoric and hatred of whites. They truly are racists of the highest order and they will be remembered that way by most Americans. They will eventually lose their voice in public matters and hopefully more moderate voices will prevail. The Civil War is over ladies and gentlemen and history will not be changed but hopefully forgotten as a sad page. Today we are friends with the Japanese and the Germans, those who would have taken over the world and how do you think blacks would have fared under their yoke? I would say to Black Americans, let the past lie and look toward the future and how you and your loved ones can compete and succeed in this modern world. Nothing will change the past but if you dwell only on the past, you stand still on your way to success. None of us were alive during the civil war, had nothing to do with it or even supported any of it’s actions or causes. We were not alive then. Those events were of a different time, different ways and different individuals. The world was a very different place then. True, slavery still exists in the world, especially in Africa and the Middle East. Slavery doesn’t exist in America, only the memory of it. If Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton has no racial causes or political causes that revolve around race, they would ceace to exist in the minds of all Americans. That is their source of fame in their lives. Without it they are nothing.

Rev. Al Sharpton save the drama for your momma!

We should do away with buses also as they are a symbol of whites oppressing blacks. Let’s get rid of all the water fountains as well. Might as well do away with doors as they could be symbolic of opportunities that were denied to blacks. sheesh.

Al Sharpton is a demagouge plain and simple. On the other hand, the Confederate flag is a symbol of oppression and racism for most Black people. As other have mentioned the south seceeded from the Union largely because of slavery (for those of you who would argue it was because of “state rights,” be sure to acknowledge that it was over the “right” of the southern states to own slaves). The economy of the South in the antebellum period was based on slave labor (which partially explains why the economy tanked after the Civil War and why so many whites were eager to exploit Black labor through the advent of the system of share-cropping during Reconstruction). Therefore, it’s really disengenous to say that the Confederacy had nothing to do with slavery and everything to do with “pride,” and “heritage.”
I have never been able to figure out white Southerners who embrace the flag are so enamored of a flag and a cause that is a constant reminder of their utter humiliation and total defeat, but, they were able to resurrect the flag as a symbol of defiance during the modern Civil Rights era. Few people who’ve posted messages here that are crticial of Al Sharpton seem to have overlooked the fact that when Martin Luther King, Jesse Jackson, and countless others were marching for civil rights, they were greeted by violent and angry mobs of white folks who were happily waving the Confederate flag. The dusted off the flag and waved it because they saw it as a symbol of their proud and defiant past. A hundred years before the flag represented their fight to maintain an economy and way of life that was built on a foundation of slavery. A hundred years later, the same flag represented their fight to maintain and economy and a way of life that was built on slavery’s surrogate, Jim Crow.
For Blacks in America the flag is and always will be a symbol of racism, oppression, and violence. Those who embrace the flag now and deny how it was used in the past are just plain ignorant.

I don’t want to sound as though I’m being arrogant or even ignorant, so if I come across as such, I apologize.
It seems to me that the percentage of today’s population is made up of a very small group of wealthy indivuals, and that for most of us that are not wealthy, we would makeup a much larger percentage of the whole. I have to believe that same situation occured duing the Civil War Era. That being said, it seems unfair to catogorize the entire south as a racist group of slave owners, when it would appear that only those of means could afford such a horrible thing as slavery.
SAying that all southern people are racist or support that way of thinking is a dangerous generalization.
The efforts of the non-wealthy during that war spilt the most blood and I would have to believe did not purchase slaves.
Just as I would hope that my children have learned not to think in such generalizations, i would also hope that black families do not think that all southern people are racist.

Where were all of you flag defenders when the KKK & Nazis used your flag? Why didn’t you demand that they stop? I think the symbol of your heritge was lent out by you to these groups and it now belongs to them. Maybe it’s time to find another.

Most Americans just don’t seem to care that our nation, along with the Constitution upon which it was founded, is being flushed-down the NWO toilet by our nations ruling elite. While Congress and the President warn and insite fear in the sheeple about the prospect of terrorism, they at the same time leave our border wide open, and fund and conduct illegal wars overseas that do nothing but encite the terrorism which their Draconian Laws like the Patriot Act and The Real ID Act pretend to protect us from. Think about it. What would you do, if someone invaded the U.S. for no reason, and took over. You’d be mad as hell, and you’d be making trips to their country in order to give a little payback. Wake up America! It’s not about protecting you from terrorism, or saving our planet from Global Warming, or any of that fear-mongering garbage the tube feeds you 24/7. It’s about feeding the military industrial complex and facilitating the ruling elite’s ability to ratchet-down control over the American people, placing us into a total control grid where they can surveille, track and control everywhere we go and everything we do. It’s the groundwork for totalitarianism. I weep for my country, and for those of you who are so distracted, dumbed-down, or outright brainwashed by mainstream media, which endlessly regurgitates scientifically-crafted streams of information aimed at keeping their eyes closed to the realities of the world around them, that they fail to recognize this. Go Ron Paul!.

Two words for sharpton and any other politically correct morons – and they are not printable.

Seriously people, who cares… Just because he went to a place where that particular flag was displayed doesn’t mean that he endorses it’s many meanings.

I fly The Confederate flag and damn proud of it.I also iam damn proud of all our vetarians.We need to be proud of who we are and protect who we are,its like protecting MOM,APPLE PIE,AND HARLEY-DAVIDSON MOTORCYCLES!.So one another on the square love and be proud of The South and America.

Who do the southerners who don’t take this approach have to blame for the condescension with which their region is often viewed?

I think that the problem is, we as African Americans see that flag and instantly think back to all of the pictures and media of the fifties when police officers, dogs, and the kkk were beating, torturing, demoralizing, and killing blacks. I understand the whole southern heritage thing ( Im from the south), It was those events of the past that gave that flag such a horrible meaning.

I think we should just get rid of all flags. Flags are only a symbol of oppression and pride in ones wrongs against the world. We should just fly a banner of a sheep or a dove and let love take over the world. Get rid of all weapons and use wooden forks and stone fire places. All of you should be ashamed of these flags like the stars and bars and that other one that has all the little stars in the corner. How are we ever going to help our children with self their self esteem if we keep trying to instill some lost and antiquated ideas that we are better than someone else. Dump all flags and peace and love for all. Remove the raciest symbols of our past. Remove all flags from the US cities, public events and most of all from the congress.

Why isn’t Sharpton yelling about all of the Mexican flags flown in the US? When waved in the United States the Mexican flag is a symbol of racism, hatred, invasion and a war in the making. Yell about that Al.

The issue is this establishment chose to have a flag of the confederacy hanging in a garage. That is their right as it was the Clintons right to burn a flag in the 70′s, no one here has commented on that yet?
The core fundamentals of this country allow people to have their own beliefs and not be persecuted for them. Sharpton wants black rights while ignoring the inate rights given to every american.
No one cried when the flag was put in the Dukes of Hazzard movie but as soon as a politician exercises the rights that they protect for all americans people get upset.
Do blacks really have to stand out and constantly complain about simple things? There was no swastica or kkk symbols so why are you complaining? The flag is the official flag of the south, same as every country has a flag. Also dont forget that the north did have slaves using the american flag, are you going to cry about that being flown to?
A note to Dunno – you may want to research topics before posting, the south never attacked the north to split up the nation, the north invaded the south and Lincol used a spin of slavery to cover it all up.

The TRUTH…what make it so desirable..??..there are plenty of resonable places in NY State..having a Dixie(what-ever)being the truth is not the real Eye-Catcher in being there(upstate)..I went to a wedding in the 1980′s upstate NY..and when travelling on a secluded Hgwy saw a Statue of the Head-of-Jesus..did not even have a neck..it was standing in a field on a sloped hill..really large..like a small house…the HEAD-of-JESUS…never in my years have I had the thought—The HEAD-of-Jesus….if these types of stories really Sell-anything I quess its the Adirondacks….(stinky-stuff).

the beauty of our counrty is that we have the right to believe what we want. The issue is not the confederate flag but our vice president giving a “political talk” in an enviroment that displayed an offesive symbol. As an african american, I raise an eyebrow to him and his staffs oversight of such a symbol. Do we believe that this would have occurred if Hitler’s flag was hanging in the garage?
Slavery was and still is a bright stain on our country’s history. I don’t always agree with what Rev. Sharpton says but on this I agree in questioning the vice president. I didn’t vote for him but he still represents me and my american values. I expect him and the rest of the adminstration to do this with ALL americans in mind.

The South should find a new symbol that truly represents true Southern values like home cooking and hospitality. They cling to a symbol that represents slavery and treason against their own nation. They can spin it anyway they want to, the Civil War was about states’ rights. The truth of the matter is that the Southern elite conspired to leave the Union to preserve the expansion of slavery into the West. For African-americans and everyone that knows the truth about the Civil War, the Confederate flag has the same connotations of opression as the Nazi flag has for the Jewish people. The Confederate flag IS a symbol of racism. Only true ignorance of history makes the Confederate anything other than what it really is.