{"id":325,"date":"2019-03-07T18:27:30","date_gmt":"2019-03-07T23:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/donnadufresne.com\/~donnadu1\/?p=325"},"modified":"2019-03-07T18:27:42","modified_gmt":"2019-03-07T23:27:42","slug":"that-old-dixie-flag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/donnadufresne.com\/~donnadu1\/that-old-dixie-flag\/","title":{"rendered":"That Old Dixie Flag"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Donna Dufresne<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            I love the Quiet Corner of\nConnecticut \u2013 the soft, rolling hills dotted with farms, the little villages accented\nby white steeples and general stores, the pockets of a rural past. In fact,\nwhen I first came to this part of the state, I immediately felt at home. I\nbefriended a series of old Yankees and reveled in the vernacular of their\nstories, the cadence of my childhood. And the dirt road which funnels me to my\nhome reminds me of the small farm where I grew up in Massachusetts. Who\nwouldn\u2019t want to live in such a verdant haven wrapped in class B rivers and\nstreams (just about as clean as you can get aside from a little giardia here\nand there).  Who wouldn\u2019t want to raise\ntheir children in such a place, where they can roam freely without fear of\nviolence, take a dip in a farm-dug pond, or ride a pony in the State forest for\nhours? On the surface, this place on Earth is pristine and welcoming. If you\nare white.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like the hills and valleys of my rural childhood, Northeast Connecticut\nholds onto a hidden past which lays dormant for a while. But then it raises its\nugly head, coming out of dormancy like one of those odiferous flowers which\nblooms only every decade or so. And it stinks. Although I don\u2019t recall overt\nsymbols of racism in my family and the small town I grew up in, I\u2019m sure they were\npresent. Adults were careful not to say things, most of the time. But there\nwere rumors that the Grange Hall had put on more than one minstrel show, in\nblackface \u2013 probably before I was born. And those shows were always written and\ndirected by my beloved surrogate grandmother, Edith Whittier, whose husband\nowned the farm where my parents rented a hired hand\u2019s house. Born in the\n1880\u2019s, they were truly 19th<\/sup> century people with 19th<\/sup>\ncentury sentiments. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the Civil Rights movement, we saw terrible things on T.V., and I\nheard terrible things being said by the older folk. Things like \u201cSend them back\nto Africa\u201d as if we were still stuck in a pre-civil war colonization society. There\nwas tension in the air. The people I knew were baffled and harbored resentment,\nas if the advancement of African Americans would somehow push them to the bottom\nof the pile. It was not unlike the reaction many whites have to Black Lives Matter<\/em>, when they retort\nthings like \u201call lives matter\u201d, <\/em>or \u201cblue lives matter\u201d<\/em>, as if they didn\u2019t\nalready. Clearly, they have no sense that we are in this together, bumping up\nagainst the same machine.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We saw and heard about crosses burning and men in white hoods through\nmovies and T.V., but we didn\u2019t see them in our neighborhood. The KKK had made an\nappearance in in many small New England towns in the 1920\u2019s, during one of the\nmany America First <\/em>revivals. But then,\npresumably, the robes were packed away in the attic (except in a few notorious\ntowns in Connecticut). And, as usual, Northerners were more than willing to lay\nthe burden of racism at the feet of Southerners. After all, they were the ones\nwho defended slavery to the very end. From Jim Crow to segregation and the\nburning crosses strategically placed on the lawns of those who dared march for\ncivil rights, racism seemed like it was a Southern problem. It just wasn\u2019t\nnoticeable in our own back yards. That is until the confederate flag made its\nappearance after the 2016 elections. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make no mistake. Racism is very well embedded in the cultural, economic\nand institutional structure of the North.  We may not have been flaunting the iconic\nsymbols of hate and terrorism such as burning crosses, but structural racism\nsuch as segregation through red-lining real estate, inadequate public schools,\nand financial inequities have been entrenched since the industrial revolution.\nRemember, the wealth and power in the North has strong roots in slavery and the\ncotton industry.  Northerners talked a\ngood game when it came to anti-slavery sentiment, but they had no interest in\nhelping to facilitate integration and racial equity. Still it has been\nsurprising and unsettling in the past two years to see the confederate flag\nemerge in our quiet little towns and rural neighborhoods. The teacher in me\nwants to presume that these are good people who simply don\u2019t know the history\nof the confederate flag and how it evolved from a symbol of heritage and\nremembrance (as the Sons of Confederate\nVeterans<\/em> would like us to believe), into a symbol of hate, terrorism, and\nracism.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Robert E. Lee\u2019s soldiers did indeed furl their flags as he\ninstructed them to do, and try to put the war behind them, why is it some folks\ncontinue to hold onto this relic of the past and defiantly flaunt it? Although\nthe Sons of Confederate Veterans continue to fight for the right to display the\nconfederate flag in certain State Capitols, it has long outlived its place in\nvalor and pride. In fact, the current trend toward raising the confederate\nbattle flag didn\u2019t emerge until the mid- 20th<\/sup> century. First in\ndefiance by Southern Democrats toward their northern counterparts, the flag was\nlater adopted by the KKK and other white supremacy groups in reaction to the\ncivil rights movement. Once the symbol of \u201cheritage\u201d, its darker side has\ncontinued to emerge during each step toward racial justice until its final\nevolution as a symbol of hate. Every step forward in the \u201clong arc toward\njustice\u201d, that old flag has emerged as a symbol of racism.  It was flaunted by the KKK in the Jim Crow era\nin the South. It was displayed after Brown v Board of Education and\ndesegregation laws were passed, heralded by angry mobs who taunted African\nAmerican children as they were integrating schools. I\u2019m sure it festered in that\nunfortunate cesspool of hate so many white Americans harbored when Barack Obama\nwas elected. Almost like a sinister Jack-in-the-box, it pops up after small\nvictories in the march toward equity and justice i.e. affirmative action, fair\nhousing, Black Lives Matter\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s no surprise that the confederate flag has crawled out of the\nwoodwork even in our Quiet Corner of the state. \nAfter all, racists, white supremacists and even the old KKK have been\nemboldened by the current lack of leadership in the White House when it comes\nto calling out groups such as the Neo-Nazis who marched in Charlottesville. But\nwe would be mistaken to assume that Mr. Trump is completely to blame. Northern\nracism may have lain dormant for a while, but it doesn\u2019t take much for it to\nrear its ugly head. All it takes is a wink, a nod and a tweet for that yellow\nlight to turn green. And if you have accidently found yourself in the company\nof those who have joined the crowds of white men who think it\u2019s cool, or some\nGod-given Constitutional right to be flaunting the confederate flag around\ntown, here is the hard truth you should know: The confederate flag is no longer\nthe quaint relic of the Old Dixie South. It has become an identity badge for a\ndefiant populace who just can\u2019t get with the times and accept that justice and\nequity will prevail. If you are flaunting the flag on your flagpole, porch, or\ntruck, you might as well put up a big sign that says \u201cYep, I\u2019m a racist, and\nproud of it.\u201d For a century, it has been a symbol that stands for white\nsupremacy, racism and hate. It is the tool of terrorism.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of you will argue that flying the confederate flag is a\nconstitutional right. But just as we should not tolerate hate speech, we should\nnot condone the symbols of hate. Germany does not allow the Nazi flag or swastikas,\nand most of us would be uncomfortable if Isis flag appeared on pick-up trucks\nand public buildings.  I\u2019m sure there are\nstill a few pockets in the South, where the confederate flag stands for\nheritage and remembrance, but let\u2019s face it, that flag has been tainted by a\ncentury of racism, terrorism, and the defiance of civil rights. It has an even\nmore sinister meaning when flaunted by Northerners who haven\u2019t the remotest\nhistorical connection to the flag. Furl your flags boys and put your racism\nback in the closet.<\/strong>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nception Lo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donna Dufresne             I love the Quiet Corner of Connecticut \u2013 the soft, rolling hills dotted with farms, the little villages accented by white steeples and general stores, the pockets of a rural past. In fact, when I first came to this part of the state, I immediately felt at home. I befriended a series … <\/p>\n

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