This was a news item on Atlanta radio this morning.
February being black history month, a local black woman draped confederate flags all over her front lawn and strung up black dolls from all the trees. She said that “we shouldn’t forget about the history” and that “many people don’t realize a holocaust occurred right in this area”.
While I don’t think people should forget, this just struck me as being in really poor taste (and I’m not at all easy to offend).
I seriously doubt that any Jew would hang up a picture of Hitler and build a model of Auschwitz to ensure that s/he “remember their history”.
*mouthbreather: This was a news item on Atlanta radio this morning.
February being black history month, a local black woman draped confederate flags all over her front lawn and strung up black dolls from all the trees. She said that “we shouldn’t forget about the history” and that “many people don’t realize a holocaust occurred right in this area”.
While I don’t think people should forget, this just struck me as being in really poor taste (and I’m not at all easy to offend). *
I think blacks being lynched in the US was poor taste.
IIRC, the Holocaust Museum here in DC has some pretty graphic depictions of how Jews were persecuted in Europe before and during WWII.
History does get forgotten because society changes and progress redesigns the landscape. Here in Virginia, there are a number of historical signs posted along streets, with such items as:[ul]
[li]Lee and his troops turned north here on their way to Sharpsburg (Antietam)[/li][li]Washington and Rouchembeuax (sp?) went this way on their way to Richmond[/li][li]A NIKE missile silo was here.[/ul][/li]Without these signs, only the modern geography is remembered (“Oh, look. A ‘Ruby Tuesdays’.”)
I think if I saw this woman’s display, I’d cry, remembering that citizens of our country were afraid for their lives just for being what they are.
What would Brian Boitano do / If he was here right now /
He’d make a plan and he’d follow through / That’s what Brian Boitano would do.
I sure hope that you’re not trying to imply that I feel any differently.
I believe you are correct. I think it is imperative that history is kept and people can see how things were.
I’m not at all trying to argue that this is something that should be ignored, or forgotten. I guess it’s just the “reenactment” of it that seems odd to me.
What an interesting, and hard to approach subject. I agree that we can’t be allowed to forget things like this. Unfortunately, many times it takes something like this to remind some people of the horror of what happened. Equally unfortunate is the subsided pain that this stirs in the victims of such events and their supporters. I don’t know what the right answer is. I’m sure it was done with moral intent though.
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I think that the woman’s statement was up to date, especially with the recent resurgence of the Confederate flag debate in South Carolina. I agree that lynching is in poor taste. Unfortunately that taste still lingers for many people.
If the woman constructed the same display in an established art gallery, it would probably be hailed as a bold statement on the nature of repression.
She had the guts to make that statement in her own front yard. Hopefully we’ve progressed enough that she won’t feel the dangerous repercussions she might have 35 years ago.
At the risk of setting off PC alarm systems and bein’ hammered flat by rhetorical ICBM’s, I have to say that it is indeed about taste.
Nobody sane is going to advocate forgetting history, nor is anyone sane going to tolerate the wholesale revision of history to meet current political aims. But there is a world of difference between erecting a monument or a museum of remembrance and turning yer yard into a farcical circus side-show of over-emotional “Hey-look-at-me” nonsense.
This kind of ignorant, knee-jerk publicity stunting does nothing but add fuel to the fire of controversy, and counts as a ‘remembrance’ in much the same way that a riot counts as a ‘protest’.
Dr. Watson
“The only thing new in the world is the history you don’t know.” – Harry S. Truman
Crick - I agree with you. Yes, the confederate flag in S.C. should come down. Black History Month - fine. No, we should never forget what our ancestors did. And that woman can do what she pleases on her property, but I don’t want these heinous crimes shoved down my throat as if I’m guilty too. If I were one of her neighbors, I’d think she was full of anger and hate toward whites. I run into her on the street in front of this scene, what do I say? Sorry for what my ancestors did, please forgive us? Or hide my face in shame and walk on? It’s devisive.
Sycorax: I’d have to know what neighborhood the woman lived in to make a judgement of your reaction. Perhaps everyone in that area is saying; “Go Ahead, Sister!” with all support.
Mouthbreather: Any follow up on the story from Atlanta?
While I agree that the flag should not fly over the SC capitol. I don’t really agree that you can equate the south and slavery to the Holocaust. Perhaps to certain aspects, slave labor comes to mind. Any other correlations?
I think her idea was a bad one, on the grounds that it might remind certain people that it’s just been too long since they’ve had a lynching, and why not make up for lost time?
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I agree that she should be allowed to make her statement, but I don’t think she should have used a flag of any sort. Using that sort of symbol implies that all people of that area were like that and that simply is not true. There are bad and good people everywhere. Now, if she used black dolls and KKK hoods and such, I wouldn’t argue, although I would agree that it was tasteless as well. I would agree with Sycorax about her having a hatred toward whites. I have never seen any of my black friends do something like that. Not meaning to stereotype, but I have observed instances where those who displayed that sort of thing did have a large problem with white people.
When are you going to realize being normal isn’t necessarily a good thing?
To each his own I suppose. There are plenty of reminders of the Civil War both for the North, the South, and the blacks. We have re-enactments of Civil War battles on the battle sites and to me that’s not much different than what this woman is demonstrating. The important thing to remember is that there were many victims as there are in any war. The North, the South and the blacks all suffered loss of lives. While we can look back today and determine what SHOULD have been done, at the time I would imagine that what was done was considered the only avenue at the time. We weren’t there so we really can’t make a statement…other than hindsight is better than foresight.
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Judging by Mouthbreather’s description, this lady is being more than a little sensationalist, not making a statement as much as drawing attention to herself and her opinions. However, having said that, people very quickly become complacent about history in a Well We’ve Learnt The Lesson Now So Let’s Not Dwell On It manner, and it doesn’t hurt to shake them up a little every now and then. Current political activities in Austria are a very good example, with the far right coming to power in a way that has many creepy similarities with the rise of the Far Right in Germany and Austria before WWII. Those who don’t learn from history are condemed to repeat it and all that.
