A neighbor on my block has a Confederate flag hanging from his porch.
I find it deeply offensive, but there seems to be a “don’t fuck with me, I won’t fuck with you” understanding between us that keeps the peace.
As a person from a big city, I’ve seen my fair share of racism and to be sure the North isn’t immune to it. If you believe certain people in Philadelphia, young black children seem to have an adverse effect on the chlorine levels of public pools and apparently loitering around your own house is illegal in the state of Massachusetts. That said, the racism in the North doesn’t seem organic, it seems to be more of the empty echoes and not the person doing the screaming.
Things are different in the South. When you experience racism in the…
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iBLOGalot 
Thank you for sharing this blog! Quite the poignant reflection. Those images and all the others out there like them are more than sobering. It’s deplorable and it is so sad that cultural growth has been stifled in certain corners of this country, and the world. But as the writer says, I will always hope that the promise of a better day awaits in our future and maybe even in our lifetime… Good stuff J.R.!
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You’re welcome. I had noticed last week that WordPress had inacted this “reblog” feature (and idea they got from TUMBLR), and was waiting for an opportunity to try it out. One of my FB friends posted that this afternoon.
It’s funny, because a couple of months ago there was some new story about some controversy with the Confederate flag, and I posted about it on my Google Plus page, and basically said that I didn’t have that visceral reaction to the flag that I know many have, it just didn’t really bother me. And I admitted that maybe it was because I’ve grown up on the West Coast, where it just isn’t that common. And several Black friends from the South replied that it’s a big deal there, and that if you grow up around it, you can feel the hostility that it stands for.
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I am also a West Coast native but my dad grew up in segregated Oklahoma and I have grown up hearing about his experiences growing up Black in the south. I have always taken it personally when I hear him talk about it. But at the same time, even though I know and resent what the flag stands for, there is definitely something intangible about being so far removed from its actual vicinity. That is where the juxtaposition of the visual connotations of the flag really stand out…
I did see the new “reblog” feature but wasn’t quite sure how to use it. I might have to try it out!
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Seeing the flag by itself didn’t bother me either. But what is so powerful to me is that juxtaposition of the “buying/selling” pitches of the vivid, lively “blood” red flag with images of death. It is ironic, too…
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