It's Kind Of Gray

One of the things that both frightens and frustrates me as a journalist is when other journalists write as if they understand something when it is clear (especially when I am familiar with the subject) that they know only the barest surface aspects of it. I have seen it happen time and again with areas that I am very conversant with, or cultures I consider myself a part of, and now begin to recognize the problem elsewhere too.

It's a classic situation: I can just hear the reporter on the phone to his boss. "No, I know what I'm doing now. I've got a feel for it!" You can hardly blame him; we are in this business because we're quick learners who empathize easily. We want to listen to your story and better understand you, then artfully play it back for a larger audience. It's just that we're often a little too clever by half.

For example, we've all had our moment of expressing hope for the final dismissal of the unfortunate Confederate Battle Flag and those who provocatively wave it. It seems a no brainer, but I think there's a much subtler story behind a lot of the people who use that symbol for something besides racism.

Brandon Dorsey, Commander of the SCV chapter in Lexington, Virginia, 

marching in a parade through the town marking the birthdays of Robert E. Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson.

I think the appealingly alliterative motto of "History Not Hate" has actually muddied the debate rather than clarified it. Those who use it, most sincerely, have found it is a simple encapsulation of a non-racist answer to those who criticize the flag. However, as I said in a blog post on this, there are plenty of other Confederate flags that haven't been usurped by hate groups that reenactors and others could use as a tribute to those who bravely served as soldiers.

So why do some cling to the battle flag, angrily refusing to just let it go? Even more curiously, what about the people displaying the battle flag outside of any historical context? I know a lot of these people, and I have talked with many others, and sure, a few have some uncomfortable opinions about race. But I've got to say: in my opinion, most of these people are not racists.

Maybe it is because they have some difficulty articulating it in a way that the Northeastern elite can understand that forces them to use the flag as a symbol. Truly, I think the point is: It really has almost nothing to do with the Civil War at all. What I think the flag has come to symbolize for many of these people is a sense of community and identity.

Take Tracy Hart, a water resource economist at the World Bank who was profiled in NPR's Race Card Project. The piece focuses on her use of the term "white trash" to describe herself and her origins:

For those in the Deep South, she says, the term ["white trash"] has been embraced by a significant part of poor people who feel misunderstood. "They feel misunderstood because of the heavy legacy of slavery and segregation and poverty," she says. "And I think part of their feeling misunderstood is to take on or embrace that term, which is self-denigrating but it also says, 'We've been hurt, too.' "

The battle flag, I think, is a visual equivalent of a similar attitude -- not so much a statement of fellow suffering, but a logo of sorts for a culture that feels ignored at best and misunderstood and attacked at worst. Like everyone else, they try to do the "right thing" and be a "good person" within the rules and mores of their world. Where others get their symbols, and are even encouraged to wave and share them (eg: "We're all Irish on St. Patrick's Day"), the mostly Celtic diaspora into the American South has been generally disparaged as dangerous, criminal, alcoholic, racist, and poor. Even when "Hillbilly" stories were big in the 50s and 60s (at the height of the Folk Rock era) the best they could hope for were the comedically ignorant Beverly Hillbillies. No noble savages to be found among the hicks in the mountains and bigots in the cotton fields of the South, no sir.

So, is it so unlikely that the Battle Flag is a pushback, accompanied by the soundtrack of Southern Rock songs like "Sweet Home Alabama"?

Well I heard Mister Young sing about her

Well I heard old Neil put her down

Well, I hope Neil Young will remember

A southern man don't need him around anyhow

 -- a reference to Neil Young's hectoring "Southern Man"