Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 09:52:42 -0600 From: Bonnie Briggs Subject: Re: redneck, nigger, good ole boy, kicker, etc. > At 11:27 PM 10/27/97 -0500, you wrote: > > On Mon, 27 Oct 1997, David A. Johns wrote: > > > > > It seems to me that the issue is the same one surrounding the > > > inclusion of the Confederate battle flag in the state flags of > South > > > Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi, or the use of that flag or > the > > > Li'l Reb mascot for high schools throughout the South. In these > > > contexts, the non-rednecks or non-fans-of-the-Confederacy are a > > > captive membership. > > > > I think this issue has become doubly confused (surprise!). If I > read you > > right, you equate "non-rednecks" with "non-fans-of-the > Confederacy." Is > > that your meaning? > > > > And if you do that (please correct me if I am wrong), you probably > ALSO > > equate "rednecks" (whatever your definition is) with "fans-of-the > > Confederacy." Right? > > No, not at all. I was considering both that term and the CSA symbols > as badges that should be worn voluntarily. > I agree with Bethany, we have strayed into another land here. But this is something that does effect me personally. My daughter's school wants to drop the Rebel flag as it's symbol. The school's nickname is the Rebels. The vast majority of the kids, and there are Asians and Blacks in this number, resent this. They don't see the flag as a sign of racism, they see it as something that represents someone who is a rebel. If any of the adults who were pushing this would read up on their history, they would know that there were eleven different flags used by the Confederacy during the war. The current one is the one which was popularized. I daresay if we had t-shirts printed up with one of the other, lesser known flags on it, no one would say a word. Bonnie Briggs The University of Memphis