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Black US Student Sparks Debate With Dorm Room Confederate Flag

"Byron, a student at the University of South Carolina Beaufort, took the flag down at the university's request, but he said he's considering putting it back up after the officials relented. Thomas has drawn nearly 70,000 views since he posted a video online in which he acknowledges: "I know it's kind of weird because I'm black."

"When I look at this flag, I don't see racism. I see respect, Southern pride," he said. "This flag was seen as a communication symbol" during the Civil War, he said.

No Byron, it is not weird that you are black and like the Confederate Flag, at least to me it is not weird at all. It is patriotic, it is for love of country and more specifically, for the love of the South. There is nothing wrong with this at all. Mr. Thomas obviously gets it and this is another expression of patriotism!

The current potus could learn a thing or two from this brave student.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Thomas said a class research project made him come to the belief that the flag's real meaning has been hijacked. He said he wants people to thoughtfully consider issues of race and not just knee-jerk reactions to such symbols.

Bravo to you Byron Thomas for taking a risky move and standing up for it. Stand your ground and your parents will come around to respect YOUR decision. Maybe they will not agree with this but they can understand you are trying to make a difference and break down the old barriers that guard misplaced hatred of a beloved, misunderstood flag.

If obama stood for what he told the American people when he was running for POTUS then he should have been one of the first ones to call Mr. Thomas and support him and his cause for reaching across racial barriers. I would not wait too long by that phone, Mr. Thomas, waiting for that call from the from the POTUS.


With this post 'Lefty the gimp' is saying goodnight or morning, depending on where you are!

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Byron Thomas, 19, a student at USCB holds a Confederate battle flag in his dormitory room on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011 in Okatie, S.C. Byron Thomas says a class research project made him realize the flag's real meaning has been hijacked.


Student Sparks Debate With Dorm Room Confederate Flag

U.S. college student who drew complaints for displaying a Confederate flag in his dorm room window said he sees the banner as a symbol of pride and not racism.

Byron Thomas, 19, said university officials asked him in late November to take the down the banner associated with pro-slavery secessionist forces during the 1861-1865 U.S. Civil War after students and parents complained. They have since told him he can put it back up.

"When I look at this flag, I don't see racism. I see respect, Southern pride," he said. "This flag was seen as a communication symbol" during the Civil War, he said.

That history is debatable. The orange flag with a blue St. Andrew's Cross and white stars is a relatively modern rectangular variant on banners carried into battle by the secessionists, also resembling a rebel naval jack. The variant banner, confused by many with the markedly different Confederate national flag, was adopted as a symbol of pride generations after the South surrendered and slavery was abolished.

Controversy has surrounded the use of the symbol since -- some associating it with regional pride and others a legacy of the enslavement of Africans and their descendants and the ensuing century of often violent racial segregation. Several states incorporated its design into their official flags; South Carolina raised it over its state capitol for the war's 1961 centennial, where it continued to fly until widening opposition to the symbol brought it back down in 2000, nearly 40 years later.

Byron, a student at the University of South Carolina Beaufort, took the flag down at the university's request, but he said he's considering putting it back up after the officials relented. Thomas has drawn nearly 70,000 views since he posted a video online in which he acknowledges: "I know it's kind of weird because I'm black."

In a telephone interview Thursday, Thomas said a class research project made him come to the belief that the flag's real meaning has been hijacked. He said he wants people to thoughtfully consider issues of race and not just knee-jerk reactions to such symbols.

The freshman from North Augusta said his generation can eliminate the flag's negative power by adopting the banner as a symbol of Southern pride.

"I've been getting a lot of support from people. My generation is interested in freedom of speech," Thomas said.

But Thomas says his parents don't like the flag and he's concerned about their point of view, particularly since they pay his bills.

"I don't want to make my parents mad," he said. "I may wait until Monday to put it up."

Thomas' roommate Blane Reed, who identifies as white, said in a separate telephone interview that he never heard any complaints after Thomas put the flag up shortly after Labor Day. Each student has a separate bedroom and share living space with three others, he said.

Thomas posted a video on a CNN-run website that has logged more than 69,000 viewing and an article in a local newspaper brought more attention.

University spokeswoman Candace Brasseur said Thursday in an email that about two-dozen students had raised the issue of the flag with the housing office or with a resident adviser. On Thursday, she forwarded an email the school had sent to its students and staff, informing them that officials had asked Thomas to remove the flag "out of respect for his fellow students' concerns."

However, the email added, because of "the University cannot and will not prohibit these flags or other symbols that our students choose to display." It cited the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits laws abridging the freedom of speech.

Thomas is free to return it to his window if he wishes, Brasseur said.

USC Beaufort is one of eight campuses in the University of South Carolina system and has about 1,750 students, of which about 16.5 percent identify as African American, according to the school web site.



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2 Comments - Share Yours!:

Blockade Runner said...

I still fly a confederate battle flag
I'm rebel to the bone
I still see others fly it
so I know I'm not alone.

That Southern Cross is an American flag too
just the same as your Old Glory
history claims that were traitors
that's how the winners tell the story

it flys to send a message
that rings clear as a bell
i've had it with a government of thieves and whores
they can all go straight to hell

It stands for independence
and a just and sacred cause
called 'government by consent of the governed.'
for constitution, faith and laws

It's followers never lifted a rifle
so rich men could own African slaves
their young country was being invaded
that's what took them to their graves

It stands for southern heritage
for sacrifice, blood and sweat
when our kin stood up to tyranny
and patriot shouldn't forget

the minutemen were also called 'rebels'
when they bravely made a stand
against the armies of King George
and that's what created this land.

We don't hate yanks in general
it was government out-of-control we were fightin
It's time we push back again
to fix the wrongs that sure need rightin

We've got the finest military in the world
and our freedom is again under attack
let's have em drive the terrorists from Washington
so we can have our country back.

I'll keep flyin my flag of rebellion
I'm neither racist nor a bigot
but I'm proud of my Confederate roots
KISS MY GRITS if you don't dig it!

PatriotUSA said...

Blockaderunner:
THANK YOU SO MUCH for posting this here. I will be sharing it as a post later tonight. Your words ring true with my heart and I how I feel about the south, confederacy and the Stars and Bars.

I was hopin' you would see the post I put up early this morning up on RTR.

Thanks again!