What do the symbols of our past represent?
Do they mean anything to today's generation?
Should they?
I watched a news report tonight about two White girls in Burleson, TX who took confederate flag purses to school and chose to leave school rather than surrender their purses to the principal. The reasoning? They say it's their southern heritage and their right of free speech to carry the purses. On the flip side, I have some Black friends who use the "n" word in their regular conversation and feel just as strongly about their right to use that in their speech.
Should both acts be acceptable? Should both be unacceptable? Is it a matter of free speech? Does it matter anymore what those symbols represented in the past? Or is the meaning so far removed that it is insignificant for today's time?
Quite honestly, as a young child growing up in western Kansas and rural Missouri I never realized what the confederate flag represented. I watched the Dukes of Hazard and never thought twice about the flag on the "General Lee" car that they drove.
It wasn't until college that I became interested in the Civil Rights movement. Learning that part of our history, combined with some newly-formed friendships, helped me to understand the hate that the confederate flag symbolizes for African Americans and the fear that goes along with it. Now that I'm aware of that, it makes me shudder every time I drive through northern Arkansas and see the little store on the corner proudly displaying it's confederate flags for sale.
Do we need to forget what those symbols represented in the past so we can move forward? Is it too complicated to try to create awareness about what these symbols used to represent and how that hurt and fear still lingers today? Is free speech a right no matter what it means to others? Or, should we work toward educating ourselves, understanding each other, and being sensitive to how those words, actions, and symbols affect others...whether we are Black or White?
2 comments:
You pose interesting questions. My students create mandala's at the beginning of the school year. One student asked if he could draw a swastika inside his mandala. I immediately said no; not only does it not represent the order and balance of a mandala, but it is also an inappropriate symbol to hang in the halls of a public school as it represents hatred, racism, and bigotry. He argued and argued and argued with me that it was part of his family's heritage and it wasn't a bad symbol until Hitler made it so.
I completely agreed. With my limited historical knowledge of the symbol itself, I did know that it was a symbol of life and good luck...and that it had a positive connotation in America at the turn of the century (somewhere in my recollection I think I even remember a history teacher lecturing one college afternoon about American troops--a specific division--even wearing the swastika on their issued uniforms during WWI.)
I strongly feel a symbol means what society deems it to mean (And I learned on my trip to Japan the swastika is still used in Hindu and Buddhists religions as a symbol of good...and I later learned about a women's Swastika Club right here in my very own town in the early 1900's who went around doing good deeds for people in need.) However, our society has deemed the swastika as a symbol of hate. Over years, decades, centuries...society's change, so does that mean we are coming into an era where the confederate flag is no longer representing slavery or lack of equality (I have noticed over the last few years the flag is making a comeback on notebooks and t-shirts at school...and it is scary to me, but the students can't understand that.) Does that mean the "N" word doesn't mean what it used to mean?
I don't know. I know I am 'technically' not supposed wear my cross in class, but my local society accepts it and so far I haven't had any problems. An academic advisor friend of mine (female) wouldn't serve a student until his Hooter's shirt was replaced. I think, in the sensitive world we live in, working toward understanding, as you mentioned at the end, is the best answer. And serving others and giving others respect is always a win/win situation.
I tend to agree. I think one of the most powerful lessons that I have never forgotten was in art class in 7th grade. I proposed to do my plaster of paris carving of a swastika (having no earthly idea what it meant). Mr. Trent seemed to go nearly balistic on me and refused to allow it. I don't know that I learned what that symbol meant that day, but because of him I immediately learned it was associated with something that very bad. I look back on that and, knowing the town we grew up in, have a lot of respect for his passionate response. Maybe if we all reacted that passionately, more people might recognize the pain associated with something so seemingly insignificant.
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