June is Not Confederate Pride Month
A couple of clients this week mentioned loving my accent. I get that a lot. My regular use of “y’all” and other Southern colloquialisms sound endearing to people not used to hearing Southern accents. When people ask about the origin of my accent, I usually share that I was born in Tennessee and became an adult in North Carolina. I also share that I speak three English dialects: hick, flatlander, and mountain. It’s all part of being Southern.
One thing that I never thought I would see was the announcement yesterday by NASCAR banning all Confederate flags displays at its events. Hallelujah. You may have some questions about this announcement. First, you might ask what NASCAR is and what it stands for. NASCAR stands for the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and it is a HUGE sport in the South. TV viewing of NASCAR races averages about 3 million viewers with up to 9 million for the big ones like the Daytona 500. This is on top of the thousands who attend in person. I grew up watching NASCAR. When NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt died in 2001, it was like a National Day of Mourning at my house. Seriously.
Second, you may ask if people are really still flying Confederate flags at sporting events. Unfortunately, and tragically, the answer is yes. Having lived in the South my whole life, I forget that many people have never seen a Confederate flag flown with “pride.” It’s not the pride, like LGBTQ+ pride that we are amplifying and celebrating this month. It’s pride in a Southern narrative that involves sticking it to the man (the North) and fighting against the government for states’ rights. When I was growing up, we spent so much time in history class on the Civil War (or War of Northern Aggression as some people here call it), that we rarely made it to World War I and beyond. Literally, I didn’t learn about World War II until I was in college.
The Civil War and the Confederate flag are one of the dominant narratives in the South, and few have understood that they are also signs of white supremacy. Honestly, I never thought about the racist message of the Confederate flag until a few years ago. I’m so embarrassed to say that. I grew up learning that the Confederate flag was a proud sign of Southern heritage, not a physical reminder to people of color that white people “own” the world. But that is what the Confederate flag reflects to the world – structural racism and systemic oppression. We must remove it.
Some push back has happened, and a funny viral video was already created. Some people think that groups are trying to erase history, but that is missing the point. The history that many of us have known as Southern white people has one perspective – the dominant one. Removal of Confederate monuments and symbols are about expanding the perspective and celebrating the freedom heroes. As Southern white people, we have erased the history of black people, indigenous groups, and other people of color with our hubris. It’s time to reassess the story we are telling and look at our part in the narrative. And it’s time to raise up monuments and symbols for the freedom fighters and native ancestors whose blood covers our land. The Marines started the week by ordering Confederate flags to be removed, the first military branch to do so. And NASCAR continues the movement by taking a big, first step for the South. Y’all, change is happening.
*Note - This article originally appeared on LinkedIn on June 22, 2020.