Race, lets make this serious! It is nearly 2013.

[Vrede too]

Harper Lee, RIP.

[Vrede too]

Watched this on PBS tonight, very good.

'Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution' And Its Relevance

Ex-Black Panther freed after 43 years in solitary confinement

[Vrede too]

ESPN's Bomani Jones riles fans up with Cleveland Caucasians shirt

The one he wore:



Others I found:






And for D.C.:

[Vrede too]

Polk County, TN, bordering NC & GA:

[Vrede too]

Neighbors Come Together to Paint Over Racial Slurs at Vandalized Home Before Family Sees Them

[JTA]

NFL player refuses to stand during the national anthem to show support for black people being killed by police officers.

People are PISSED.

They're getting bent way the F outta shape IMO. Jesus. Who cares!?

[Vrede too]

Treasured American values include the freedom not to stand, the responsibility to speak up when one perceives wrongs, and the courage to take the jingoistic heat for doing so.

That said, I'll bet lots of lefties (not me) would be screeching if a white player refused to stand in protest against Obama or Hillary.

Full disclosure: I have mostly not stood for decades, or more often just waited to enter an arena until after the anthem - my own protest against US militarism and meaningless groupthink displays of "patriotism".

[Vrede too]

JTA, you can make your views known about something closer to home:

South Carolina high school bans American flags from football game
The school's principal explained his reasoning for banning the stars and stripes

Greenville County Schools: Contact Us

[JTA]

JTA, you can make your views known about something closer to home:

South Carolina high school bans American flags from football game
The school's principal explained his reasoning for banning the stars and stripes

Greenville County Schools: Contact Us

Yeah. I hope someone decides to bring a foreign flag to the game to wave.

The school's principal should've just blanket banned all flags. Problem solved. All flags banned, so nobody can bitch. They could've even played the angle of "well, we don't want to allow flags, as waving them might block the view of other attendees". Why is that so difficult? Is this principal an idiot? Plausible deniability, bitches.

[Boatrocker]

WTF? When I was in HS, 40-some years ago (in uber redneck Lower Alabama) it was not allowed to bring flags into the stadium. The smaller flag-on-a-stick, like a parade handout, invariably had a pointy end. The larger flags block someone's vision, flap in someone's face and knock over someone's drink, just generally annoying the shit out of folks in the stands. This was not viewed as improper or "unpatriotic;" it was just good sense. And the same applied to the confederate rag.
For some years, now, all this brouhaha over flags and pledges and anthems has been manufactured out of the ether, and it's bullshit. It coincides with the newfound American adulation of all things 'soldier', which began as a (I believe) healthy rejection of the shameful way we treated military personnel from the late 60s to the early 80s, but morphed into a sort of mindless, sacrosanct, holy cow sort of worship which is inherently fascist in nature. Naturally, this includes such other trappings of fascism/militarism as the fetishization of a bit of tailored cloth, and rabid embrace of pledges of allegiance, as if they are mystical incantations, invoking powerful magic, instead of just (mostly) meaningless brainwashing. It all comes with an almost complete disregard for the principles these fetishes are supposed to represent. Doesn't mean many of us don't attach deep significance to our symbols and icons, especially- BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY- those of us who have been on the pointy end if the stick, voluntarily and intentionally. But you cannot honestly gnash your teeth and thump your breast in the name of Constitution and Liberty and 2nd Amendments and such, without a clear understanding of what patriotism really means

[O Really]

Boatrocker said it well.

[Vrede too]

You both make good points, but I also appreciate this principal for specifically stating that the flag shall not be used for taunting Latinos, and the district for backing him up.

[JTA]

I mean, they are in the US. If you live here, that's your flag too.

That's why a ban of all flags would've been less controversial.

I disagree with the ban of only the US flag. All flags - fine. Only the US flag - no.

[JTA]

The flame war that erupted on FB over this went something like this:

Rednecks getting mad, telling people to leave if they don't like it here, as that's our national flag

Retorts from Berea residents of Latino descent saying they have no problem with the flag, reminding them this was solely the principal's decision, not theirs, so don't blame them.

I'd say that's fair.

You've got to admit though the idiot principal could've went about this in a little more nuanced manner to make everyone happy, or at least a bit less outraged. Of course people are going to be perturbed by a school banning the American flag. Yeah, things are a bit more complicated. And yeah, I'm intelligent enough to realize that it can be used to taunt, especially if it's only used in such a manner when playing against a predominantly Hispanic school.

BUT, most people probably aren't using it in that manner. Most probably don't see it that way. You can't antagonize one group of people in preference for another just because it suits your political indoctrination.

Why is being diplomatic about the manner a bad thing? Just ban all flags and offend everyone equally.

[Vrede too]

i wouldn't read too much into "Berea residents of Latino descent" not wanting to sound like they're criticizing the US flag. We know where the ugly is most likely to come from.

You seem to be assuming that fans of the largely Latino team have been bringing Mexican or other foreign flags for taunting other teams. I doubt that it's happened in SC and for all we know those fans, if they existed, would have been stopped, too.

[JTA]

i wouldn't read too much into "Berea residents of Latino descent" not wanting to sound like they're criticizing the US flag. We know where the ugly is most likely to come from.

You seem to be assuming that fans of the largely Latino team have been bringing Mexican or other foreign flags for taunting other teams. I doubt that it's happened in SC and for all we know those fans, if they existed, would have been stopped, too.

No sir. I've not assumed that at all.

[Vrede too]

What's the point of banning all flags when only one is being used in a nasty manner at SC school events? I applaud the principal for saying that spectators shall not use our flag that way. He took a stand against the redneck xenophobes.

[JTA]

Here's what probably went down:

TR is redneck. Berea is largely Hispanic.

TR plays Berea. Rednecks being proud 'Mericans that they are, decide to be conniving dicks and bring a bunch of American flags to wave and chant USA! Whenever their team scores. They do this knowing the other team has a lot of illegals (well, they assume) to try to antagonize them.

Principal decided "let's ban the American flag to stop this. Dealing with shit faced kids my whole life has taught me important lessons on how immaturity and antagonistic behaviour can present itself in the most creative, seemingly unassuming ways. I know what's going on here..."

Knowing the context makes it key. I still disagree with the way the ban was implemented. A ban on all flags would be more politically correct, but the rest of the world isn't going to see the nuances and the media will obviously latch onto this and make it sound as offensive as possible to shore up those sweet outrage ratings.

[JTA]

What's the point of banning all flags when only one is being used in a nasty manner at SC school events? I applaud the principal for saying that spectators shall not use our flag that way. He took a stand against the redneck xenophobes.

For the sake of political correctness.

The principal had to have been daft to not realize there was going to be a huge backlash over this. PR is a thing for a reason .

[Vrede too]

Also for the sake of not making a game ugly. If taking a stand against redneck xenophobes is "political correctness", what's wrong with political correctness?

Isn't is political correctness to not do the right thing because "there was going to be a huge backlash over this"?