Tag: Confederate flag

The Confederate Flag and the Swastika

On By Norbert HauptIn Atrocities, Commentaries, Political5 Comments

flags

Symbols from the Nazi-era, such as the swastika or the “Heil Hitler” salute are illegal in Germany. Since the end of WWII, the country has been making a concerted effort to distance itself from the crimes of its past, and it tries to prevent future catastrophes like the Third Reich.

In the United States, in the age of Trump, both the swastika and the Confederate flag have resurged in yards, on the backs of pickup trucks and at rallies and other political events and demonstrations.

I have never been able to understand how the Confederate flag in the United States of the 21st century can have such a strong foothold. It has become a symbol of power for some people, of course. Arguments are that the Confederate flag represents people’s heritage and should therefore be honored and cherished.

I challenge that view. If a family can trace its lineage back to an individual that fought in the Civil War under the Confederate flag, and died for it, yes, I acknowledge that there is family tradition and honor involved. But I believe that 99.99% of the time, the person brandishing the flag cannot identify such lineage. Most people can’t identify the names even of their great-great-grandparents. I certainly can’t. That would bring me back to about 1880 or so. 1865, not a chance.

So, unless a person served in the Civil War under General Lee and died, the Confederate flag has no direct meaning with respect to a family’s heritage.

For the vast majority of people in the United States, the flag is a symbol of slavery, and the misery and oppression it brought to millions of people for many decades. It is a symbol of continued oppression for another 100 or so years until the major civil rights activities of the 1960s. It is a symbol of hate against minorities in the most recent decades.

And it is a symbol of treason of the southern states against the union.

I do not understand how our society accepts the Confederate flag as it does, being that it stands for oppression, hate and treason.

The only justifiable purpose I see is the expression of free speech, a right bestowed upon us by the First Amendment to the Constitution.

You have a right to fly the flag, but you must know that the vast majority of us view it as a symbol of oppression, hate and treason.

Or is it the vast majority of us?

Movie Review: 12 Years a Slave

On By Norbert HauptIn Movies, Slavery2 Comments

12 Years12 Years a Slave is crushing at the deepest levels.

Masterfully done cinematography, a haunting musical score and powerful acting tell the story of Solomon Northrup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a respectable middle-class family man who lives with his wife and two children in Saratoga, New York in 1841, when he is lured away and eventually abducted into slavery. Solomon is sold and resold, from one plantation to another. Through his eyes we see mothers separated forever from their children, women abused sexually, people whipped until the flesh peels from their backs for no reason but the egos of the owners. Ignorant, insecure and vindictive individuals in arbitrary positions of power have ultimate control over the lives, happiness and health of others – by “owning” them. Being a slave means being subject to the whims of the lowest of the low characters the human race has spawned: slavers.

This movie is based in part of the memoir of Solomon Northrup, which he wrote after he was able to escape from captivity by proving his freedom in 1853, twelve years after he was abducted. The film illustrates in brilliant colors the terrible injustice our own system of government inflicted on the slaves.

I cannot imagine how it is possible, after viewing 12 Years a Slave, to wrap yourself in the Confederate flag now and today and protest for secession of Texas, or march in front of the White House. Do these people really yearn for those conditions to return? What does the Confederate flag mean to them?

12 Years a Slave reminded me Django Unchained, another masterpiece about slavery, but it has a different, more emotionally intense approach.

Watching two hours and 15 minutes of that took a lot out me, but it is a story that must be told, over and over again.

This is particularly true in a world where human trafficking in 2013 is alive and thriving. There are slaves right now working in factories all over the world. There are slaves in Europe and the United States providing sexual services against their will. There are slaves all over the middle east working in households for no pay, 18 hours a day. We ignore this while we post cat pictures on Facebook.

12 Years a Slave brought forth all these images in me, and they are not going away. I predict there will be many awards for this movie. It is definitely one of the best, most powerful ones I have seen this year.

Rating: ****