So we have entered into, what the world sees, as a different era in our protests against inequality. For most of us in the US though, this is not the first neither the last. The US has a deep systemic and maybe intractable problem in the issue of race relations. So, I thought I could use this usually music and food centric forum to bring some light into the long and tortured history that my country has with race.
Part 1: The Confederate Flag.
In many ways, the confederacy holds the key to an understanding of why things are what they are. In particular, the confederate flag. What is the flag you may ask, we have only seen the usual stars and stripes flag you may inform me. So here's some background, and also an explanation of the why the issues in the US are way deeper than just a hashtag, or a feel good blackout that people post on instagram. Sigh if only it were that simple!
Well - this is the flag:
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| Classified as a Hate Symbol by the ADL |
In 1860, angered by the push by the US Government under President Lincoln to abolish slavery, 11 Southern States - South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas seceded from the Union, created their own constitution, own battle flag (see above), and thus started the US Civil War. Long story short, the US Civil War raged from 1861 until the confederate forces surrendered in April 1865. We had the Emancipation Proclamation and Abolition of Slavery, Reconstruction of the South, assassination of Lincoln, and eventually the rise of the Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation in the South, including the Klan that used this flag extensively to send a message(mostly violent) to their former and now free slaves . Segregation continued until the Civil rights Act and Voting rights act were enacted in 1964 and 1965.
It is important to understand this history because the confederate flag has never really gone away in the South. Having lived in Texas and North Carolina, it is still common to see it around sometimes. The sight of it provokes a visceral reaction of fear in non-white folks, since it harkens back to the era of lynchings, cross burning, tear gas against protesters, water cannons, and beating of people assembled peacefully (Wait what does that remind us of?). For example you could be living in an affluent mostly white suburb in Winston-Salem NC, and a block or two down see the confederate flag flying in a house that looks similar to yours. I can attest to how unsettling that is as a non-white person. A non-white, relatively affluent, professional person. Imagine how a working class black person would feel if they see that flag. Folks say that the flag is there as a heritage symbol, but imagine the heritage. Make no mistake, the confederate flag is flown or pasted on the back of cars and trucks as a not so subtle reminder to non-white folks "You watch your step boy, we have our eyes on you." (Boy is a historical term used to address slaves in the South).
So this "racism" has never really gone away, it is built in as part of the heritage in the South, as well as part of the regular historical discrimination in the North.
So, how do we proceed in our fight?
Well, in a way we all do our part. Racism especially systemic racism is inbuilt in us our society, our work, family and all parts of life. We each do our part to change something that is actual change, not just a feel good protest symbol on social media.
Yes, I am often mocked for being such an Obama fan. Let us focus on the change we have seen so far. Change happens when things change politically, when the racist whites in small towns and counties and states in the South lose their political power to the center-left coalition of liberal whites and African Americans and Hispanic Americans. Nowhere is the South has this been more stark than in Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy. In 2004, Virginia was a red state (solidly Republican), George W Bush easily won re-election with more than 53% of the vote in the state of Virginia. In 2008 Barack Obama won Virginia with more than 52% of the vote. In 2012 Obama won it again, in 2016 Hillary won it. Virginia is now a solid blue state, every level of statewide power is held by Democrats. As a result nowhere in the South do you see more progressive policies being enacted. Including, the slow and systematic removal of Confederate symbols and statues, each one of them divisive, and a reminder of our horrible past. We need more change like this all through the South and the rest of the US, and the world.
So we each have a responsibility to help change the system in our own way. Do it at work, do it in the community, donate to political organizations, feed the poor, engage with stubborn family members. If we each do something, little things, as a sum total big changes can happen. It will take time, but change is on the way. 5 months from today, we will celebrate my birthday, and also hopefully vote out Trump.
We stop today with this story of a kid in a school in NC, being uneasy about the perpetuation of confederate symbols around her:
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article238545213.html
I will be back with Episode 2 of US History, when time permits me to!
PS: Also this just happened:
And this in Ferguson MO
Ei To Jibon - Ogo Bodhu Shundori (1980)
Katra Katra Milti Hai - Ijaazat (1987)
Tumi Koto Je Doore - Asha Bhonsle and R. D. Burman
Le Gayi Le Gayi - Dil To Pagal Hai (1997)
Laga Chunari Mein Daag - Dil Hi To Hai (1963)
Tu Mile Dil Khile - Criminal (1995)
Jahan Teri Yeh Nazar Hai Meri Jaan - Kaalia (1981)
100!
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