A lot of people forget this, but Christmas in America doesn’t have its roots so much as a “fun, albeit expensive, time of year where everyone tries to forget their differences and just be nice,” but rather as “the perfect time dredge up disputes that should be long-dead re: the civil war.” It’s sort of what we unofficially refer to as the Reason for the Season.
Trace Adkins, however, has not forgotten, and made the bold move of wearing a confederate flag earpiece for his otherwise unremarkable performance at this week’s Rockefeller Christmas tree lighting.
While some people are upset that Adkins picked a nice family event to remind everyone of a terrible era of racism and perhaps the biggest, most scarring blight on our nation’s history, the singer has now clarified that he does not condone “oppression of any kind” and went on, “I am a descendant of Confederate soldiers who followed that flag into battle. To those who view the flag as a symbol of racism, that was not my message and I did not intend offense.”
Whether or not that makes any sense at all, Adkins has garnered Twitter support from Donald Trump (and commenters on his site who identify as “very NON-racist”), and criticism from fake Abraham Lincoln, so that’s what, about an even split? I don’t even know anymore.
Follow Virginia K. Smith on Twitter @vksmith.
His ancestors may have followed the Confederate flag into battle, but that battle was to KEEP AFRICAN AMERICAN’S OPPRESSED. That flag stands for the south’s unwillingness to give up is way of free labor from African slaves. The confederate flag is equivalent to a swastika, they are both symbols of evil human behavior. Adtkin’s should be ashamed. Don’t do that, and tell me that you didn’t intend to offend, then dish that Southern Pride BS. So ignorant, and irritating in 2012.
“It had been said that, if the South would lay down their arms, they would be received back into the Union. The South could not honorably lay down her arms, for she was fighting for her honor.”
Rev. C. Chauncey Burr, of New Jersey
I agree with Ms. Ronique Nicole that the intent was to offend, however I disagree that the flag could be compared to the swastika. An estimated 600,000 (both sides) was killed with the confederate flag which pales in comparison to the estimated 50 – 70 million people was killed for the swastika. Also with the start of the civil war containing several factors which only slavery was a small part of and it not being until the republican party lead by President Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation making the goal of the war to end slavery in the south.
But I support the confederate flag and I’m black. You all see racism, we see southern history
@ronique we’ve been oppressing ourselves since god knows when. There are a few numbers that try to make a difference out of themselves and not fall under the racial stereotypes of blacks. We sit here bitching and moaning about racism and sh¡t that we can’t change and move on? Really Dr. King would cringe at how we are as a race today
I think those, including the writer of this article, that choose to jump to race rather than familiarizing themselves with southern history and culture are the ones that are racist and creating conflict. If a black man had worn that earpiece would it be an issue?? That’s not the “stars and bars” he’s wearing, he’s wearing the soldiers flag that they carried to battle. I could go on and explain the whole thing but instead I’ll just say, all those who have jumped to race, you should first do some reading…and I don’t mean that in a demeaning way. I’m just saying, I think you’ll find that the civil war wasn’t as “black and white” as a race war and many just fought to protect their homesteads, not the right to own slaves. The belief that anyone wearing or displaying this flag is a racist, is the only thing here that is ignorant.
While I can have empathy for african americans who want to see racism gone, the confederate flag stood for sooo much more than just slavery. States used to have rights to govern themselves accordingly and have separate laws than one another even. Everywhere you live is going to be different. The southern states disagreed with many federal laws and many would have lost their homesteads due to imminent domain laws and other expanding propositions, including freed black former slaves. Look it up. The civil war was not a racial war until Abe Lincoln made it one.