It’s just a flag

Now, this one might get a few of you all rowdied up, but the First Amendment has allowed me to utilize my skills to act as an advocate of those who are just too darned scared to speak up.
Now, to you people in the South Carolina legislature, I know you are just getting all kinds of headaches and migraines from those persistent people from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. That’s right, the good ole’ N “Double A”C and P. Being the minority that I am, I find no better idea than for our people to advance. So, I have an idea to our folks in regards to protesting that flag in South Carolina. Advance…that’s right…move on.
Just because you see a Confederate Flag, it doesn’t have to remind you of slavery. Which one of you got whipped to death? Who was the slave? Just because it flies on the grounds of the State Capitol, it doesn’t mean that the Ku Klux Klan is in there hanging someone. Are you going to take off your blue jeans or quit sleeping on your sheets if you happen to pass a cotton field? My mom picked cotton, and she doesn’t start shaking and sweating every time she puts on a pair of blue jeans. Just because you feel that flag reminds you of the hardships of our ancestors, it doesn’t mean that you should be out there fussing when you should be fussing and protesting for better schooling and busing for our kids.
Maybe you feel that I am too young to understand. I am only in my twenties. I wasn’t there. I wasn’t there when MLK was shot. I wasn’t there when the Union troops ran through all late and announced that President Lincoln had freed the slaves. Heck, I am only a product of the Civil Rights Era, the Reconstruction Era, the Antebellum Period, and slavery. My ancestors have instilled values and beliefs that I strongly and stubbornly defend and one of those beliefs is that in order for us as a people to advance, we need to take care of home. Let’s clean our own house before trying to clean someone else’s.
We as a people are our own worst enemy. We are probably the only educated ethnic group in America, who fights for so much, yet we fight each other. No, I am not fighting you on the issue of the Confederate flag, I just believe that there are other things at home that we should be addressing. We cry so much about being oppressed and held when we hold ourselves back. If we complain so much about “the man” keeping us down, we can fight on this flag, and he can take something else away. So let’s fight for something worth changing…
Why is the number of blacks in correctional facilities so high and our graduation rates so low? Why is the percentage of black corporate America so low, yet our pregnancy rates so high? I know some blacks that will donate to “Feed the Children” and won’t give a blasted dollar bill to a bum on the street. If the bum is homeless, find a shelter for the bum; if he is inadequately clothed, give the bum your gloves. A nice few of you would hate to drive through the ghettos of New Orleans, Houston, or even Baton Rouge, but you would go through the slums of Kingston, Jamaica and St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands to find authentic jewelry or even get your groove back…because it‘s sooo exotic. You would cater to foreigners before you would cater to your own people.
That flag never hurt anybody. Everybody who waved that flag didn’t hurt our people. The main reason for that flag was to identify a group of southern states as “The Confederacy.” There were just the ignorant who took the meaning out of context. Now, don’t think that I am so naive or so shallow as to think that racists haven’t flown the Confederate Flag, but I know for a fact that there are racists waving our American flag, so let’s ask the government to stop flying “Old Glory” too. Betsy Ross had slaves, and she sewed the flag. Who do you think measured out the cloth? Thomas Jefferson “intermingled” with his slaves. George Washington had slaves. Whites in Philadelphia, New York and Delaware among other northern states and territories had slaves. The North wasn’t always slave-free.
The Confederate flag is still a part of the new Georgia flag…I was in Atlanta not too long ago and I didn’t see any protesters on the steps. Let’s not just focus on one state here. If I am not mistaken, there is still one particular state flag that I hear a little rumbling about, but we are just too scared to even drive through that state, besides make major protests. So there are miles to go before we sleep. If you are going to do it, don’t half step.
I am not going to boycott the state of South Carolina economically. I make a whole-hearted attempt for Myrtle Beach every Memorial Day Weekend for Black Bike Weekend. This is a weekend event in which black bikers, vendors, entertainers, and black tourists come from all over the world and just have a grand old time. I am not going to support anyone walking on the highways asking me to honk if I support the NAACP. I will honk if you are in danger of being hit because of you picketing on Interstate 85 or Highway 301, 501 and 17 and I have somewhere to go.
Our kids can still be valedictorian whether or not that flag flies. There will still be black poverty whether or not that flag flies. Black girls will still get pregnant if not educated whether that flag flies or not. Angola State Prison will still have blacks participating in its annual rodeo whether that flag flies or not. I, among thousands of black “twenty-somethings” will be in Myrtle Beach in awe of our beautiful black people and their hot motor bikes whether or not that flag flies…
…Doesn’t one of the “A’s” in NAACP mean advance? Move on…