I'm back!

As a result of the recent rebel flag debates, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the south and what it means to be a southerner. I grew up in Tennessee and, in fact, my family has been here since the 1700s. As was common for Middle Tennesseans, I had family on both sides of the war. When you think about it, that must have been hard being torn between loving where you live and not wanting to be involved in the war. On one hand, you’d feel a pull towards fighting for your state while on the other hand, you might feel compelled to fight for your beliefs. I have no way of knowing why each of my family members chose the side they did, but I would imagine it was a tough decision for both. For the record, I have not found any evidence that any of my family members owned slaves. I’m not saying with 100% certainty they did not own slaves, but based on where we lived and how little money and land they had, I would be surprised if they did. Anyways, my point is that people in the south still face this decision. Many people are proud of being southern yet also differ in their political and personal beliefs from the majority of southerners. These people, while not racist, often hang onto the rebel flag as a sense of pride and identity. To them, this flag lets everyone know they are proud of being southern. To others, the rebel flag represents oppression, hatred, and racism. So if this flag does represent such horrible things to millions of people, then why don’t you just find something else to show your pride for being southern?

The south is one of the few regions in America that has an almost incomprehensible sense of pride and solidarity. This “southern exceptionalism” is just part of living in the south. It’s been around me my entire life and not until recently have I really given it much thought. To this day, it is not uncommon to hear a southerner say something such as, “You can’t trust him. He’s a yankee.” The general view of anyone not from the south is that they are a yankee and they are rude, snobby, untrustworthy, and generally inferior. The Civil War ended 150 years ago yet we still view non-southerners this way? Don’t you find this absurd? I’ve traveled all over the United States and, without exception, I have found people to be just as kind, trustworthy, and pleasant as any Southerner. I understand that you’re proud of being southern, but don’t you think it’s time we let it go? The south lost the war. Get over it. Judge people not on where they are from, but on who they are.