Dear Sir:
I am a state employee and so will not comment publicly on the topic
being discussed, but I wanted to thank you for a thoughtful and
fair-minded post on such a divisive subject.

For a few years, many years ago, I was a member of the Richmond Civil
War Round Table.  Daniel Jordan, now at Monticello, was president of the
organization at that time.  It was an interesting collection of people
from various backgrounds, professional, business, and blue collar, who
enjoyed reading and studying history.  While the Civil War was the
focus, many members were very knowledgeable about local, state, and
national history as well.  In all the time that I was associated with
the group, I think I heard one comment that seemed undesirable, from a
rather rough looking fellow, probably a relic hunter, who attended only
a few meetings.  Of course I can't look into the human heart, but
although no few people might take it for granted that such a group might
be racist, I never saw evidence of it, and I don't think that an
interest in military history, whether for intellectual or sentimental
reasons, should automatically confer such a designation.

I often think of my own extended family, in the Roanoke Valley.  All of
the males are laboring men, blue collar workers, plant employees, many
without a high school diploma.  Most live in rural Botetourt County.
Most drive pickup trucks and I would assume that some probably display
the Confederate flag.  On a couple of occasions I have heard racial
remarks that I do not like, but I also know that the speaker has an
African American neighbor with whom he is on good terms, who has been in
his house, and has loaned or borrowed tools, or helped out or has been
helped out on one occasion or another.  At a recent family gathering at
my deceased parents' home one of the young women came with a black man
as her date.  He was welcomed to the gathering and was treated very
well.  One might assume that some family members had reservations about
it, although I never heard a word said either way.  I did not sense that
it caused any kind of stir at all.  I was proud of the behavior of those
largely unsophisticated but essentially decent people making their way
in a complex world.  As a group, these people might automatically be
considered by some to be racist, but I think that would be painting with
a very large brush, something that you very wisely counseled against.

I agree with your remarks about evolving public and political contexts.
Things change, meanings change, and although from time to time we are
brought up short by the disclosure that some public person seems not to
have learned a darn thing, I still see, every single day, people making
room for other people, trying to make some sort of civil contact.  It's
the kind of thing that doesn't make its way into the history books or
symposium papers.

As for me, when some one says "heritage not hate," I don't disparage
them.  I believe, until I'm shown something different. that they mean
what they say.  And if they do, I can live with their "heritage."  After
all, are they not essentially anachronistic, celebrating something that
with time is bound to diminish until it almost entirely resides on the
margins of modern life?


Donald W. Gunter
Assistant Editor, Dictionary of Virginia Biography
Publications and Educational Services
The Library of Virginia
[log in to unmask]
(804) 692-3728
(804) 692-3736 (fax)

-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 1:29 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Debate Topic, Confederate Flag

It seems quite clear that the "Confederate" flag under
discussion originated (or at least saw strong revival and
redefinition) as a political symbol in the 1950s.

That said, political symbols evolve with time, and it seems
unlikely that the flag now conveys or connotes, to those who
display it, quite the same meaning as it did in 1954.  In
1954 there was a vibrant and angry public political movement
to sustain and preserve Jim Crow.  No such movement exists
today--indeed, in our public life today there is pretty much
uniform consensus that Jim Crow was morally wrong.  Even the
most ardent southern "red neck" today, at least in public,
will say that equal rights for all American citizens is a
good thing.  So the Confederate heritage movement today does
not seem to connote, to those who support it, a
straightforward politics of nostalgia for segregation.
Whatever else the flag means to those who display it today,
it does not mean the same thing as it did 50 years ago.

I don't mean to argue here that the popular movement in
support of the Confederate flag (and Confederate heritage
generally) today is not regressive, or contentious, or
reprehensible, or laudable, or desirable, or admirable.  I am
not writing here either to support or to denigrate it.  What
I DO mean to argue is that the "movement" exists in a
different public and political context, and takes its meaning
as much from that as it does from events 50 years ago.  And
of course, that political context has evolved out of the
politics of 50 years ago, and has an interesting and complex
relationship to it that deserves our attention.

It seems to me that a good place to start would be with the
public statements of those various groups organized to
support display of this symbol.  My guess is that the symbol
means rather different things to those who support it than it
does to those who condemn it.  If we are to be fair to those
with whom we disagree, we need to begin with the assumption
that they mean what they say--so we should take a look at
what they say.

Of course, in today's political culture, the assumption is
wide-spread that public statements mask deeper agendas.
Perhaps so--indeed, likely so.  But even so, it is easier to
assert that than to demonstrate it.  This is such a
contentious public issue today, it is far too easy, even for
decent and reflective and thoughtful observers, for the very
best of us in other words, to resort to broader
generalizations.

Do let us know what you find.

Best,
Kevin
Kevin R. Hardwick, Ph.D.
Department of History
James Madison University

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