This story caught my eye this morning. Three seniors in the Twin Cities suburb of Bloomington were suspended from their graduation for displaying Confederate flags on campus. They said the flags did not signify any sort of racism, rather a fondness for "Southern lifestyle." Do click the link, at least to see the picture. I have mixed feelings about whether it was right for the newspaper to print that photo. Did the photographer encourage them to pose like that?
I think this Northern adolescent fixation with Ol' Dixie is not unique. When I was a sophomore in high school in Michigan at a overwhelmingly white high school, the Confederate flag enjoyed a period of popularity with a certain population, particularly football players, who wore it as a bandanna under their helmets as well as in school. There was no policy--at least not that was enforced--against this, but I do remember an English teacher telling my mother that she was very worried about teaching Huck Finn (in practice, I don't remember there being any problem).
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4 comments:
Having just spent two months researching skinheads and other racists, I share your mixed feelings about the paper's decision to use that picture.
As a ex portrait photographer, I can say the angle chosen for the picture is very telling, or maybe in this case, misleading.
I have no doubt it was posed.
Those three boys look related...
I don’t find any controversy over banning the flag that symbolizes slavery and racial segregation.
Flying the confederate flag to express a love of the southern lifestyle is a like wearing a swastika to express the love of shaved heads. The symbol means something.
Honestly, I wonder where the controversy is. Can anyone effectively argue the other side?
Anne Spollen said:
Those three boys look related...
I say their parents probably were!
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