The Black Confederate Down the Street

It's a strange feeling when I'm just heading out for the morning and that dude's out there mowing his lawn with his rebel flag bandanna around his mouth.  And he always turns around to watch me come down the street, too.  He never really waved and he doesn't at all now; that might be because I used to  wave but he rarely waved back...so I stopped.   I don't know if he's of Confederate soldiers' ancestry, but it's quite possible he is.  The area in and around our neighborhood was once a very large plantation.  Some slaves in the area took up their arms with their masters during the Civil War, and when it was over they built communities on the abandoned farms.  But who knows.  I just know he reps....hard.  I've never talked to him and don't plan to...well, maybe.  No beef...it's  just strange.

I used to wonder what made him stop waving, though...what was the look on my face?  I know I wasn't that loose with my thoughts, but he could've assumed what I was feeling and maybe he'd be right concerning some parts.  I actually think it's interesting to have that type of history around me to a degree.  I mean, he doesn't appear to be a bad guy, looks like he takes good care of his family.  But he still apparently warmly embraces a symbol of African slavery in Virginia as an African-American Virginian.  It's difficult for me to understand that type of passion.

Meanwhile, I'm in remission of the disdain I have for Confederate culture...just trying not to hate.  I do believe a government that legally creates a system of slavery for any racial, ethnic, or otherwise group of people is innately and deliberately evil.  However, I do recognize that the associating future culture of that government may not always share in all of its governments' values.  The same argument against the Confederate flag can be made against the Cross of Jesus; as Roman Catholics conducted similar atrocities for nearly 200 years under that symbol they created.  Today virtually no Catholic, or other Christian for that matter, would [overtly] align themselves with those actions that happened centuries ago.  But we all got Cross images somewhere. So it's more likely the offense I feel is rooted in the proximity of the Civil War and Jim Crow that bothers me so much.  Lee-Davis High School (dedicated to Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Confederate President Jefferson Davis) would come out at the start of a football game with the rebel flag; and additionally, many of those kids were taught white supremacy.  Desegregation is only 47 years old in Virginia.  I wonder did the guy down the street rock his rebel flag so tough during that process?  

I'll try to get with him Friday, he's usually out during the early evenings.  When you mix it all in it must be something incredibly serious to make a black man endorse  a Confederate flag....then and now.  And I need to know what it is....even if it's pure blindness, it is also sheer dedication.  Truthfully, this guy is helping me consider why I hate what I hate, what does what I hate mean to a person, and what does what I hate....and love, means to God.  But if a person can knowledgeably embrace a widely accepted symbol of oppression; or went as far as to defend the oppressive government that stood by that symbol...then this notion has been confirmed; that imagery associated with evil is indeed powerful.  And to that, then the next question is...why...

Peace