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BuggyWhips
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See, this flag isnt a white against black issue, its an issue over freedom of expression...
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a38a8154c5eca.htm
Black man supports rebel flag
Miscellaneous News Keywords: FLAG, CONFEDERACY, HERITAGE
Source: AP via The Sun News
Published: February 13, 2000 Author: Randall Chase
Posted on 02/14/2000 06:46:36 PST by AlligatorEyes
Branded as a traitor by fellow blacks and viewed as an oddity by some whites, H.K. Edgerton proudly defends the Confederate flag, to his mind a symbol of the love that bound blacks and whites during the Civil War.
"I'm a free man, " said the former head of the Asheville, N.C. chapter of the NAACP. "I'm an equal opportunity fighter for the people."
Edgerton has protested in defense of the flag in several Southern cities, including Atlanta and Columbia, where the flag atop the Statehouse led to a tourism boycott by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and became a debate issue for Republican presidential candidates.(SNIP)
"It represents my heritage, my culture, my people's participation in this thing," he said of the flag. "That doesn't make me an Uncle Tom or lackey, because I stand behind my heritage, because I understand the Confederate flag.
"If it hadn't been for the sweat of the black man, the Confederate army would have quickly come to a halt."
He denounces slavery but said blacks played an unmistakable role in the Confederacy.
"They were the folks who picked the cotton. They were the ones who prepared the foodstuffs. It was black hands working with white hands to till the soil," he said. "It was trusted black hands left on the plantation to guard the mistress and her children. It was skilled black labor who worked in the factories, making the implements of war, and kept the Southern army in the field. Who else did it?"
"It wasn't the lash that forced them to do this...it was love."
Edgerton has been bitterly criticized by some black leaders for defending the flag, which they view as a divisive and racist symbol.
"I don't know how he has made this great transition from a civil rights branch president to that level," said N.C. NAACP Executive Director George Allison. "I have to laugh to keep from frowning, "Allison said. "We basically see him as a person who has a problem of some type. We don't know what it is, but he obviously has a problem."
Monroe Gilmour, a member of the Asheville branch of the NAACP, said Edgerton is driven by "pathetic desperation" to do something he believes is meaningful.
"I think some of us would like to see the organization renounce him at the local, state and national level," said Gilmour, who is white. "But you don't want to martyr the guy."
Edgerton, suspended from his NAACP post in 1998 for noncompliance with state and national mandates, said black leaders are ignoring more important problems confronting their community.
"My babies are on the street corner with their pants hanging down, dealing drugs. ...Black folks would have got a better deal had the South won the Civil War," he said.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a38a8154c5eca.htm
Black man supports rebel flag
Miscellaneous News Keywords: FLAG, CONFEDERACY, HERITAGE
Source: AP via The Sun News
Published: February 13, 2000 Author: Randall Chase
Posted on 02/14/2000 06:46:36 PST by AlligatorEyes
Branded as a traitor by fellow blacks and viewed as an oddity by some whites, H.K. Edgerton proudly defends the Confederate flag, to his mind a symbol of the love that bound blacks and whites during the Civil War.
"I'm a free man, " said the former head of the Asheville, N.C. chapter of the NAACP. "I'm an equal opportunity fighter for the people."
Edgerton has protested in defense of the flag in several Southern cities, including Atlanta and Columbia, where the flag atop the Statehouse led to a tourism boycott by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and became a debate issue for Republican presidential candidates.(SNIP)
"It represents my heritage, my culture, my people's participation in this thing," he said of the flag. "That doesn't make me an Uncle Tom or lackey, because I stand behind my heritage, because I understand the Confederate flag.
"If it hadn't been for the sweat of the black man, the Confederate army would have quickly come to a halt."
He denounces slavery but said blacks played an unmistakable role in the Confederacy.
"They were the folks who picked the cotton. They were the ones who prepared the foodstuffs. It was black hands working with white hands to till the soil," he said. "It was trusted black hands left on the plantation to guard the mistress and her children. It was skilled black labor who worked in the factories, making the implements of war, and kept the Southern army in the field. Who else did it?"
"It wasn't the lash that forced them to do this...it was love."
Edgerton has been bitterly criticized by some black leaders for defending the flag, which they view as a divisive and racist symbol.
"I don't know how he has made this great transition from a civil rights branch president to that level," said N.C. NAACP Executive Director George Allison. "I have to laugh to keep from frowning, "Allison said. "We basically see him as a person who has a problem of some type. We don't know what it is, but he obviously has a problem."
Monroe Gilmour, a member of the Asheville branch of the NAACP, said Edgerton is driven by "pathetic desperation" to do something he believes is meaningful.
"I think some of us would like to see the organization renounce him at the local, state and national level," said Gilmour, who is white. "But you don't want to martyr the guy."
Edgerton, suspended from his NAACP post in 1998 for noncompliance with state and national mandates, said black leaders are ignoring more important problems confronting their community.
"My babies are on the street corner with their pants hanging down, dealing drugs. ...Black folks would have got a better deal had the South won the Civil War," he said.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
