I also think we must put an end to all organizations that are based on race. This action would really say a lot towards improving race relations.
Maybe OT, maybe not: I'm just going to put this on the table for your consideration:
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I agree that the flag needs to be removed from state house grounds. No need to go rewriting history, though.
Wouldn't that eliminate the Republican Party? Seems a drastic measure,but maybe worth a try.
That was a nice political pot shot but it seems you have missed the entire point with your immature comment.
Steve Spurrier’s 2007 comments on Confederate flag worth revisiting
Posted by Kevin McGuire on June 20, 2015, 4:10 PM EDT
In 2006, South Carolina hosted Tennessee in a game that was visited by ESPN’s weekly pregame show, College GameDay. As is regularly the case, fans came to hold up posters and wave flags in the background of the GameDay set, but one flag drew the ire of South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier.
The Confederate flag.
“(It) was embarrassing to me and I know embarrassing to our state,” Spurrier would later be on record of saying. Despite being the visionary he can be, surely Spurrier had few expectations his quotes about the Confederate flag would be resurfacing in South Carolina roughly eight years later.
The recent mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina has done just that after a terrorist opened fire and killed nine inside the historic Emmanuel Baptist Church in Charleston. In response to the mass shooting, the Confederate flag on the grounds of the statehouse in Columbia was not lowered to half-staff like other flags. According to NBC News, it can’t be changed in any way without a sign-off from the General Assembly. Considering the history the flag still represents to this day for so many, it has become a symbol of the racial tension that continues to exist in our nation. And with the amount of coverage devoted to racial tension in recent years, not lowering the Confederate flag has become even more of a sticking point in the days after the tragedy in Charleston.
Which brings us back to Spurrier’s 2007 comments. Spurrier knows he is a football coach, and his job is to promote the Gamecocks football program as well as the University of South Carolina. And he does believe there is a political barrier he should probably ignore for the most part, but this is why his comments on the flag should be remembered. Spurrier may not think it is right to get involved in political issues, but this is more about human decency and civil rights than it is strictly politics. Also, when Spurrier speaks, people listen.
“I realize I’m not supposed to get in the political arena as a football coach, but if anybody were ever to ask me about that damn Confederate flag, I would say we need to get rid of it. I’ve been told not to talk about that. But if anyone were ever to ask me about it, I certainly wish we could get rid of it.”
Coaches should never be afraid to get involved in political conversation or real-world topics. Regardless on where they happen to stand on certain issues, college football coaches have a powerful voice in our communities, and the messages they send tend to resonate on a level politicians can not reach. Speaking out for what they believe can be good for open discussion on important issues, and in South Carolina the topic of the Confederate flag is a good one to continue discussing.
“My opinion is we don’t need the Confederate flag at our Capitol,” Spurrier said in 2007. “I don’t really know anybody that wants it there, but I guess there are a lot of South Carolinians that do want it there.”
Spurrier gets it. He knows some people see the flag one way while others see it another way. Ultimately, like a statue, a flag is given meaning by the people. Not everybody will view a flag or a statue in the same regard, and perhaps they never will. But if Spurrier or anyone else wants to share their opinions on such manners, we should be willing to listen.
Helmet sticker to SB Nation for digging up those old Spurrier quotes.
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Spurrier has never been very smart. He also was not here when the Legislature and a Dem governor compromised on this issue and moved the flag.
The flag opponents got the compromise they wanted, but now they want to cash in on a tragedy to get a better deal. They are pathetic.
If we moved the flag to a museum, the flag opponents then would demand closing the "hate" museum.
We have currency, streets, cities, towns, colleges, buildings, and schools bearing the names and likenesses of many slave owners and segregationists. We can't white-wash history.
Graham already commented and does not support removing the flag.
Um, that would be news to the people who formed the confederacy. As each state left the union, they drafted their reasons. Go read them. It should put that argument to rest.
In any event, I find it strange that many of you assume that calls to remove the flag are people cynically cashing in on this tragedy. There's another possibility. They passionately want it down and seeing the symbols of the confederacy used by this murderous, little turd reenergized them. I just don't think some of you understand what that flag, which was reintroduced to the state house during the civil rights movement, means to a lot of your neighbors.
In any event, I find it strange that many of you assume that calls to remove the flag are people cynically cashing in on this tragedy. There's another possibility. They passionately want it down and seeing the symbols of the confederacy used by this murderous, little turd reenergized them. I just don't think some of you understand what that flag, which was reintroduced to the state house during the civil rights movement, means to a lot of your neighbors.
Oh yeah, I'm the one who took the potshot. Give me a dadgum break.
I believe the point is that this flag has become a focal point for some regarding racial relations where many feel the issue is much bigger than this flag.
Many are focused on this flag rather than addressing the real racial issues. The flag seems to be an easy out.
Oh, SOS is not very smart, wow that is a new to me! I mean my gosh, he only makes 2-3 million dollars a year and is a Hall of Fame coach.
Perhaps. But contrary to popular opinion, I do see value in symbolic gestures. In any event, it's not coming down. The state legislature can't even fix our roads.
I heard his comments on CNN this am about the flag. How exactly did it begin flying on top of the Capitol? Was that in the 1860s or 1960s?
I wondered about that too... But then I've never seen that poster before and won't again. Love "ignore."
I wasn`t happy with the "compromise" when it happened, but that was preferable to flying it on top of the State House itself. SOS was likely told he would lose a lot of friends if he kept saying the flag needed to go. His opinion should be valued - maybe supporters need to listen more to non-native South Carolinians and realize how bad this makes our state look to most of the country. With all of the healing going on in Charleston, if Nikki Haley and the others want to be true leaders, they will take it down and put it in a museum where it belongs. At least a couple of Republicans have had the guts to speak out to take it down. Didn`t take Jeb Bush long to take it down in Florida, apparently. Some people just know what the right thing to do is and get it done. I realize that Florida isn`t S.C. but why are we the only state flying it like this? More than anything, what greater way to honor the 9 killed, and their families, by their deaths being the impetus that finally brought the flag down off of the State House grounds.
Do you also believe USC should honor the wishes of PETA and those offended by Gamecocks and change our mascot? Just curious how far your compassion goes.
More will follow. This tragedy will open up many eyes (outside of SC) that the flag must be removed from its current location. Surely there is a more appropriate spot where the people of SC can pay tribute to the lives lost and recall a very important part of AMERICAN history.
I personally believe the poster is a tater and started to say so but declined in light of a better answer. LOL
I am a South Carolinian and a southerner from head to toe. However IMO Only one flag should matter. This opinion is not to soothe racial tensions or heal wounds rather it is from the pride I get at seeing the US flag fly.
I am an American and IMO the battle flag has no place flying in any political or official capacity. Yes it was the battle flag... The actual confederate flag looked a lot like the US flag at the beginning but was hard to distinguish from the US flag on the battlefield so they adopted the flag that flys on the grounds as the battle flag..... They later adopted the stars and bars on a white background and then later a white background with a vertical red bar on the end.
Needless to say I am a US citizen and an American... the only flag that has my allegiance, respect and devotion is the US flag. Anything else belongs in a museum because it holds no ties to the country we live in or serve.
I could care less about appeasing people but come on people it's history... The flag that matters is the one we should be concerned with because it's survival is being tested every day.
I am an American and IMO the battle flag has no place flying in any political or official capacity. Yes it was the battle flag... The actual confederate flag looked a lot like the US flag at the beginning but was hard to distinguish from the US flag on the battlefield so they adopted the flag that flys on the grounds as the battle flag..... They later adopted the stars and bars on a white background and then later a white background with a vertical red bar on the end.
Needless to say I am a US citizen and an American... the only flag that has my allegiance, respect and devotion is the US flag. Anything else belongs in a museum because it holds no ties to the country we live in or serve.
I could care less about appeasing people but come on people it's history... The flag that matters is the one we should be concerned with because it's survival is being tested every day.
pepsicock
Well-Known Member
We should be worried about what the confederate flag stands for. The neo-confederates of 2015 refuse to admit it, but the ancestors they worship were very clear about their intentions. The confederate leaders of 1861 publicly stated that the rebellion they caused, and the society they hoped to preserve, was based on owning other human beings and exploiting their labor for profit. The confederates gambled on rebellion and treason, and LOST decisively. Their selfishness and stupidity at challenging the industrial and manpower superiority of the United States cost the entire South dearly for almost a century. At the end of the war, the confederates were lucky not to have been hung as traitors (every confederate from president to private certainly committed treason as defined by the US Constitution).
The only confederate flag that mattered was the white flag of surrender. It is high time we Americans stop venerating a bunch of traitors who did far worse to this country than anything Benedict Arnold or Timothy McVeigh ever did.
It's not just offensive to a large group of South Carolina residents, it's deeply, deeply painful to them.
It's just a matter of time now u til it's put in it's rightful place in a museum.
As a South Carolina born and bred citizen , and someone who had family that fought for the confederacy, I would flush the confederate flag down a large toilet, but that is just me.
No flag should fly on statehouse grounds unless it represents everyone in South Carolina.
Thankfully, the flag's days are numbered and are coming to a close outside of museums and private property.
It's just a matter of time now u til it's put in it's rightful place in a museum.
As a South Carolina born and bred citizen , and someone who had family that fought for the confederacy, I would flush the confederate flag down a large toilet, but that is just me.
No flag should fly on statehouse grounds unless it represents everyone in South Carolina.
Thankfully, the flag's days are numbered and are coming to a close outside of museums and private property.
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That is not a historic rewrite. It is a historic fact. The fact that most people have a dramatic different view now doesn't mean that there weren't many that had that view then. There were millions that fought against it. It wasn't a new radical "Let's rethink this slavery issue" for most.
The flag was not flown over the statehouse for almost a full century after the Civil War.
The flag was not flown over the statehouse until 1961 - when it was supposed to have been a temporary thing. In 62, politicoes decided to fly it continuously . Many of them did it to signal that South Carolina wasn't going to fold to national pressure to desegregate. Opponents of desegregation adopted the flag as their symbol in the turbulent 60s and fought for it to remain there, not as a symbol of pride in their ancestors, but as a symbol of resistance to desegregation.
Flags are symbols. To some, the confederate battle flag represents the lives sacrificed by our ancestors. To the scum, it represents the "right" to "put inferior people in their place." To those who marched for their rights to be treated as human beings, it represents water hoses, police dogs and burned churches. To most people in this nation, the flag represents the political oppression.
Fly it if you want, and let it symbolize whatever you want. However, the state should not fly a symbol of that is perceived by the majority in this country to symbolize oppression.
BTW, THIS was our STATE battle flag! Use this
Look at Ole Miss recruiting after they ditched Colonel Reb. Yes, yes, yes . . . I know . . . the University doesn't fly the flag. However, I wonder how many recruits see the flag when they visit? It can't help.
The flag was not flown over the statehouse until 1961 - when it was supposed to have been a temporary thing. In 62, politicoes decided to fly it continuously . Many of them did it to signal that South Carolina wasn't going to fold to national pressure to desegregate. Opponents of desegregation adopted the flag as their symbol in the turbulent 60s and fought for it to remain there, not as a symbol of pride in their ancestors, but as a symbol of resistance to desegregation.
Flags are symbols. To some, the confederate battle flag represents the lives sacrificed by our ancestors. To the scum, it represents the "right" to "put inferior people in their place." To those who marched for their rights to be treated as human beings, it represents water hoses, police dogs and burned churches. To most people in this nation, the flag represents the political oppression.
Fly it if you want, and let it symbolize whatever you want. However, the state should not fly a symbol of that is perceived by the majority in this country to symbolize oppression.
BTW, THIS was our STATE battle flag! Use this
Look at Ole Miss recruiting after they ditched Colonel Reb. Yes, yes, yes . . . I know . . . the University doesn't fly the flag. However, I wonder how many recruits see the flag when they visit? It can't help.
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Correct. That flag was the battle flag for the Army of Northern Virginia. It never was a flag of the Confederate States of America. Our secession flag was our current state flag. I always wondered why so many South Carolinians care so much about a flag that has little historical significance with respect to our state. If you want to fly a flag that is truly significant to our history as well as to the nation's, fly the "Moultrie flag."
So does that mean it would be ok to fly it if only a minority perceived it as a symbol of oppression?
I have been telling my friends who spout the heritage argument to me for a long time that the flag wasn't even the flag of the Confederacy. The fact that it wasn't put at the State House until the 1960s is evidence of what was really intended. My great great grandfather was a POW during the Civil War having fought for a NC regiment. He was allowed to enlist in the Army again after the war ended. When he was buried, he asked before he died that his coffin be draped in the US flag. He got it. So should we.
Tim Scott and Nikki Haley both say hello. Shall we list all the members that are not of European decent and make your ridiculous post look, well, more ridiculous?
No, he has never said anything about the flag. Radacovich is the first CU athletic official to voice any opinion in public and he did it today. Spurrier, Tanner, Staley and Martin all made their views known early in their career, in part because they were asked, in part being in Columbia not Clemson they could not hide from it.
Thank you. I accept your congratulations seriously because I know what is right and what is wrong, though I'm sure you are being a jerk. Have a good evening.
Yep, True dat. And if we lived in a perfect world, why there'd never be such issues of discussion amid forums within which they simply didn't fit. But alas, such is life in this imperfect world. That being the case, I sure hope that you can have a little fun while participating. Afterall, I don't think anyone forced you (nor I) to reply.
Peace be unto you,
Anonymous
