Our June 12 poster is truly ignorant if they don\\\'t know that a \\\'person of color\\\' can be a racist. Just look at the NAACP. geez. I see colored folk giving white people h*ll everyday, just because the person is white. And the Supreme Court ruled against reverse racism this week. Take off the blinders already. As for the flags, fly them proudly! the only flag I fly on the Fourth, and year round, is the First National Flag, aka the Stars and Bars. deo vindice! illegitimi non carborundum Man please! I get so SICK of hearing how bad Blacks treat White people. I get so SICK of hearing how \"racist\" the NAACP is. BET (the majority of it is not even OWNED by Blacks anymore)Miss Black America. The United Negro College Fund,etc. I wish that some of you would do your homework and find out why those things were (are)needed. See it was okay when Blacks were trying to fit into White \"society\" back in the day. Your grandparents and great-grandparents could say \"Hell no\"! You\'re NOT going to our colleges. You\'re NOT going to be in our pageants. We MIGHT let you be on TV as a maid or butler. But Blacks woke up and got their own. So now it\'s racist. Lol! Google \"hate groups\" see what you get. Yes Blacks can and some are REALLY racist. No excuse for that. But you gotta be smoking the best dope in the world to think you can compare Black racism to White racism. Some Black guy may call you a name or may even (God forbid) get physical with you. But if you think you can compare CENTURIES of government sanctions LEGAL racism of a country against its own citizens, you gotta be stone cold nuts! And I\'m not even speaking as far back as slavery. Let\'s go to the RECENT past. What the hell do you think would have happend if a gang of Black guys pulled a White man out of his house and hung him from a tree in 1965? Yeah. Look, your ancestors (not all)made this bed for you. There is a such thing as White Privilige. Who doesn\'t know that? Now you have to live with a world where things are changing and YOU\'RE the MINORITY.

Our June 12 poster is truly ignorant if they don\'t know that a \'person of color\' can be a racist. Just look at the NAACP. geez. I see colored folk giving white people h*ll everyday, just because the person is white. And the Supreme Court ruled against reverse racism this week. Take off the blinders already. As for the flags, fly them proudly! the only flag I fly on the Fourth, and year round, is the First National Flag, aka the Stars and Bars. deo vindice! illegitimi non carborundum

@posted on: May 20, 2009, 11:36:37 am- I agree. I t is a shame we have so many ignorant blacks in our society that excuse racism/white supremacy. Racism, white supremacy, and white denial are real. As to the soldier who claimed they are fighting for our freedom in Iraq needs to stop drinking the koolaid, Fox News is not a real news organization. They are the propaganda arm of the righting conservative wingnuts in American. Wake up America stop buying into the garbage spewed from the mouths of right wing asshats. And to anyone who thinks a person of color can be racist in uneducated/unintelligent. Do some research and figure out why people of color can\'t be racist. Prejudiced yes, biased yes, bigoted yes, racist no.

I am an American Soldier. I am an African American. I am a decorated combat Veteran of Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield as well as Operation Iraqi Freedom. I am soon to deploy into combat AGAIN in Operation Enduring Freedom. I think at least one of these facts qualifies me to speak on the matter of an American displaying a flag. He and his family have the right to display WHATEVER gives them pride. Weather I agree with it or not is irrelevant. If we aren\'t fighting that war, the war for our freedoms, then what war indeed? You are entitled to your opinion. Thousands of American fighting men have died, including the one you belitle with your comments, giving you that right. You do not have the right to call into question his loyalty, dedication, patriotism, or acts of service because you see a flag and make blanket assumptions. \"I may not agree with what you have to say. But I will fight to the death for your right to say it\"

Blacks better start worrying about single parent families, refusing to be educated, speaking in a language that people can understand, wearing their pants in the right place and acting correctly. The flag is your least important problem.

It is not the bars and stars. It is the Battle Flag (actually the Naval Jack). He was a Southerner and that is the flag of the South. We despise the KKK using it and the Sons of Confederate Veterans have said so. The problem is most people don\'t know their history. Google H.K. Edgerton and Nelson Winbush. Read what they have to say. And they are African-American!

You sir should never come south of the Mason Dixon line if you ever do I for one hope there is a lynching party waiting on you.

The author of this anti-Southern diatribe is plainly an intolerant bigot. To disparage a family mourning their son because a chosen symbol of their cultural heritage offends and/or elicits his own personal/racial hatred is plain bigotry. There\'s nothing more American than expressing oneself as one sees fit, freedom of speech, expression. The Yates family has those rights, this author has that right as do I to condemn his expressions of bigotry. The flags of the Confederacy represent the principles that republic was founded upon: state sovereignty, constitutional liberty and republican government. Over a dozen of my relatives fought for the CSA, of which I\'m quite proud. They were in no sense \"traitors\", fighting for their States and above principles. That\'s my proud heritage for which I make no apologies. To bigots like the author that spout these irrational and ahistorical hatreds of anything Confederate and traditionally Southern: \"Don\'t Tread on Me\". May \"Dixie\'s\" strains ring loud and clear!

its funny how people on this subject are saying to black people \"get over it!! it\'s just a flag, we have bigger worries\" if its just a flag then why are they still waving it?? i agree with the writer.. what if the flag was a german swastika?? would you people say the same thing?? NO beacuse then it would be offensive to some of you whites!! and you would hate it if we told you to get over it.. \"oh, they only killed a few jews.. get over it!!\" my point exactly!!

I\'m sorry but this story is really lame. A soldier was killed and for the \"Journalist,\" to focus on the confederate flag being flown by the dead soldiers relatives is pointless. To continue with a lame hypothetical supposition of the swastika. I found that to be just as bad. Look there\'s a lot of crazy stuff that our soldiers fight for America to have the freedom of doing/expressing. If the dead soldiers family wants to express themselves in the background as gay that\'s their choice. If they want to burn their flags that\'s their choice. So why try to stir up something that\'s really not an issue at hand. Come to the South and you\'ll see a lot of people have Confederate flags...So flippin\' what!!! Try writing a real story! Get the scoop on what the dead soldier did as a soldier to contribute to the overall security of our nation. Write a story that tells us even though he may have come from a family that may have some old beliefs that he still swore to serve his country in an honorable way to help his family back home attain and maintain a healthy lifestyle. I\'m just tired of these lame \"Journalist\" who seem to think that we\'re not intelligent out here. We don\'t have time for your ignorant, nonsensical, lackluster style of writing. The story was simply boring. Someone please write a story that\'s worth reading.

I\'M A BLACK AMERICAN; IF ANYONE WANTS TO FLY A CONFEDERATE FLAG OR WHATEVER; I DO NOT CARE THIS IS AMERICA; WE HAVE THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH; ONCE WE START COMPLAINING ABOUT A PERSON WAIVING AN OFFENSIVE FLAG WE\'LL OPEN UP A CAN OF BEANS WE WISH WE HADNT. DONT YOU GET IT!!!!DONT WANT U TO COMPLAIN SO THEY CAN TAKE AWAY OUR RIGHTS ONE BY ONE. WAKE UP BLACK AMERICA; ALL THE CRAP THAT IS GOING ON IS MUCH BIGGER THAN THE BLACK/WHITE ISSUE.

you are an idiot!!!

You sir are the one that is racially offensive. You have proven yourself to be both ignorant and a racist. I am proud of all of my ancestors that have served in every major war ever waged by or against this country. All of these men and woman have made America what it is today and now people like you and all your left wing extremists buddies in DC are doing all you can to destroy thier work. There is one thing you can not destroy and you can not vote to change and that sir is the TRUTH. The truth will always win and the truth sir is that you are a racist pig.

There are only two really important events in American history. One is the American Rev­olution, and the other is the War Between the States and Reconstruction. The latter has been called America\'s second revolution and, by some, America\'s French Revolution. Sad to say, the America we live in today comes from that second revolution, not the first. Contrary to the politically correct version of history, Confederates saw themselves as defenders of the first revolution, not as defenders of slavery. It was not a civil war because the South never aspired to overthrow the government of the United States. The Southern states simply withdrew peacefully from what they believed, and in earlier years all Americans believed, was a voluntary union. The U.S. remained and the government in Washington remained. No Confederate official or military officer was ever tried for treason because no treason had been committed. The war was a conflict between nationalism and fed­eralism. Regardless of which side you agree with, the events are so important to understanding America today you owe it to yourself to get up to speed on what really happened, as opposed to the Hollywood version. I\'ve chosen four short books that will help. The best short overall history of the politics and the war is \"North Against South,\" by Ludwell H. Johnson, published by the Foundation for American Education. A more recent book, \"The Real Lincoln,\" by Thomas DiLorenzo, published by Prima Publishing, is a devastating critique of the man who literally destroyed constitutional government in America and foreshadowed the modem Machiavellian politicians. \"When in the Course of Human Events,\" by Charles Adams, a Northern historian, will disavow you of the notion the war was about freeing slaves and preserving the union. It was about money and control of territory and resources. The publisher is Rowman and Littlefield. Finally, Eric Foner\'s \"A Short History of Recon­struction\" will show you how the modern world and many of its problems were created. The publisher is Harper Perennial, and the author is no friend of the South, but he is honest and keeps to the facts, no matter how unflattering to any side of the issue.

Secession was NOT \"treason! \"If you bring these leaders to trial, it will condemn the North, for by the Constitution, secession is not a rebellion. His [Jefferson Davis] capture was a mistake. His trial will be a greater one. We cannot convict him of treason.\" -- Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, 1867

traitors, terorrist, this southern confederate turncoats comitted treason against the u.s.a., today that would be domestic terorrism acorrding to the patriot act.

This family has the right to freedom of speech and I believe that displaying that flag falls within that amendment. I do not agree with the principles that many \"white\" Southerners based their respect for the Confederate flag on. To simply state that it\'s a representation of \"pride\" is a bit simple to me. To simply excuse the continued DOCUMENTED negative racist associations to the flag by simply stating the \"official historical\" reason of opposition to taxation is too simplistic as well. To the reader that stated that the flag was officially flown for 4 years as if to dismiss the physicality of it is ignorant and simplistic as well. While it was \"officially\" flown for 4 years one cannot dispute that undying loyalty and sometimes distasteful respect \"white\" Southerners continue to give towards that flag which obviously has lasted well beyond 4 years. On the other hand, the America his son was fighting for is no different than the America anyone else defends - his or her own piece of America. That\'s the reality of our culture. To the reader that stated that \"blacks\" are members of confederate sponsored/based groups, thanks for stating that. It shows that America is indeed a place of freedom of expresssion and for whatever reason those \"blacks\", one must assume, are comfortable being associated with the confederacy - southern weather, more \"relaxed\" way of life, cheaper real estate, ????. Live and let live - don\'t bother me and I won\'t bother you. That\'s my stance. While some may think I am defending that flag\'s existence, or better yet, the Yates\' exhibition of it, I AM CERTAINLY NOT simply because I obviously do not know what it symbolizes for them. I do say this though as a former military member: To the Yates\' family (and those that have commented here that seemingly are just smart enough to fact-find for defense of the confederate cloth) don\'t disrespect the American flag at the same time that you are verbalizing respect for it and the country it represents. While in this country ALL OTHER FLAGS foreign and domestic are to be flown SUBSERVIENT or in laymen\'s terms UNDER, the American flag including your confederate cloth. Not above or equal but under. To display the confederate cloth in the manner of which was shown is disrespectful to all regardless of where you live or \"shade\" of American you are.

Please take the time to check the history of the south. You will find out a lot if you do.The civil war was not about slavery it never was. It was over taxiation that Lincoln imposed upon the south.Lincoln group are responsible for this lie that still is heard today.To many Americans are feed lies over and over about this issue.Take the time to find out for youreself.i would suggest you contact one of the confederate groups about this. You will find that there are black members also.They are not afraid of the truth. The real issue is if you can keep a lie going to promote your own adjenda do it. With that promotion see what you can get out of it.You know blame this one so that one gets special treatmenet and the perks that go with it. People like Jessie jackson Al Sharpton do not speak for me. All they do is promote there own twisted adjenda.I would like to see the truth in history taught in the schools. Not only about the civil war but Lincoln the Kennedys Martin Luther king.That is the truth not the storys like now.if you aretruly involved in the media check the facts and stop buying into the lies

4 years.1861-65.That is how long that flag was officially used.4 years.Yet many,like this writer,go on and on about all the horrible things that has happened to Blacks for the past 200 years and blame the Confederacy!Slavery was here 1619.The US flag flew over slavery for 89 years.Jim Crow and all that BS had nothing to do with the Confederacy.The writer speaks of \'remnant of Southern justice\'.How ignorant.He should get a history book.Read about the treatment of Blacks by Northerners.Northern states with laws that said NO BLACKS allowed.Period.They had too many coming from the South that they said no more.One of them was Abe\'s own Illinois.Oregon had it written in their state\'s Constitution.Blaiming all the ills on the South and the Confederacy just shows how simple minded he is.

wow. after reading all these remarks, I realize the importance of Fields article (it exposed real ignorance). But, then again, the South wrote history books too. To rationalize the confederate flag (one...person..called it honorable) is to miss the point...of the flag.

Fact is no one knows what thoughts lye behind the Confederate flag this man display. He could be racist, on the other hand, he may believe in equality. No one can read minds. The truth is that it\'s a new day and when your in the mist of the deserts, black, white, mexican, indian, asian, latino, ect... bottom line is YOUR AMERICAN. If people keep bringing it up, then it can\'t be forgotten. LIVE LAUGH LOVE

HOW DARE YOU COMPARE THAT BRAVE BOY TO SCUM LIKE TIM MCVEIGH! You presume quite a bit when you say that because someone flies a Confederate flag that it makes them racist. Your attitude and your hatred of Southerners with your little \"let their southern slip show\" comment. Not only that your reference to the \"Stars and Bars\" was also a mistake. The Confederate flag is called The Southern Cross. The \"Stars and Bars\" refers to the Confederate First National flag, which looks more like the flag of the USA. That fact alone is more than enough proof of your misinformed viewpoint. Further, to compare the Southern Cross to the Nazi Swastika flag is an insult of the worst kind...as well as further proof of your ignorance and prejudiced views.

Mr. Fields is the real bigot. My ancestors fought to defend their state and ownes no slaves. To make an issue of the fact that the family had a Confederate flag is ridiculous.You are the insesitive one who needs to write about real issues.

Fields - your comments are bigoted and repugnant. The Battle Flag was the ensign under which a quarter million men (white and black, free and slave) died defending their homeland from a brutal, despotic govt. It is not there to be used a blotter to soak up 400 years of perceived racial injustices in America, both real and imaginary, and most of the ones you cite are imaginary. I don\'t know where you get this crap about the flag symbolizing rape, but it is a despicable charge, similar to the \"Blood Guilt\" charge sometimes used in anti-semitic propaganda. This nonsense about it being illegal to educate slaves is just that; the education of slaves was entrusted to their masters and not to the govt. Stonewall Jackson ran a school for black children to learn to read the bible. In some states, after abolitionist propaganda campaigns began urging slaves to revolt and murder their masters, laws were passed against making slaves literate. The stability of marriage and family life was widely encouraged by slave owners as mutually beneficial for both slave and master. Divorce was strongly discouraged and adultery was usually severely punished. Master/slave sexual relations were unnatural and rare (estimated at maybe 1 - 2% occurence by genetic studies) The average slave in the 1850\'s was better housed, better fed, better clothed and had better medical care than a typical industrial worker in the north at the time. You obviously haven\'t bothered to educate yourself beyond the lunatic ramblings of some Marxist history professor you once heard in college. Your vile insults against this honorable flag only betray your toxic, deep seated anti-Southern prejudices and hatred. You wonder when Southerners will \"get over it\" and stop displaying this flag? Maybe when neo-Marxist radicals like you stop worshipping the false idol of the all powerful federal govt. The various Confederate Flags were Christian based symbols of a nation fighting to uphold a limited, constitutional republic form of govt. in America as established by the founding fathers, nothing more and nothing less. The Cause of the South is the cause of all Americans. \"Truth crushed to the ground is still truth, and like a seed, will rise again\" Jefferson Davis

I\'m American Indian, and the descendent of Confederate veterans. They weren\'t fighting for slavery...they were fighting a federal govt that had lied and cheated their people, and sent my grandmother to her death on the Trail of Tears. by the way...that flag is NOT the Stars and Bars. It\'s the CSA battle flag (they were two very different flags). And less than ten percent of southern soldiers ever owned a slave. Do some research before you accuse everyone of racism, because you are overlooking your own.

I feel sorry for the misguided parents of this victim of war. Somehow southern whites believe the South will rise again. I do not believe this will be the case. Feel empathy for this family. And yes, the confederate flag represents a great deal of pain for blacks in the past. However, black people have successfully trampled over the rebel flag. We will always have some people who find security and comfort in this flag which also caused a lot of pain and suffering for whites doing the civil war.Most of the southern men were almost wiped out. So how can the confederate flag be a symbol of anything?

I\'m an African American man and completely find this article unnecessary. Just because one sees this flag...it doesn\'t mean that there is racism involved. Me personally, I have quite a few Caucasian friends and a few them actually have this flag in their homes, on their vehicles and in other places...I don\'t consider it racist. They consider it their heritage. When and at what point are we going to stop posting the blame and pointing the finger. Yes, generally when this flag is publicized, the news media and others tend to find the negative in it. We need to grow up and move on past this issue. How are we to move forward with nonsense like this? If you don\'t like the flag...don\'t look at it. Just because the KKK displayed the flag while they tortured individuals, that doesn\'t mean the flag stands for that. Actually, I’m glad the media did not address this issue. It would have been very inconsiderate and inappropriate!

Get over yourself Fields. You may not understand his or his family and it is not your place to judge him or question why the family has a Confederate Flag in the background. They may very well appreciate their Southern Heritage and also had an ancestor who dies defending that flag. You sir, have no right not to be offended and certainly no right to scorn.

wow you are totally wrong that flag was flown proudly by KKK members as they hung, raped, bashed, battered, tarred n feather, dehumanized and killed thousands of black men, women and children. People of any color race or creed should have a problem with that. Im sure there are allot of people will spill that same crap you just did about the swastikas and other symbols of hate and oppression. Regardless of how/what that symbol was intended to represent for hundreds and hundreds of years it was used to strike fear and horror in the hearts of millions and still is to this day.. You have never been spat on and totally disrespected with name calling and violence while this flag flies over your head so I wouldnt expect that you would understand that. The confederate south had no intension on educating and freeing anyone. One of the biggest and most punishable crimes was for a slave/black person to be caught trying to educate them selves. Even whites were punished for allowing or helping educate slaves/blacks.. You may do research but you will never know the feeling that flag brings to someone whos ancestors have been tortured and killed under it and till this day are still being hated, disrespected and attacked by people waving this flag.. Imagine your daughter being snatched from you in the middle of the night raped and killed with that flag waving and by law you arent able to do anything.. I bet your tone and your view of that flag would change... It is so sad that you can actually say that flag and the confederate nation stood for \"freedom\" The confederate way of life revolved around slavery. The entire economy was fueld by slavery. CBF to millions of people was and is a sign of hatred, fear and evil. Not because people are paranoid or looking for excuses. Its because for thousands of years thats what it was used for. We arent talking about the Scottish flag and its saints. Thats how it may have started but in this country that flag is a symbol of hate and evil....

sir, there is nothing wrong with displaying the Confederate Battle Flag alongside the American Flag. The American flag flew over slavery for nearly a century, the CBF for only four. The South had plans to educate and free all the slaves, while Lincoln had plans to deport all blacks to Haiti and Africa. The Confederate Battle Flag is based on the Scottish flag, of which many Southerners were former citizens, and that flag is based on the religious Saint Andrew\'s Cross. The Episcopal church has that cross as part of its symbol. Please do some research on the origins and meaning of the Confederate battle Flag. Your article is sadly the \'same old same old\' Northern lies. Today, the CBF stands for the original Constitutionl standing up for freedom and against governmnet tyranny. It has absolutely nothing to do with \'slavery\' or any of the other negative subjects you falsely claimed in your article. Have you heard of or talked with H.K. Edgerton of Asheville, NC? He will help you to see how you have been misled. http://www.southernheritage411.com/index.shtml Have a Dixie day!