Ok, Let's get the discussion game rolling a bit by being a little provocative for a change. I never even thought about this until a recent news article about Queen Creek High School (very close to my stomping grounds) celebrating national redneck day. My first thought was "Hey great! Finally a holiday for me!” Then I continued reading and discovered the federal nose-pickers...uh...government...was investigating the school because it determined that could have been a "racist" thing to celebrate. Note that it wasn’t a state decision, but a federal one to investigate.
I never would have though this could be. I head down to the water pipe to fill up my trailer. I talk with a lot of my neighbors. Most of those are Hispanic people, a handful of white people, and a few black people. Notice the group I listed first in this list. Hispanics are BY FAR the most predominant...and yes, I classify them as rednecks as much as any others. Those guys probably redneck better than most just because it is so engrained into their beings!
Even in the picture I saw with that particular news story where a white kid was wearing a confederate flag. The confederate flag is nothing more than a symbol of southern pride. Where do the majority [not all admittedly] of rednecks come from? That's right...the south. Does the south have a history of slavery? Yes, but that has nothing to do with the confederate flag. As a matter of fact, one argument that has been presented is the mere act of associating the confederate flag with slavery is in-and-of itself an act of racism. So congratulations all of you who associate the flag with racism...by that definition you are being racist whereas the white southern kid is simply showing pride from where he came. This show of pride, by the way, is something we all do every time we fly the stars and stripes. I will take it a bit further and point out that to many outside nations our flag brings hatred and ill feelings because of the things we STILL DO. Does that mean we should get rid of this flag as well because it might offend those nations? I highly doubt anyone would agree with that, so why destroy a piece of our past and history by removing the confederate flag? BTW, even black people have been known to sport the confederate flag.
It is worth noting that along with the picture I chose above came the excerpt:
"Confederate Flag defender, political activist, former President of the Asheville chapter of the NAACP and 52-year-old black man, H.K. Edgerton was recently accosted by two black men while standing by his confederate flag in front of Asheville High School. Though he was appalled by the alleged violent actions of 19-year-old high school drop-out Andre Dewayne and 32-year-old Kevin Miller, he concedes, "I know and understand their pain because they've been lied to for so long. A lot of people know nothing about that time in history." Source: http://www.gossiprocks.com/forum/u-s-politics-issues/virginia-governor-declares-confederate-history-month-page2-127054.html
So I ask you fellow redneck followers...Does the term "redneck" imply racist thoughts either directly or indirectly and if so, please back up your responses.
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