Black woman defends Confederate flag, says ‘slavery was a choice’
BY MEG WAGNER
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, July 2, 2015, 8:31 AM
 |
| a black woman, Karen Cooper, who lives in Virginia, said she supports the Confederate flag because it 'represents freedom.' |
HER STORY
my song is a story
Confederate flag & this Colored woman
A black woman, Karen Cooper, who proudly waves the Confederate battle flag because it “represents freedom” also believes that “slavery was a choice” — because slaves had the choice to die. People like her are a part of history and in the perils of human history the oppressed found ways to live. Siding with those they feared the most (their oppressor) was and is a survival skill just as viable as learning how to make 'white people feel good about themselves' works today. The latter technique is part of being a person of color in the United States. It is deep in all of us, myself included. Not responding to it in typical fashion is a daily and conscious attempt not to follow this paradigm. It is an act of power to be aware of it and to resist it.
There are a lot of Black Americans holding jobs in the military industrial complex who sense their politics and beliefs, outlook and customs need to conform to the standard of their industry's culture, which is white male dominated, conservative and Christian. One could find themselves unemployed with the quickness if they don't reflect those values!
It is the same with immigration. A hopeful citizen's best chance of citizenship is to reflect the conservative white Christian value system in any number of areas. It can be the slight difference that gets a deserving person citizenship to this nation!
The point is at some point to survive, to live, to stay relevant and employed acquiescing to the dominant dance movements are part of the arsenal one needs to survive the groundless claims of white supremacy and the terror white folks can inflict upon any they feel threatened by.
Now, on the other there are the Black folks deeply patriotic making the pledge of allegiance countless times in their lives under the flag that symbolizes the very elements we in the U.S. despise in the Southern Confederacy! If the majority of U.S. citizens were international or global thinkers so much more would be understood about themselves as the world revolves around our needs, our value systems, and sense of advantage over the entire globe. Many Native people indigenous to Turtle Island, which is parallel to the corporation of the United States of America, see the red, white and blue differently. It is not that we hide it. U.S. citizens cannot 'see' with other people's eyes, or learn from their suffering and worse are incapable of understanding the core upon which 'American' identity stands upon, or whose identity we stand upon!
Red stands for the blood the white people shed to take our land and return nothing in its stead. White is the color of the people, the Fat Takers some say and others: He Who Eats His Grandchildren to Feed His Children' who justified killing and taking our land, culture and spiritual practices from us and lastly, the color Blue is the color of the great sky above who witnessed it all. That is how it was told to me as I was also being told as a little boy to never pray in churches with my eyes closed. Whoever told me this understood a great deal about the trajectory my life was to take. Whomever he, or she was told me the story of how the white man came to our land with a Bible and told us to close our eyes and pray. At the end of the prayer we opened our eyes. We had the Bible. He had our land!
From that day to this I pray with my eyes open in churches. The Watchman needs to be vigilant.
Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories
7/3/15
 |
| flag & the model for Nightcap Clothing |
No comments:
Post a Comment