Liberty Flags of our Fathers--The Confederate Battle Flag

 by Al Benson Jr.

Thanks to the professional South haters, both Democrats and Republicans, as well as the Marxist-oriented media and various Marxist groups the Confederate Battle Flag has gotten an undeserved bad rap. Any place the Battle Flag has been flown in the South in our day Southern scalawags have rushed in to attempt to remove it so they can display their utter obeisance to those that they think will further their political aspirations.

Admittedly, there have been some groups that have used the flag in an abusive manner, but such groups do not in any way reflect the true and noble heritage of the Battle Flag. Shallow thinkers contend that the Battle Flag represents slavery. Too often they refuse to learn the real history because to be confused with the facts might mean they had to retreat from their unjust criticisms and they are not about to do that. Life would have no meaning for them if they did.

The Battle Flag was only, ever, a soldier's flag, used by Confederate soldiers on the field of battle so as to differentiate their flags from the Yankee flags. It did not represent slavery because your average Confederate soldier did not fight to preserve or defend slavery. Their letters to their folks back home showed that. They fought to defend their God-given liberties and because they were invaded. A Confederate soldier was once asked why he fought the Yankees and his reply was "because you're here."

There has been much ado made over the origins of the Battle Flag. Many have said it had a religious origin while others have rushed in to stridently deny that. In the Southern Heritage Movement since I have been involved in it there have been two distinct groups--those who insist the the Movement and Confederate flags have a decided Christian origin and the opposing group that wants to leave any religious connection of the Confederacy out totally. I once had a shallow-thinking young man tell me "I  am fighting for a flag, not a religion." He seemed to take some pride in that statement. He did not seem to grasp the fact that the flag he was "fighting for" had a religious significance and, had it not had that significance it would not have existed.

You may have guessed by now that I do not agree with those deniers that claim there was no religious significance to our flags or that they were totally secular. If the design of the Battle Flag was totally secular as some claim then why did it contain the St. Andrews Cross, which was and is a Christian symbol, the same as the one on the Scottish national flag? The St. Andrews Cross reflects the Celtic heritage of many in the South and many of those were and are today, Christian.

Pastor John Weaver wrote a book on why the Confederate Battle Flag was Christian in origin. He has been criticized for that effort by many who contend a totally secular view of the flag is mandated. I have seen some of Pastor Weaver's writing on this subject. I don't know if he got all the historical facts totally right or not. But by the same token, I don't think he got them all totally wrong either.

In my opinion I think the Confederate Battle Flag did, indeed, have a spiritual significance. Whether intended or not, it contained a powerful Christian symbol and I think this is one reason the political and theological leftists in our day hate it so much. They realize what many secular Southerners do not--that this flag is, indeed, a Christian symbol and seeing that I have two ancestors that were Scots Highlanders I recognize that also.

For all its imperfections the Old South was a biblically-based society and culture and I am convinced that is one reason why its history and heritage are under such virulent attack in our day. The politicians and other gutless wonders in Mississippi have just removed the Confederate symbol from their state flag. They were afraid to give the good citizens of their state a chance to have a referendum on whether they wanted this done or not. They just did it on their own. The citizens of Mississippi should remember that when these people run for office again.

The Confederate Battle Flag does not represent what its detractors claim it does. It represents the aspirations of those soldiers that fought for their liberties under its banner. As such it should always have a place of respect in our hearts and minds no matter what the world tries to tell us about it.

White Privilege--Is it really Red?

 by Al Benson Jr.

Member, Board of Directors, Confederate Society of America

Recently I saw an article dealing with how the University of Minnesota plans to deal with what they consider is the main problem in the country today, "white privilege." Seeing that most university's  and colleges in our day are dominated by Marxists of one stripe or another this should not be all that surprising. 

The university is offering a 12-step program for Recovery from whiteness.  Some of the steps are rather "interesting."  Step one is We admitted that we have been socially conditioned by the ideology of white supremacy. Step 9 is We develop strategies to counteract our racial biases, and step 11 is We engage in daily practices of self-reflection.  Sounds like something straight out of Mao's cultural revolution, and that's not really too far off base. You have to realize that as with many Marxist programs it is only a matter of time before they make it to our college campuses.

Self-criticism programs have been a hallmark of Marxist ideology for decades. Kyle Shideler has written on https://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org that "After 9/11, American citizens were encouraged by leftists to ask 'Why do they hate us?' Today the same people, trained by years of victim-blaming to hold themselves accountable for terrorism both foreign and domestic are asking a similar question.  'What flaws in ourselves makes these nice mobs so angry?'  The approved answer seems to be 'because of our white privilege, which must be dismantled.'"

So roving Marxist groups of Antifa and Black Lives Matter pillage and burn our cities and, somehow, that is our fault because of our "white privilege." The folks that really believe this have to be soft in the head. The people that fund and promote this Marxist terrorism don't believe this croc. They know better and part of their agenda is to make sure, via our managed media, that you don't find out the truth. Get over the fable that there is such a thing as the "news" media out there anymore. Most of what we still call journalists are little more than comrades for the Marxists. There are some exceptions but they are fewer and more hard to find as time goes on.

Shideler notes an organization called The National Museum of African American History and Culture, which is funded by American tax dollars. This outfit basically says that whites have most of the political power and economic power in this country and that all this is basically known as white privilege. Apparently if you are a white American it has all been easy street for you. So for all those black folks I know that drive newer cars then mine  and live in fancier homes than I do, they are all victims of my white privilege. Right? Honestly, folks, do you really believe this tripe? If you do then the Marxists have penetrated your thinking. You've been watching too much of CNN or MSNBC.

Shideler noted that the various socialist groups that had agitated for decades in this country had failed to procure the revolution they desired. Some of them finally came up with the theory that "their problem was a lack of racial rather than class, consciousness which held back Marxist organizing in America."

He observed that "From his experience working to educate the working class about Communism, and drawing from the work of W.E.B. DuBois, Theodore Allen, a Communist Party member, finally hit on something. "He became convinced that the 'white working class' would never be compelled to rebel so long as they accepted 'white-skin privilege, which the capitalist system had evolved as an artificial but deeply-rooted method of control to divide the white working class from the black working class, preventing a united proletariat."

Also observed by Shideler was that: "Allen's partner in this effort and another leading theorist on 'White skin privilege was another former Communist Party member Noel Ignatiev..." I have written about both of these sterling individuals in the past, not recently, but a few years back. I knew Allen was a Communist. I wasn't sure about Ignatiev at that time. I should have known. He was writing about how horrible it was to be white over a decade ago that I remember.

These abbreviated comments should give you some idea of where the current craze over white privilege really comes from. It did not originate on the college campus. It was transported there  by those Marxist personalities who seek to subvert the thinking of your kids.