What is your first response when you see a Confederate flag displayed?

[lewelma]

I grew up in Richmond Va in the 1980s. Our school's mascot was the Rebel dressed in a confederate uniform, and our flag for all sporting events was the Confederate flag. So it was ALL over the school. Back then I think it meant we were teenage rebels, like Rebel without a Cause. It did not have a racist meaning to those at my school. Boy have times changed. 

[BakersDozen]

7 hours ago, Plum said:

Growing up when I did my first thought is Dukes of Hazard.

This is what I think of as well. John Schneider...

[TravelingChris]

11 hours ago, Quill said:

I completely agree with you. I absolutely think the heritage argument is unexamined. I have literally used the Nazi flag as an analogous argument IRL, as I have partial German ancestry. 
 

I don’t think the confederate flag should be displayed or used in anything but a reenactment exercise. I’d be thrilled if they banned the thing and, as I indicated above, I think all the negative things when I see one. Even on a grave, it’s a negative for me; I was just pointing out that I doubt the intent of someone putting it on a grave is much about those other things. 

I live in the South and I actually have no idea if anyone puts Confederate flags on Confederate soldiers graves in our city cemetery.  Not sure what day I should check on though.

 

[TravelingChris]

11 hours ago, TechWife said:

I selected all of the above, but in reality I don’t think that people who display the “confederate flag” are necessarily uneducated. I think most are making at least a partially informed, deliberate choice. They are proud  of the fact that their ancestors owned other people (proud of the history) 

I don't believe that most of the people are really descendants of slave owning people since I know that most of the Confederate soldiers were not slave owning/  And the part of Al where I see the flags the most probably is the area where there was limited slave owning-I mean I see a lot of it in the mountainous parts and that was not an area where slave owning was happening since it has been a poorer area both then and now.

[Wheres Toto]

It would be very strange to see a Confederate flag hanging from a pick-up truck around here and it would definitely make me think white supremacists making a very obvious blatant statement.   Even a US flag hanging from a pick-up truck would be weird around here, although I've seen it a few times in the past few years, usually accompanied by a flag or a bumper sticker of a certain political candidate.      Seeing either one (or just a bumper sticker or flag for a certain candidate) would make me roll my eyes and definitely want to avoid that person.   (Not just because they support that candidate, but because they evidently feel the need to advertise the fact, which to me would mean full on support for all he stands for).

[HeartString]

1 hour ago, TravelingChris said:

I don't believe that most of the people are really descendants of slave owning people since I know that most of the Confederate soldiers were not slave owning/  And the part of Al where I see the flags the most probably is the area where there was limited slave owning-I mean I see a lot of it in the mountainous parts and that was not an area where slave owning was happening since it has been a poorer area both then and now.

Most of them just assume their ancestors  did.   Just like they all have an Indian “princess” ancestor.  Actual, factual history or genealogy isn’t really the point.  It’s all fantasy. They also think the slave owners were seeethearts and the slaves were thankful for being enslaved.   Fantasy Land.  

Edited June 23, 2021 by HeartString

[Dmmetler]

6 hours ago, lewelma said:

I grew up in Richmond Va in the 1980s. Our school's mascot was the Rebel dressed in a confederate uniform, and our flag for all sporting events was the Confederate flag. So it was ALL over the school. Back then I think it meant we were teenage rebels, like Rebel without a Cause. It did not have a racist meaning to those at my school. Boy have times changed. 

The same used to be true here, where a lot of the Confederate imagery was folks rooting for Old Miss. I think they still have the rebel name, but have changed mascots three times, each time going farther removed (and more silly, IMO, since the most recent change is the Land Shark) from "Colonel Reb", and they dropped playing "Dixie" as an unofficial fight song, using the flag at games, etc. We still have a lot of schools named for local boys who were officers in the Confederate Army, most of whom would have vanished to books on "minor campaign losers of the Civil war were it NOT for having schools, etc named after them. 

Edited June 23, 2021 by Dmmetler

[Roadrunner]

If I saw one here in CA, I would run as fast as I could. I would assume the person was part of some sort of hate group. 
If I were in the South, I wouldn’t have the same reaction. I just wouldn’t know. Most likely I would shrug my shoulders and think “redneck.” 

[teachermom2834]

We have an organization - don’t know the name and don’t want to internet search it- but it is some descendants of the confederacy organization and they place confederate flags on graves locally. Usually families with little kids participating. It is covered by the local newspaper just like veterans groups placing flags for Memorial Day. 
 

First time I saw it I had to read it several times to make sure it was real and not satire or not a case of my misunderstanding. I couldn’t believe it was a thing.

I actually get the families of lowly confederate soldiers having pride in their ancestors place in history and not seeing them as slave holders, racists, etc. and that doesn’t bother me. But I think if I was one of those descendants I would mark the grave with an American flag. I just don’t see honoring the flag of the confederacy to be the way to do it. 
 

 

[TechWife]

2 hours ago, TravelingChris said:

I don't believe that most of the people are really descendants of slave owning people since I know that most of the Confederate soldiers were not slave owning/  And the part of Al where I see the flags the most probably is the area where there was limited slave owning-I mean I see a lot of it in the mountainous parts and that was not an area where slave owning was happening since it has been a poorer area both then and now.

I should have expressed my thought more thoroughly. I apologize.  The belief that it was acceptable to own and abuse black people wasn’t limited to slave holders. It was a widespread belief. If it had not been, the confederacy would not have been able to form an army.  In many areas of the rural south there are families that have lived in the same county for generations and those beliefs have definitely been passed down, both explicitly and implicitly, from one generation to another. 

[TravelingChris]

23 minutes ago, TechWife said:

I should have expressed my thought more thoroughly. I apologize.  The belief that it was acceptable to own and abuse black people wasn’t limited to slave holders. It was a widespread belief. If it had not been, the confederacy would not have been able to form an army.  In many areas of the rural south there are families that have lived in the same county for generations and those beliefs have definitely been passed down, both explicitly and implicitly, from one generation to another. 

Oh I know about that belief.  MY dd is married to a man whose mother grew up on a Mississippi farm-not well to do at all.  They had big family gatherings for holidays and usually dd and dsil would go there for either Thanksgiving or Christmas.  But dd is so appalled at most members of this family=  including one who joked, "Do you know why all my cows are black?  Because I can still own them)".  

[Happy2BaMom]

IMHO, I think the people who display it now (especially in the northern states, where I've always lived) see it as a 'bold statement of rebellion against a tyrannical federal government'. Please note that this is not what I think, this is what I think they think, based upon my observations / interactions. I'm not sure many could articulate specifically why they fly it, other than a general enjoyment of rebelling.

It's ego, plain and simple. And they couldn't care less about what that flag means to black people (or they'll get really defensive about it). Which, IMHO, is a reflection of their character, or lack of it.....there's a reason a lot of the people who fly that flag can be seen with flags or bumper stickers that state, "F*ck Your Feelings". 

I always find it rather comical when people in formerly Union states fly the Confederate flag. 

[MrsMommy]

We occasionally see one in our broader area, and my immediate thought is always "dumbass racist hick," which I guess covers at least two of the poll options.

[Scarlett]

14 hours ago, BlsdMama said:

Country hick?

 We have a young couple who lives across our country road. (Unfortunately while we live out in the country without close neighbors, we have one house directly across from us and it’s rental.) 😞

 

He’s probably very early twenties at best. His favorite hobby is racing a four wheeler up and down the road over and over and over again. His best friend of black and he is white. He drives a rigged up truck with big wheels, a redneck sticker, and a confederate flag. Oy. What compels one to fulfill a stereotype?

ETA: Around here I don’t think most folks think of it as racial but as country. I chose uneducated. 

I voted 'All of the Above'.  It churns my stomach to see one displayed.  There is a fair amount of 'Redneck' mentality around here and where I am from in AR.  

[MEmama]

Today, I associate that flag with all of the above except non-willful ignorance. Everyone knows what it stands for, there’s zero excuse. It is morally shameful to pretend there is any pride in it.

Oddly, for several years while growing up, my brother used to have one hanging in the garage. My dad is from the Deep South, and my brother was a big Dukes of Hazzard fan. Despite my fathers holdover racism from growing up when and where he did in the segregated south, my brother has never held those views and I’m certain never associated the flag with anything other than some teenage family pride of some kind (for my part, I remember in grade school  “bragging” that I was related to Robert E Lee because my dad shares a combination of those names. Of course I didn’t realize how many southerners do. Lol). Simultaneously he had a “The moral majority is neither” sticker on his motorcycle, which more aligns with our family and regional culture.

On the other side of my family, my mother grew up in Germany during the war and her father was forced into the effort (as with many families, it was never talked about later so I have few details other than he was simply gone for a period of her childhood). There is no way it would have been remotely acceptable to own or fly a nazi flag, but since the comparison isn’t too dissimilar I wonder now why they didn’t object to my bother's confederate one. 

[annandatje]

My gut reaction was not among choices.  I consider them to be traitors.  The USA won the Civil War so the former Confederacy reunited with USA.  People can mourn and/or honor their dead ancestors without displaying flag.  Definitely do not think Confederate flag should be flown over ANY government building, regardless of whether a city, state or federal building.  

[Alicia64]

Holy cow, when we first moved from a lifetime in CA to VA (11 years ago) and saw confederate flags, our jaws dropped. But I only saw the flags flying when I was out in the country, I never saw them in the city of Richmond or it's suburbs.

Then to see the statues everywhere of military guys who fought for the South  -- omg. 

Then we moved to Georgia and by then I was used to seeing confederate flags. I don't see them a lot here (suburb of Atlanta), but every now and then I do. Often on trucks.

Complete culture shock for people born and raised in the San Francisco area.

To me, it's abhorrent.

[Katy]

5 hours ago, HeartString said:

Most of them just assume their ancestors  did.   Just like they all have an Indian “princess” ancestor.  Actual, factual history or genealogy isn’t really the point.  It’s all fantasy. They also think the slave owners were seeethearts and the slaves were thankful for being enslaved.   Fantasy Land.  

The irony is most of those “Indian Princess” ancestors, the ones you can trace on a family tree, were black or mixed.  The 5 Southern Tribes took in runaway slaves and intermarried them. They were mixing for hundreds of years before the trail of tears.  Most white Southern families have very little Native American (Asian) DNA, and 2% or more African DNA.  People said Indian because that was more socially acceptable than black. I have ancestors on the Dawes rolls but I still have twice as much African DNA as Asian. 

[Katy]

15 minutes ago, Ordinary Shoes said:

I know someone who lives in Wisconsin and he's talked about the "southernization" of northern white people. He lives in rural Wisconsin and claims it's common to see Confederate flags in his community. He's also talked about how country music has become very popular there too. 

 

Did he say why?  I noticed flags when we were driving up to Door County a few years ago and I just assumed we got off the interstate in a militia area.

[pinball]

5 hours ago, HeartString said:

Most of them just assume their ancestors  did.   Just like they all have an Indian “princess” ancestor.  Actual, factual history or genealogy isn’t really the point.  It’s all fantasy. They also think the slave owners were seeethearts and the slaves were thankful for being enslaved.   Fantasy Land.  

Elizabeth Warren has entered the chat...

[Annie G]

40 minutes ago, Ordinary Shoes said:

I know someone who lives in Wisconsin and he's talked about the "southernization" of northern white people. He lives in rural Wisconsin and claims it's common to see Confederate flags in his community. He's also talked about how country music has become very popular there too. 

 

Is country music not ok? I’ve listened to country for decades, and attended concerts in WIsconsin- Alan Jackson, Brad Paisley, etc. 

[Scarlett]

6 minutes ago, Annie G said:

Is country music not ok? I’ve listened to country for decades, and attended concerts in WIsconsin- Alan Jackson, Brad Paisley, etc. 

I don't think she meant there is anything wrong with country music.

[sassenach]

When I lived in the south more than a decade ago, I just took it as a southern heritage thing. In California, today, I would find it really scary. A person doesn’t display that here unless they’re trying to send a message. 

[Big Buckin' Longhorn]

I view the Confederate Flag as a visual representation of a willingness to engage in violence. It is an aggressive, offensive, full-frontal display of hate. When I see one hanging on a flagpole in the front yard, on the back of a pickup truck, or wherever, I assume there are also firearms nearby and a willingness to use them. I keep my distance. I’m a minority. 

[Condessa]

Around here in this northern, rural area, people often use it for state's rights/defiance against what they see as Federal overreach.  I see that and assume they are ignorant to try to adopt a symbol so fraught with other awful connotations for their cause, but I don't assume racist.

The Don't Tread On Me snake flag from the Revolutionary War is also frequently used for the same purpose here, and while I know that racists have tried to coopt that one in some places, at least it historically more closely matches their intent and doesn't directly link to historical racial oppression.

[Xahm]

I said "other" because, absent other clues, my first reaction is to internally sigh and wonder "why another one?" We're in the south, near a big city and very near a large rock with the world's largest carving (I think there are several world's largest carvings depending on how exactly it's defined), which is a Confederate memorial protected by state law, smack in the middle of a majority black area. People have started thinking and talking more about the memorial and what can be done (and baby steps are being taken but the governor is trying to walk a very thin line hoping to fight off a primary challenger and get reelected in the general) but it used to be really common for people to have t shirts and knick knacks with the Confederate flag on them as souvenirs of this locale. My husband has stopped wearing his t-shirt that has the carving (no flag) displayed because he realized it had stopped being a way to show his home town spirit and was now going to look like he was supporting veneration of the Confederates pictured.

Around here, a lot of white people who just haven't thought very much about this see the Confederate flag as part of their fun childhood memories and don't like that it is being "changed" to make them look like racists. Not that it has really changed, but they don't want to have to do the mental and emotional work that would help them take a nuanced view of things. It's easier to blame political opponent outsiders for twisting/stealing/sullying something that they had always blindly accepted as representing a nebulous "heritage."

[Annie G]

55 minutes ago, Ordinary Shoes said:

This guy's theory is not that country music is bad but that country music is culturally southern but the upper midwest is not culturally southern. 

I found rural (southern)WIsconsin to be very similar to southern culture where I currently live (a rural N Ga).  But that’s just my experience.  Conservative, church goers, family oriented, stuff like that.  

Edited June 23, 2021 by Annie G

[QueenCat]

3 hours ago, Alicia64 said:

Holy cow, when we first moved from a lifetime in CA to VA (11 years ago) and saw confederate flags, our jaws dropped. But I only saw the flags flying when I was out in the country, I never saw them in the city of Richmond or it's suburbs.

Then to see the statues everywhere of military guys who fought for the South  -- omg. 

Then we moved to Georgia and by then I was used to seeing confederate flags. I don't see them a lot here (suburb of Atlanta), but every now and then I do. Often on trucks.

Complete culture shock for people born and raised in the San Francisco area.

To me, it's abhorrent.

Currently, there is a HUGE Confederate flag that you can see as you leave Richmond on 64, heading towards Williamsburg. If I close my eyes, I'll crash.

[HeartString]

3 hours ago, Katy said:

The irony is most of those “Indian Princess” ancestors, the ones you can trace on a family tree, were black or mixed.  The 5 Southern Tribes took in runaway slaves and intermarried them. They were mixing for hundreds of years before the trail of tears.  Most white Southern families have very little Native American (Asian) DNA, and 2% or more African DNA.  People said Indian because that was more socially acceptable than black. I have ancestors on the Dawes rolls but I still have twice as much African DNA as Asian. 

That’s interesting.  I didn’t know about that part.  Thanks for sharing! 

[HeartString]

3 hours ago, pinball said:

Elizabeth Warren has entered the chat...

It’s a common story told in southern families, we covered it a bit in my sociology classes. 

[Carol in Cal.]

To the OP--

My kneejerk reaction to seeing a flag like that is "What a loser."  

I know that's unkind, and I would never say it.  But that is how it feels to me inside.

[Frances]

2 hours ago, Annie G said:

I found rural (southern)WIsconsin to be very similar to southern culture where I currently live (a rural N Ga).  But that’s just my experience.  Conservative, church goers, family oriented, stuff like that.  

I grew up near southern WI and would agree with you, along with many other rural areas in the Midwest. But I wonder which cultures in the US you would not consider to be family oriented? I don’t find being family oriented unique to any one US culture or to rural areas.

As for country music, I think it has been popular in parts of the rural Midwest for quite awhile. I do think political polarization has greatly increased in the Midwest, as has the rural urban divide, just like most of the rest of the country. And not to get too political, but outward expressions of bigotry were made more acceptable at the national level during the last six years or so and that trickled down. So I don’t think it’s surprising to see more of these symbols outside of the south. I’ve also seen more if it in the PNW, outside of the traditional white supremacy stomping grounds out here.

[Carol in Cal.]

37 minutes ago, Plum said:

I suppose this could be a spin-off (and if someone wants to knock yourself out) but what do you all think of the Antifa & Anarchist flags I've seen at protests? Should people who wave these flags (confederate, anarchist, antifa) be lumped into the same category, anti-authoritarian, anti-American extremists?

 

I’m not familiar with specific Antifa or Anarchist flags, personally.

I detest what I have seen of how Antifa or Anarchist afficianados act around here.

I see the confederate flag as representative of a failed foreign power.  So it is weird to me that it is revered in the US.  I know it means different things to different people, but I don’t care for it.

Edited June 23, 2021 by Carol in Cal.

[Guest]

11 hours ago, TravelingChris said:

I live in the South and I actually have no idea if anyone puts Confederate flags on Confederate soldiers graves in our city cemetery.  Not sure what day I should check on though.

 

Well, the one I just spoke about appeared after Memorial Day. 

[Annie G]

1 hour ago, Frances said:

But I wonder which cultures in the US you would not consider to be family oriented? I don’t find being family oriented unique to any one US culture or to rural areas.

 

That’s a good point. I think I was specifically thinking about moms being revered very much. Sunday lunch at mom’s, mom being the one to hold holiday dinners, stuff like that.  I feel like Moms are top of the pile here. My folks were raised in Pennsylvania and they didn’t have that kind of relationship with their moms, and I was raised in California and my friends didn;t have the same mom focus I see here in the south. It’s really hard to describe.  But you’re right- what region isn’t family oriented? I think the closest I can compare it to is southern moms are treated very similar to how Italian-American moms are. 

[1234]

I was born and raised in Texas and also spent ten years in NE Florida. I’ve seen lots of Confederate flags in those places. I mostly thought those people were just ignorant losers. And the thing is that my family growing up was about as redneck as one could get but you never saw anyone in my family with one. We always knew what that flag meant. 

I now live in Indiana and see more of them here than I ever did in the South and the people here with them are definitely racist. I stay far away from them when I can. Both dc go to a state university just an hour from where we live, and there is often KKK and anti Semitic pamphlets left on cars and around campus.

ETA: We’re putting our house on the market when dc go back to college this fall. One of the things dh and I said we wanted was to not see Confederate flags everywhere. It feels like they’ve just become normal for us to see and we’re ready to go somewhere where it’s not so accepted.

Edited June 23, 2021 by Joker2

[Annie G]

3 minutes ago, Ordinary Shoes said:

All moms or just moms who fit the mold? 

I think putting people on a pedestal is actually a way of demeaning them because it's a denial of their humanity. We went to Mass on Mother's Day and the homily was a standard Mother's Day homily. It sounded good on the surface. Lots of praise for mothers. But it was backhanded praise, IMHO. It implied that fathers could not show compassion. It was also very limiting. I'm more than a mother. 

 

This is deeper thought than I am prepared to engage in.  Backhanded praise stinks. 

[Ottakee]

I was at a tourist shop today in the UP....Michigan's Upper Peninsula and saw a confederate flag for sale.  It was behind the American ones, but it was there.

[WildflowerMom]

I didn't answer the poll yet.  
I live in the Deep South (I don't know why that capitalizes every time, but I'm tired of correcting it).    We have many (actually in the young adult and lower age group, I'd say the vast majority here are 'bffs' with people of another race) blacks and whites who are very close knit down here (which is wonderful, btw, and it pisses me off that the south gets such a bad rap).  There are very few (I actually can't think of any right off) families that are not 'mixed' in some way.  I say all that (and it's jumbled because of medication tonight-- I'm sorry) because I've seen the confederate flag flying less and less lately (🙌🏼).    That's awesome for down here.   The younger generation is coming up and they are so close to each other, they just don't seem to care about things my generation and above looked at.  My son is almost 20 and his and his gf's bffs have been such a mix of races *and* LBTQ+.   It's heartwarming for me to see.   When I do see the conf flag, my lip goes up in disgust.  It's an involuntary reaction and I did it just looking at your picture in the OP.   I think of it as racist, but I do know some decent people around here who do see it as a history thing.   But I've looked at history and those people are relying on history they got from parents and grandparents, not real history, ykwim?   They aren't educating themselves the right way.    I probably shouldn't even comment, I'm sorry if I offended anyone.  This is on my mind every single time I see a conf flag (mostly in north Florida, tbh) and it does irritate the crap out of me, but I also know that many are decent people, just ignorant. 

[Eos]

Angry.

[EKS]

I voted other.  My first reaction is that I don't have a reaction.

[Guest]

I took a picture of the aforementioned grave. In this case, it is presumably about heritage, at least in the mind of whomever put the flag there over Memorial Day weekend. *Please note: I am not in favor of the use of this flag for any purpose and I DO personally equate it with putting a Nazi flag on a German soldier’s grave. I’m just saying, it makes sense to someone.*

[SeaConquest]

I would love to know where people are living where they are NOT seeing the rebel flag these days because that sounds like a part of the country I would be interested in learning more about...

I picked all of the above. I find it a grotesque symbol, akin to the Nazi flag, and I would keep my distance from anyone who had one displayed. I do not find it at all analogous to Antifa, which is -- by definition -- anti-fascist. Living in San Diego, I have numerous friends -- primarily tax-paying, law-abiding moms in their 30s and 40s -- who have attended Anti-Trump, pro-immigration, pro-BLM, pro-science, etc. rallies that have been promoted by Antifa locally. The only time these rallies have turned violent is when the rednecks from our more rural counties come to the central and coastal areas holding the rallies to cause disruption.

To the extent that these Antifa-supporting friends are socialists, they are typically Democratic Socialists of the Bernie Sanders variety. And as much as Fox News would like to make these folks sound SO SCARY, they have more in common with Canadians and most of Europe than they do the Bolsheviks. So, yeah, owning human beings and using them as slaves (and seceding when people tell you that you're not allowed to do so anymore) is far more analogous to Nazism than Antifa, IMO.    

Edited June 24, 2021 by SeaConquest

[GracieJane]

15 minutes ago, SeaConquest said:

I would love to know where people are living where they are NOT seeing the rebel flag these days because that sounds like a part of the country I would be interested in learning more about...

I picked all of the above. I find it a grotesque symbol, akin to the Nazi flag, and I would keep my distance from anyone who had one displayed. I do not find it at all analogous to Antifa, which is -- by definition -- anti-fascist. Living in San Diego, I have numerous friends -- primarily tax-paying, law-abiding moms in their 30s and 40s -- who have attended Anti-Trump, pro-immigration, pro-BLM, pro-science, etc. rallies that have been promoted by Antifa locally. The only time these rallies have turned violent is when the rednecks from our more rural counties come to the central and coastal areas holding the rallies to cause disruption.

To the extent that these Antifa-supporting friends are socialists, they are typically Democratic Socialists of the Bernie Sanders variety. And as much as Fox News would like to make these folks sound SO SCARY, they have more in common with Canadians and most of Europe than they do the Bolsheviks. So, yeah, owning human beings and using them as slaves (and seceding when people tell you that you're not allowed to do so anymore) is far more analogous to Nazism than Antifa, IMO.    

I live in California and I’ve only seen the Confederate flag once in my entire life.

[Faith-manor]

We have a number of KKK around here so for me it means white supremacist dangerous, avoid at all costs, get the heck out of dodge.

Edited June 24, 2021 by Faith-manor

[Jean in Newcastle]

43 minutes ago, SeaConquest said:

I would love to know where people are living where they are NOT seeing the rebel flag these days because that sounds like a part of the country I would be interested in learning more about...

I

 

PNW - in the city.  I don't know if it's more common in rural areas or not.

BTW - not having ever seen the Confederate flag displayed doesn't mean that I haven't encountered racism.  My husband and I have been stalked by skinheads (we are an interracial marriage and I was screamed at for being a race traitor).  I have had Neo-Nazi pamphlets put on my car after parking to go places with my interracial family and as far as I could see no other cars adjacent to us had the same pamphlets so it seemed targeted.  But none of these people had the Confederate flag on their person or on their pamphlets. 

[TravelingChris]

I asked my dh this question but did not read out the poll questions.  He answered that he thinks redneck.  We do live in the South.  

[Jean in Newcastle]

3 minutes ago, Plum said:

Anarchists, Antifa, BLM and whatever other groups in Portland and Seattle essentially succeeded from America creating their own autonomous zone! A modern day succession allowed by the local authorities. They had their own borders, rules, garbage collection and everything. 

Isn’t anti-capitalism part of being anti-fascist? I thought they believe capitalism creates the conditions for fascism. Many Starbucks have seen their hatred for capitalism firsthand. Not even Black owned businesses are immune to the anti-capitalist’s wrath. The act of owning property of any kind is fascist because it creates a dichotomy of power.

Sorry, I see no difference between the people who wave Antifa or Confederate flags.

In Seattle, it was a six-block area in a huge city.  Don't make this into something that it wasn't. 

[TravelingChris]

1 minute ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

In Seattle, it was a six-block area in a huge city.  Don't make this into something that it wasn't. 

Yes, I know it was.  But it wasn't right.  Two people were killed in that small area.  Others who lived in that area felt very afraid.  

[Jean in Newcastle]

1 minute ago, TravelingChris said:

Yes, I know it was.  But it wasn't right.  Two people were killed in that small area.  Others who lived in that area felt very afraid.  

?  I never said that it was right.  But it has been very common for people to act as if it was the entire city of Seattle and it wasn't.