I'm always a bit amused when 'northerners' tell me as a 'southerner' to 'get over my history' - or that it will take 100's of years to 'get over it.' What they don't seem to realize - is that my history is nurtured, enjoyed, and respected. I don't bemoan my Civil War legacy ; it's just that it is part of my living history - not an abstract politically correct doctrine in some distant modern theoretical text. One should share one's history and nurture it - not get over it and lose it.
One of the problems in America<imho>is that people want to have a pat politically correct answer to their messy history lessons. They are in a sense afraid of history. They avoid talking about history - and it's not just Civil War history,but all of history they avoid. I am very fortunate to have a wealth of family lore and historical data concerning my gggfathers and gggmothers and their community. I even have some history of ancestors who were in the American Revolution.
I am able to look upon a wall and see my gggfather's rifle replete with his initials...and know that it was used at Shiloh,Chicamauga,Atlanta ,Franklin and Nashville. I can only wonder about the horror and sadness it might of inflicted. I have a story about it from the Battle of Nashville. Reportedly my gggfather was a sharpshooter, and he and his buddy were shooting from the attic of an old Nashville Hotel during the Battle of Nashville. My gggfather was loading for his buddy who was shooting when his buddy was shot in the chest and killed...and died in my gggfather's arms. My gggfather then stashed the rifle and was shortly thereafter captured...but the rifle was found again years later...when the hotel was being torn down.
In regard to 'race relations' - I see some truth in the observation that 'southernern whites did not mind being close to southern blacks, so long as
the blacks did not have any power. In contrast, the northern whites did not mind the blacks having power, so long as they did not have to be so close to them. Moreover, I see racism as a multidimensional problem. I've bumped into quite a few black folks who were as racist, sexist and bigoted as anybody on earth. In fact, I'd say 'class' is a much bigger problem than 'race'
in American Society... In fact, I'd say that sometimes it seems identity and gender politics get stirred up as a kind of distraction to keep folks from focusing so much on class and $$$$ issues.
Oh well, I'm a libertarian. I don't care what flag you wave on your own time; I'll still support your graduation and not try to police your thoughts. If you want to wave a CSA flag - well, that's just fine. If you want to wave an African flag - you won't see me trying to stop you. Gosh, I might even allow all of you to express yourselves and discuss your histories and cultural sensitivities. If there's a conflict, well, life is like that sometimes, and your ears and eyes can't always be covered.
Don't come running to me asking me to ban someone from a school program because they offended you with a flag. Deal with it. Grow Up. Establish a dialogue. Learn to cope...