"You are part of the Rebel Alliance, and a traitor!"
A Kentucky girl named Jacqueline Duty is suing the Greenup County school district for preventing her from going to her senior prom last Spring. She says that she worked for four years designing and then making her dress. Why did they feel the need to deny this girl entry? Because her dress is based on the design of the Confederate Flag.
In the words of Tim Meadows as Johnny Cochran, "This is an outrage." Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not now, nor have I ever been, nor will I ever be, pro-slavery. The only form of slavery I find remotely tolerable is the slavery found in the Bible: taking an indentured prisoner for a period of time in lieu of killing them in battle. Slave holders in the nineteenth century, and some people to this day, take the directives given by God in the Torah to govern a then-existant practice completely out of context. Unless American troops start taking Iraqi (or rather, Syrian and Iranian) terrorists as indentured servants in lieu of killing them, slavery should not exist in America; in fact, it should never have existed. Much of what we know about such men as Thomas Jefferson and George Washington tells us that they found the practice of owning human beings to be appalling.
That having been said, claiming that the Civil War was about slavery is a simplistic charge that ignores the other major issues of the conflict. From a legal standpoint, the Confederacy had a lot more ground to stand on than the Union. There was no law stating that a state could not secede, and until the Civil War, the sovereignty of the individual State trumped the sovereignty of the Union. The issue was one we face to this day: should members of one state be able to tell the members of another state what they can and can't do. I've said that I'm against slavery; at the same time, my research into my family's history has taught me that two of my great-great-great uncles fought for the Confederacy, and one of them may have even died in the performance of his duties. I wholeheartedly disagree with the practice of human slavery, but I wholeheartedly agree on many of the other things that the Confederates were fighting for.
I think that this young lady's rights were violated. I think that the principal's actions were inappropriate. Free speech in high schools should be limited to some degree, but a girl wearing a Confederate prom dress in Kentucky isn't like torching an Israeli flag in the lunch room in front of some Jewish kids. As long as she's not exposing her body or intentionally attempting to incite hatred or violence, she should have been able to wear what she wanted. This continued nonsensical, academically dishonest, and intellectually unsophisticated idea that the Confederate flag is a symbol of hatred, intolerance, and oppression has got to go.
Just for reference, here are a couple of pictures of this girl and her dress.
* Fox News
* S.P.G.
In the words of Tim Meadows as Johnny Cochran, "This is an outrage." Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not now, nor have I ever been, nor will I ever be, pro-slavery. The only form of slavery I find remotely tolerable is the slavery found in the Bible: taking an indentured prisoner for a period of time in lieu of killing them in battle. Slave holders in the nineteenth century, and some people to this day, take the directives given by God in the Torah to govern a then-existant practice completely out of context. Unless American troops start taking Iraqi (or rather, Syrian and Iranian) terrorists as indentured servants in lieu of killing them, slavery should not exist in America; in fact, it should never have existed. Much of what we know about such men as Thomas Jefferson and George Washington tells us that they found the practice of owning human beings to be appalling.
That having been said, claiming that the Civil War was about slavery is a simplistic charge that ignores the other major issues of the conflict. From a legal standpoint, the Confederacy had a lot more ground to stand on than the Union. There was no law stating that a state could not secede, and until the Civil War, the sovereignty of the individual State trumped the sovereignty of the Union. The issue was one we face to this day: should members of one state be able to tell the members of another state what they can and can't do. I've said that I'm against slavery; at the same time, my research into my family's history has taught me that two of my great-great-great uncles fought for the Confederacy, and one of them may have even died in the performance of his duties. I wholeheartedly disagree with the practice of human slavery, but I wholeheartedly agree on many of the other things that the Confederates were fighting for.
I think that this young lady's rights were violated. I think that the principal's actions were inappropriate. Free speech in high schools should be limited to some degree, but a girl wearing a Confederate prom dress in Kentucky isn't like torching an Israeli flag in the lunch room in front of some Jewish kids. As long as she's not exposing her body or intentionally attempting to incite hatred or violence, she should have been able to wear what she wanted. This continued nonsensical, academically dishonest, and intellectually unsophisticated idea that the Confederate flag is a symbol of hatred, intolerance, and oppression has got to go.
Proctor: All right, here's your last question. What was the cause of
the Civil War?
Apu: Actually, there were numerous causes. Aside from the obvious
schism between the abolitionists and the anti-abolitionists,
there were economic factors, both domestic and inter--
Proctor: Wait, wait... just say slavery.
Apu: Slavery it is, sir.
-- "Much Apu About Nothing"
Just for reference, here are a couple of pictures of this girl and her dress.
* Fox News
* S.P.G.
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