NASCAR came up with a brilliant idea to try and move towards one day potential eradicating the Confederate flag from their racetracks. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out too well this past holiday weekend. Only “a few” took Daytona International Speedway up on their offer to turn the rebel flag in for an American flag this past Sunday.
We don’t have an actual number on how many takers the track had. “A few” is just what the track spokesman said publicly.
While Daytona and other NASCAR tracks all around this great country of ours have seen the light on this issue for quite some time, the same cannot be said for some racing fans. The NASCAR organization have been on the right side of history for a long time, but this Southern Cross for Old Glory swap offer mostly resulted in backlash.
It’s not just a NASCAR thing.
The rapid Confederate flag takedown has spawned an inflamed reactionary movement. I’ve felt it personally in the comments section of my recent op-ed on the Confederate flag emblem and SEC football.
The Ku Klux Klan has decided to enter the mix; planning a rally at the South Carolina state house grounds on July 18th. By the time they hold it, the flag may be gone. The flag’s removal from the state house looks inevitable. S.C. Governor Nikki Haley will sign a bill removing it from the grounds shortly.
That doesn’t mean that its usage will go away though. NASCAR fans that want to keep bringing it to the track will continue to do so until the court of public opinion is overwhelmingly against them.
We’re not there yet.
The best analogy would be the Nazi flag.
Freedom of speech grants you the ability to wave a Nazi flag on your private property; or bring one to a racetrack if you so choose. But you likely wouldn’t do that because it would be social suicide. No one with any sense of shame would wave a swastika flag these days. Public shaming is making a renaissance in American life, and this phenomenon is best articulated by Jon Ronson’s page-turning book “So you’ve been publicly shamed.”
As Ronson conveys, the public shamings act as a sort of democratized justice, and quite possibly a deterrent to behavior. They can sometimes be a correction in the marketplace of ideas.
But it only works if the behavior (in this case, the display of the Confederate flag) is regarded to be universally shameful. Also, the person flying the flag has to have a strong sense of shame. Anyone who works in a field requiring adherence to social norms will probably never fly the St. Andrews cross again.
American mainstream society has deemed it too taboo.
But for those who revere the flag, wish to remain in the fringes, and/or have a vocation which doesn’t require public approval, why would they stop flying these colors?
That’s the problem NASCAR faces now in trying to phase the flag out. They’ve done all they can to disassociate the brand from the Confederate flag, but ordinary everyday citizens aren’t brands and they don’t have a corporate culture to protect.
For some Southerners, there’s no shame at all in flying the flag, and to understand why, yes, even 150 years after the Civil War, I suggest you watch the documentary “Confederacy Theory.” It was made 14 years ago, but so little has changed on this issue since then.
In 2001, just like today, this front line of the battle is waged at the South Carolina state house. The Palmetto state was first in secession. It’s also where the first shots of the Civil War were fired.
In other words, it’s the last place that will ever forget the Civil War and just let it go. The Confederacy is married to the state of South Carolina.
But it’s not just South Carolinians; it’s those who stand with the Council of Conservative Citizens, the KKK, the League of the South and others of that sort.
Unfortunately, these types are going to move on soon. The old television show “Dukes of Hazzard,” as well as the main “star” of that show, the “General Lee” automobile, are parting ways with the St. Andrews Cross. TV Land pulled Dukes of Hazzard reruns off the air.
2012 Master’s winner Bubba Watson owns the General Lee, and he’s vowed to paint over the Confederate Flag that’s atop it.
Nothing is more southern than that car and that show, and when they abandon the emblem, it means that it’s time for everyone else to do so.
As the YouTube description from “Confederacy Theory” claims:
And you thought the Civil War was over… Confederacy Theory presents and unflinching portrait of the cultural war that has erupted around the confederate flag – a century-old symbol that threatens to divide the South like no issue since the Civil Rights movement. Using never-before-seen archival footage and exclusive interviews with politicians, pundits, activists, and scholars, Confederacy Theory traces the history of this symbol and its impact on Southern culture, history, and identity – from the Civil War to the frontlines of a modern-day secession movement.
The doc is embedded below. I invite you to watch it, as it really gives you the whole historical perspective on the Confederate flag, what it means and why we’re talking about it so much today:
After seeing this film, you have to wonder how long it will take for the Confederate flag to disappear from NASCAR racetracks.
One wonders if it ever will.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous sports talk radio stations all across the country.
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