A Black Student Tries To Spread The Truth

[subdjoe]

http://www.kcra.com/r/29926418/detail.html

Byron Thomas is 19, black, a freshman at the University of South Carolina Beaufort and a proud Southerner. He hung a Confederate flag in his dorm room window until the university asked him to take it down because several people had complained about it. (The university later stepped back from the request, saying all students have the right to free speech.)

"I know it's kinda weird because I'm black," Thomas said in an iReport he submitted. "When I look at this flag, I just don't see racism. I see pride, respect. Southern pride, that's what I see."

"Ignorance gave that flag a bad name, ignorant people like the KKK," he told CNN's Don Lemon.

Read more: http://www.kcra.com/education/29926418/detail.html#ixzz1fmO8f8Zd

[wncchester]

Good for Mr. Thomas.  He proves that not every young person accepts the racial/historical swill 'innerlectsul libbruls' publish.

[subdjoe]

Good for Mr. Thomas.  He proves that not every young person accepts the racial/historical swill 'innerlectsul libbruls' publish.

Yep.  Some other bright points from the story:

CNN: Why is it so important to you to be able to display this flag in your dorm room?

Thomas: It is very important that I be allowed to exercise my freedom of free speech. I'm one of the nicest people, but today, you can't say anything without people getting offended or hurt by what you are saying. I felt very offended when I was asked to take down that flag because (the housing department) said it violated the racist code. It's a freedom thing to me.

The generation before us told us that the flag is racist. It's not going anywhere. No one is going to burn all of the flags. If me or someone else can show my generation that it means something different maybe it won't divide us. I haven't experienced racism myself but it still exists. Maybe if we start now with this flag, racism can continue to get smaller.

CNN: Do you have roommates and what do they think of your flag?

Thomas: I have three white roommates and they know I'm not racist. They think what I'm doing is amazing because they have never met a black person like me before because of my opinions. I was starting to make a change because I made my own opinion.

Some black students came to me and have said I have changed their viewpoint on the Confederate flag and that I helped change them. They have said (like me) they also don't want to be called African-American anymore. They, too, feel like they want to be American, not African-America, because it's like a second category and they were born in America not Africa. So other people have come up to me, not just my roommates.

[srussell]

my question is would they let anyone hang the flag

[williamlayton]

Remamber, HE brought up the KKK.
Blessings

[necred]

H.K. Edgertol carried a Confederate flag through downtown Shreveport Thursday. It was one more stop for Edgertol – who is black – on a trip to support what many consider a racist symbol. Edgertol is walking across the South from North Carolina to Austin, Texas. Edgertol said those who say the Confederate flag is racist don’t know anything about the symbol. He said many black men died under the flag, and that’s part of the reason he supports it. Before hitting Shreveport Edgertol said he stopped in Jena, which was the site of a massive civil rights rally this fall. – WDSU.com
 
http://hellonegro.com/2007/12/08/house-negro-alert-black-man-flies-the-confederate-flag/

[SCRooster]

I remember when that kid down at USC Beaufort did that ... it was big news around here.  A lot of blacks are proud of their Southern heritage and resentful of the northern blacks that come down trying to stir the crapola all the time.


We get along down here much better than they do up north imho.

[Him]

For what little it is worth, I am an eleventh generation Yankee, and I have always felt that way about the Confederate Battle Flag. I am glad to see that someone from the south shares my view.




I don't have any confederate money, though

[rogbn]

I have never posted to this forum before, but wanted to speak up on this one. The man's name is HK Edgerton not Edgertol. I have known him personally for at least ten plus years. He was once a member in good standing with the NAACP until he began to question the mantra that we are all spoon fed from grammar school on up about the "civil war", causes of, results of, etc. Without speaking for him, let me say that after a great deal of research and study he found that basically everything we are expected to accept about that great struggle (other than possibly names and dates), is a lie. There were a great many blacks who understood what it was about and who willingly served the Confederacy in various ways including those who served under arms - as witnessed by the Federal Sanitary Commission photo of black troops serving under Jackson in Maryland. HK does what he can to inform as many people as possible -   both black and white, of the truth, about what we, as Southerners were, how we were, and how things worked out to make things the way they are. He is a spellbinding speaker. We refer to it as the War for Southern Independence. Thanks for reading...

[SCRooster]

I'd like to see him speak.  I may try to look him up if he is still around here anywhere.

[SCRooster]

I found something worth seeing about this kid, very neat young man ...  two videos actually:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFn0QSSsphU



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9mbcLILy0Y


... and this bit of hypocrisy from a couple of punk thugs:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jadmjn3ebs 

[r29l20]

Good for Mr. Thomas.  He proves that not every young person accepts the racial/historical swill 'innerlectsul libbruls' publish.

Yep.  Some other bright points from the story:

CNN: Why is it so important to you to be able to display this flag in your dorm room?

Thomas: It is very important that I be allowed to exercise my freedom of free speech. I'm one of the nicest people, but today, you can't say anything without people getting offended or hurt by what you are saying. I felt very offended when I was asked to take down that flag because (the housing department) said it violated the racist code. It's a freedom thing to me.

The generation before us told us that the flag is racist. It's not going anywhere. No one is going to burn all of the flags. If me or someone else can show my generation that it means something different maybe it won't divide us. I haven't experienced racism myself but it still exists. Maybe if we start now with this flag, racism can continue to get smaller.

CNN: Do you have roommates and what do they think of your flag?

Thomas: I have three white roommates and they know I'm not racist. They think what I'm doing is amazing because they have never met a black person like me before because of my opinions. I was starting to make a change because I made my own opinion.

Some black students came to me and have said I have changed their viewpoint on the Confederate flag and that I helped change them. They have said (like me) they also don't want to be called African-American anymore. They, too, feel like they want to be American, not African-America, because it's like a second category and they were born in America not Africa. So other people have come up to me, not just my roommates.

A-MEN!