my final draft

The War That Never Ended

In the article “Dying For Dixie” Tony Horwitz quoted David Westerman saying, “they say that the war ended a long time ago. But around here its like it’s still going on.” I believe that the war is still going on in some parts of the south for many reasons some elements that might contribute to theses issue are the society they live in, the government in the south, and the education board in their towns. It also has a lot to do with not being exposed to all different kinds of people. A lot of the racism that still exists in the United States has stemmed from the civil war that I believe never really ended.
The culture in some parts of the south seems to provide evidence for why racism is still an issue. In the article “Dying For Dixie” it talks about how the rebel flag has a significant value to their culture and beliefs and for that reason it has been past through generations. For many years the blacks in their communities have kept quiet however they have broken their silence. When Kim a black mom from the article says “ Back then, parents told you to sit your butt down, work hard and keep your mouth shut around white people” Shanekia her daughter shook her head and said “ we ain’t going to just take it like our parents did I keep telling my momma times have changed” which is a good thing to try and make change after all these years but you have these white people who have been taught that this way of life is the right thing creating a conflict between the two races. One part of the article says, “ Brenda had given Michael his first rebel flag as a child. Michael was raised with that flag, just like my own son,” “its just part of life.” This flag seems to still be a big part in a lot of the white peoples lives and in order to get past the civil war people need to stop flying the flag as if the war is still happening.
A part of me believes that so many of the white people in the south are scared of change. Not only because they like being the higher class, when really they don’t have much of an education but also because they are scared they might be put in the same place the blacks were put for so long. They want to keep them oppressed because if they rise who knows what they will do maybe they will treat them the way that they were treated. This is their way of thinking as shown in the article, “they want the best jobs, the biggest money now they want this.” if we lose the mascot, it’ll just be a matter of time before we lose everything.
Religion can be a big part of the way someone lives their life and in some parts of the south they bring race in to religion. In the article someone asked, “What must I do to be saved” the church is handing out pamphlets supporting the KKK. If someone wants to be saved they have to basically be races. These people believe what they are told. They don’t look into information they are given they just listen. What gives me reason to believe this is in the article one women said “I need to know the whole book of knowledge. Like if asked, why do we hate jews? I didn’t know before, but I found out. It was jews that put Christ on the cross.” They just go on in life never questioning anything.
The other point displayed in the article is “he told me he’d only begun flying the flag since Michaels death. “One goes down, two fill his space. This to me is saying, your not going to stop us, we are just going to make things worse for you now. It’s like a war that was quiet for a while, but needed another trigger to bring out all the anger and hatred they obviously still have. I believe racism has a lot to do with level of education. I believe education can affect ones outlook on life. These people never succeed to their fullest potential and for that they blame others and walk around with this hidden anger that they want to take out on someone, here is a race that have already been a target for hundreds of years, why stop now they do this to make themselves feel better. Maybe the white people in this article don’t feel like they can succeed and since they can’t succeed then neither can anyone else. I believe that this attitude and lack of education can be the cause for why things have never changed in the south. I think if people had more respect for themselves they might have respect for others. Also, I think if we can stop this cycle of bad habits or beliefs being passed on, over time things may change.