In the wake of the horrific shootings in Charleston, South Carolina, debate over the Confederate flag has heated up. Or perhaps more accurately, the long simmering debate over the flag has finally ended. South Carolina has removed the flag from their Capitol grounds, and Walmart, Sears and Amazon have stopped selling it. Hell, even NASCAR has come out against the flag. It’s over. The Confederate flag is finished as any sort of mainstream symbol.
What does this have to do with wrestling? Well, WWE color commentator John “Bradshaw” Layfield recently posted a screed about the Confederate flag on his Facebook. The first three descriptors that come to mind when JBL is mentioned are “angry,” “white” and “Southern.” This is a guy who got in trouble for doing Nazi salutes in Germany. So, you might expect bad things, but JBL actually used his cranky powers for good, tearing supporters of the Confederate flag a new cornhole…
“Amazing to me that the flag was born out of biggest treasonous event in our country’s history and the core problem was owning another race of human beings as slaves-yet, some want to claim that these four years (1861-1865), that a flag that was never even adopted as the Confederacy Flag is ‘their heritage’. A lot of soldiers died for this flag–so did a lot of soldiers die for the Nazi flag, sorry to say those lives were wasted in both cases.
The flag came into prominence because of the Klan and white supremacists after the war-some heritage. I think if a person wants to put out s symbol of hate and discrimination and hang it on their private property–they have every right to do so, even though I hate it. But I think government should not be allowed to display it publicly except a museum of history–and only in a case inside.
I hope we can move on from something as disgraceful as this flag.”
I agree with JBL. Man, that felt weird to type. I suggest you all give agreeing with JBL a try. Y’know, just this once.
(Via Wrestling Inc.)
