Culture Shock: The Confederate Flag
At Beach Hop, I saw dozens of Confederate Flags. They were hanging off beautiful classic rebuilds, embossed into belt-buckles, and integrated into club emblems. Given New Zealand lacks the historical context, I figured it was harmless cultural appropriation.
But, I also didn’t feel confident enough to just ask.
Back in Auckland, I text messaged a few friends:
I’m going crazy here and I figure you can help. I was in a town whose name I can’t spell over on the peninsula, and ran into a carshow. The whole town was shutdown for it… It was quite the event. Lots of old American muscle cars. But, the weird part for me was there were Confederate flags all over. In the States, those are typically flown by poor disaffected white people to represent stuff generally considered negative. (slavery, white power, state’s rights, etc.) But what the hell does it mean here?
I know, I know. I’m practically a goodwill ambassador.
A couple responses cleared it up.
Hey man, i fully understand why you would be offended. But here It’s more association with macho american culture than racism. People see the flag and think dukes of hazard. There will be bigots as car culture inevitabley attracts that but for the most part they are just jocks who like cars
And:
Ohhh! Here it doesnt mean anythin like that haha! Just like Nigg**. Its just commemoratin old american cars :-)
Basically what I figured, but it was nice to know for sure.
