Old Flag, but it will certainly take arnmighty effort, which has to start withrnsome recognition of what the flag nowrnmeans to many of our fellow citizens.rnMeanwhile, attempts to universalize thernConfederacv’s svml)ols (by includingrnthem in state flags, for instance) implyrncither that those svmbols are black folks’,rntoo, or that black folks don’t count.rnGiven that, shouldn’t the flag’s partisansrn—those of good will—say sometliingrnto their opponents like this:rnI’irst, we don’t accept your interpretationrnof what the flag means,rnand if we feel like it, we’ll fl’ it,rnput it on our cars, tattoo it on ourrnforeheads, whatever we damn wellrnplease—meaning bv it what wernmean l^v it, not what vou think wernmean. Second, we understandrnthat it does mean somethingrndifferent to vou. Third, we alsornrecognize that there’s no morernchance that you’ll buy ourrninterpretation than that we’ll buyrnours. Fourth, svmbols of thernSouth (a fortiori, a state flag)rnshould enlist the lovalty andrnaffection of as many Southernersrn(citizens of the state) asrnpracticable. Fifth, we’re thereforernwilling to look for symbols of thernSouth (a state flag) we can all bernattached to.rnThis strikes me as a coherent and reasonablernposition, and I’d be very curiousrnto know which part of it mv criticsrndon’t accept.rn•••.- ^^ ;irnOf course, that just gets us to the hardrnpart. What kinds of symbols fill thatrnbill? If vou simply make up something,rnyou’re likelv to vind up with syntheticrnpseudo-tradition, like Kwanzaa, or, ifrn()u’rc really inept, the Atlanta Olympics’rnWhatizit, a semiotie black hole that notrnonh has no meaning itself but drain.srnthe meaning from everything in its vicinity.rnWhen Southern magazine wentrnlooking for regional smbols a few yearsrnago, it ran into this problem. Its suggestionsrnwere so sterile, so uneocativc,rnthat I can’t even remember what theyrnwere.rnWith time, though, constructed symbolsrntake on meaning (OK, mabc Whatizit’srnan exception). Every flag was newrnonce: no one had died for it. You havernto start somewhere. What could be arn.suitable emblem of Southern unitv?rnPersonally, I’m partial to one of thosernflying pigs you see on barbecue signs.rnNo, seriously: a good barbecue joint ma’rnbe the one place you’ll find Southernersrnof all descriptions—yuppies, hippies,rnand cowboys. Christians and sinners,rnblack and yvhite together. Not dignifiedrnenough for you? Well, lack of thatrnconcern is a regional tradition, too. Rememberrnhow “Dixie” goes on aboutrn”buckwheat cakes and Injun batter”rnthat “makes you fat and a little fatter”?rnElvis could get with that. Oprah, too.rnAnd Delta Burke. Maynard Jackson.rnBill Clmton.rnBut if a winged pig just won’t do as arnsymbol for the new, aerobic South—rnDixie Lite—I’ve got two examples ofrnsomething a little more cerebral. Thernfirst conies from the strange case of thernSouthern Students Organizing Committee,rna group that 60’s trivia buffs mayrnrecall as a sort of regional affiliate ofrnSDS. Its members delighted in mixedrnmessages: their newsletter was calledrn”The Rebel Yell,” and their logo was twornclasped hands, black and white, superimposedrnon the battle flag. As I heard it,rntheir Weatherman comrades from thernNortheast and the West Coast found allrnthis about as amusing as the Klan mustrnhae, just couldn’t handle it, andrndrummed SSOC out of the movement.rnI’ll forgive them a lot for that.rnJust so, last year I was startled, thenrnamused, then heartened to see the battlernflag flying from a student residence atrnthe College of Chadeston—right nextrnto the green, red, and black banner ofrnblack nationalism. I hae no idea whornflew those flags together, or why, butrnthat sort of juxtaposition can make peoplernstop and think, and I’m optimisticrnenough to believe that’s usually not arnbad thing.rnThese examples make me wonderrnwhether there’s some way to universalizernthe Confederate symbols after all, somernway eolleetieh to accept the past forrnwhat it was, not deny or forget it, butrntransform it for our common use. Somernother people have been thinking alongrnthese same lines lately, and maybe—justrnmaybe—they’re getting somewhere.rnConsider, for instance, the T-shirt designedrnby Southern Reader, a quirky,rnneo-sceessionist, “eco-regionalist” bimonthlyrnout of Oxford, Mississippi. Itrnbears a battle flag, transformed: blackrnand white on a field of green. And arnmotto from James Brown: “Keep ItrnFunky.” I don’t know about vou, but Irnthink it would be delightful if a fewrnthousand spectators turned up at thernAtlanta Olympics in those shirts. Ifrnnothing else, it would drive the networkrnguys crazy.rnJohn Shelton Reed writes this monthrnfrom Jackson, Mississippi, which he isrnvisiting as the Eudora Welty Professor ofrnSouthern Studies at Millsaps College.rnLetter From Floridarnby fames /. NovakrnOn Memorial DavrnThough my wife and I make our parttimernhome in Florida, in the port townrnof Fort Pierce, for the past six years wernhave made it a custom to attend MemorialrnDay services at Vero Beach a fewmilesrnup Route AlA. How this customrnbegan we cannot recall; but each year,rnrain or shine (and in Florida it is usuallyrnthe latter), we drie up to the park wherernveterans are memorialized.rnMemorial Park is really a small islandrnthat sits out a bit from shore in the IntracoastalrnWaterway or Indian River,rnwhich flows between the mainland andrnthe beach. The Intraeoastal itself is arnsort of memorial to war, for one of itsrnpurposes has been to provide a safernchannel awa) from the dangers of submarines.rnIn times of war, much freightrncan move in the waterway, from Canadarnto Key West, without ever going out tornopen sea. In any case, over a small footbridgernthat traverses the waterway is thernpark where the services are held.rnOn the island is a small set of benchesrnset in amphitheater style. On MemorialrnDay, these are covered by an awningrnto keep out the glare of the morning sun.rnA flagpole is placed before the benches,rnand nearby is a ship’s bell. To thernleft of the island is a pathwa’, where soldiersrnfronr the county who died in Vietnamrnor any subsequent battle are honoredrnby headstones every ten feet or so,rneach under a tree, mostl- oleandersrnwhose pink or white blossoms help obscurernthe sun. The island is about 500rnyards square; its only purpose is tornmemorialize local American soldiers.rnAPRIL 1993/39rnrnrn