*Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin saw a photograph of white people painting the Confederate flag on the side of a wall in his hometown of Pensacola, Florida and it prompted him to post a personal essay about the issue that has since gone viral.
Posted Saturday night to Facebook, the 26-year-old writes:
“Today I want to discuss this picture, depicting individuals demonstrating their freedom of speech, taken in my home town.
“It is not surprising to see, however it is still a very frustrating image to me for various reasons. Why? Well, I grew up in this area and know the population all too well. A noose hanging from a rearview mirror wasn’t outside the realm of what I would see in my high school parking lot. My experiences in life have taught me that you can’t expect ignorance to educate itself. Being an African-American born in the South, there is some confirmation bias in play here but I’m going to attempt to share some history while stating my stance on the subject based on those facts of history.”
Baldwin went on to outline misinformation regarding the flag’s origin, its eventual adoption by the segregationist Dixiecrats and its appearance on the Georgia state flag as a direct response to school desegregation.
“As a 26 year old who grew up in the south around many supporters of the confederate flag, I would like to ask those same people to answer this question: What does southern pride and heritage really mean? Is it the sweet tea and hospitality? Or is this a sense of pride for the rebellious actions against a national government who had the audacity to say that secession was unconstitutional and slavery was wrong?” Baldwin writes.
Read his entire post below:
Pensacola, FL. Home sweet home.. I can respect freedom of speech. Hell, I’ve been known to rub people the wrong way…
Posted by Doug Baldwin on Saturday, June 27, 2015
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