Rapper Chris "Ludacris" Bridges caused quite a stir when the news got around that he was wearing a Confederate Flag Jacket at the 2005 VIBE Awards where he performed a rendition of the Ray Charles classic, "Georgia." In fact, he found it neccessary to explain himself.
This flag represents the oppression that we as African Americans have endured for years; this is a symbol of segregation and the racism that reigned not only throughout the South but throughout the entire United States.
At the end of the performance, I removed and stomped on the flag to reveal my version of the flag; a flag comprised of black, red and green. Those are the colors of Africa. It is a representation and my interpretation of where we were and where we need to go.
Fair enough. The Confederate flag has come to represent racism to many people, particularly black Americans. Forget for a moment that the Civil War was not all about slavery, as some people would have you believe. The shameful practice of slavery existed in both the North and the South and only became an issue of the war when President Lincoln made it an issue to build support among urban Northerners. But that’s a discussion for another day.
It’s reasonable for people who’s ancestors were the victims of a great evil like slavery to despise the Confederate flag as a symbol of that evil. And Ludacris is exactly right to denounce segregation and racism.
So why didn’t he reveal an American flag in place of the Confederate flag. What’s this about his version of the flag? A flag with black, red and green? The colors of Africa? Is he an American or an African?
It sounds to me like he’s trying to continue the evil of segregation and racism instead of trying to end it.