Australian Road Train. I've seen them coming 30 miles away on the dusty Stuart Highway.
Posted on 06/24/2020 5:43:07 AM PDT by Alas Babylon!
There aren’t many Alabama businessmen whose comments make the pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post on the same weekend.
And there are no others along a stretch of U.S. 431 outside Anniston on the way to Lake Wedowee, besides Bob Castello. The 68-year-old former traveling salesman is the owner of the Dixie General Store, one of the places where those who want to remember the Confederacy take their stand and buy its emblems. And not in Confederate dollars, either, although you can buy replicas of them there.
NASCAR’s ban on the Confederate flag brought out merchants at Talladega this weekend, and demonstrations nationwide - and in Birmingham - have brought down monuments to Civil War figures of both the Confederacy and the Union over the last month. But Castello has been selling flags from this roadside store - about 30 miles from the racetrack - for more than five years, and been talking to journalists for about that long, as he did this weekend for stories on the enduring sales of the flag.
He says he has welcomed visitors of all races to the store, been visited by shoppers from every state and 29 countries, and received calls of support from Black local citizens in Cleburne County. Only rarely does he get a visitor who wants to do more than discuss what the flag means.
“Somebody last month said we shouldn’t be selling that racist stuff,” he said. “I just told him he needed to leave and never come back. I’ll talk to anybody. Usually it’s pleasant conversations.”
Castello has Confederate battle flags, regiment flags, sovereign state flags adopted after secession. You can pick up a 12-foot by 18-foot battle flag for $275, for example. You can even buy a rebel flag mask for the pandemic. A flag flying outside urges people to respect, protect and preserve Confederate monuments, and inside, you can buy photographs of monuments suitable for framing. There are T-shirts, dresses, custom holsters and bumper stickers, all with some variation of the stars and bars.
There’s also plenty of merchandise devoted to the 45th president. Trump flags, Trump hats, and merchandise with Donald Trump’s head photo-shopped onto the body of Sylvester Stallone from the Rambo movies are just some of your options.
After years on the road, Castello noticed Confederate memorabilia selling at flea markets and thought a central store selling the goods in a rural setting might do well. He has always been fascinated by the Civil War, remembering a family member who joined up at the age of 46 to take on Sherman’s army during its march through Georgia. As a child, he remembers a family heirloom sword which belonged to a soldier.
Castello said he makes a lot of the merchandise, as it is getting harder to find domestic companies that sell products with Confederate emblems. He sees a day when major manufacturers, wishing to eschew controversy, stop altogether. Alabama Flag & Banner, located in Huntsville, sells the flag but would not speak for this story. Internet searches also turn up other products featuring the Confederate flag.
Castello had a court case with the Alabama Department of Transportation three years ago dealing with his flag display off Interstate 20, which flies flags and features an image of Gen. Robert E. Lee. He contended the displays were on his own property. The case was eventually settled.
“Some people have stopped doing it (manufacturing Confederate flags),” he said. “If they basically intimidate all the American companies into not making them anymore, they’ll just be made in China. It’s not going to stop. That’s all they’ll accomplish.”
Castello said he doesn’t see the flag as an emblem of slavery, as most of the soldiers in the Confederate Army were poor farmers who did not own slaves. He also thinks that attempts to “jerk down statues” will only bring more customers. Incidents like the killing of George Floyd, or the 2015 mass killing of nine Black worshippers in a Charleston, S.C. church are evil, he said, but he sees no connection between them and the Confederate flag. He hopes to continue selling them as long as he is able.
You’re the type I do not understand. You start out saying it’s not your thing or you really don’t care then you say “let the Confederate Flag go to sleep”. Are you stupid? How daft are you. You are a hypocrite!!!
Alright-—since you bring it up. The “North” won. The “South” lost. The hideous institution of slavery promoted by democrats was laid to rest. The flag that fought to keep that peculiar institution alive should also be laid to rest. The war is over. Those that wish to wave the Confederate Cloth are just regenerative democrats as far as I am concerned.
You have bought the public school comic book version of the Southern state secession and the Civil War. You are projecting the sensibilities of the 21st century onto the 19th century and it is giving you a distorted view of history. It did not start out as a war to end slavery. Not at all.
Australian Road Train. I've seen them coming 30 miles away on the dusty Stuart Highway.
That’ll work!
It’s easy to say people should give it up, but some won’t.
And if it’s pushed, people, like teenagers doing the opposite of what a parent wants them to, will wave it more often.
People would have to agree individually to do that.
Unless it is banned, and the powers that be used the police state to enforce the ban. But then, we wouldn’t be the United States anymore, at least the country that actually follows the Constitution.
The article didn't mention how long the store has been in business, but I can bet that there was none of this "anger" going on a mere 25 or so years ago.
Back then, a Confederate flag was just a Confederate flag -- very few, if anyone saw offense to it, including blacks. It is just within the past generation where you get this feigned outrage and people getting the vapors if they see the flag.
Racism™ is a business. They must stir up trouble or go out of business.
You’ll find more than just a few flying in E. Central, MN. Some of us had ancestors, who fought on both sides. We chose to honor them all.
Others are fed up with the speech police, and fly them in defiance.
.........................................
It’s not uncommon to see the Confederate battle flag flying in western Maryland and all over central Pennsylvania. It’s a 1st Amendment statement for most. I have several and fly them in rotation with the Gadsden flag, the Bonnie Blue flag, the Stars and Bars, the POW/MIA, Old Glory. and the Sons of Liberty flag. April is Confederate History month and my Confederate flag is flown in honor of all Confederate soldiers who died in the war. Anyone doesn’t like it is welcome to try and take one of them down.
The left is going to revive the popularity of the stars and bars as a symbol of rebellion and the fight against the leftist and globalist.
............................................
Just so you’ll know, although it’s common to refer to the Confederate battle flag as the Stars and Bars, that designation actually referred to the national flag of the CSA not to the battle flag.
I don’t fly the Confederate flag and I don’t much want anyone to do so because it is an unnecessary provocation that is offensive to many.
...............................................
Today countless people here and around the world consider flying Old Glory to be an “unnecessary provocation”! And it’s common for those who are ever ready to jam the commandment of “diversity” down everyone’s throat to whine that they’re “offended.”
Sweet Home Alabama. Need a ping list.
If you really knew your history, you’d also note that Lincoln, and his successor A. Johnson, did NOT want to treat the South as conquered enemies.
Grant let Lee keep his sword, and Confederate officers and troops were allowed to keep their horses.
The defeat was during the war, as the armies under Sherman pushed through the Southern heartland.
But once the Confederacy was finished, a lenient hand was applied. A. Johnson even gave a pardon to all the men and officers not already charged.
The War was over. A big part of the country lost. By those fellow citizens were only the Enemy until the war was over. I make no judgements, but that an objective truth of history.
Which confederacy flag should we retire or let sleep. There were hundreds. The one everyone has their panties in a wad over is the battle flag of Northern VA. You wouldn’t know a confederate flag if you saw it. Just because your stupid, ignorant (they aren’t the same thing), of weak constitution, and French doesn’t make the rest of the same. Go fly your rainbow flag. MEOW!
Agreed.
I read the Kennedy brothers screed on the South’s reasons for the Civil War. After getting past all the Yankee Dog insults and what not, I found the reasons interesting. But in the end, it was all smoke screen to keep slavery. Slaves made the elite folks money. Kept the Southern economy going.... Really no different than today...Nancy wanting to keep her low paid slaves canning tuna in the islands, etc, etc, etc...
Go fly your rainbow flag. MEOW!
You crack me up...Fly the flag of losers—all hundreds of them. Me...I will fly the flag of winners....The American Flag. Choose your side Johnny-Reb! Wasn’t the first time we had to kick your ass...maybe send more troops down to open up your schools so little black kids can learn to read and write...
You guys are so easy to troll...I am sitting here rolling around laughing...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.