The sign in the front yard says Obama. Are you implying they are racist because of the confederate flag ? Some are proud of what they term "heritage not hate". Sorry, too complicated for me to caption. Guess one has to be from that area to understand. In Palm Springs the display would look eccentric, but I don't think it would spark a controversy.

O.K...I'll say it...I don't get it either ???

Alan
from Canada

Indiana was not a Southern State. We were big on the underground railroad and we didn't allow slavery. The confederate flag is a sign of racism here - and you see them around Martinsville quite often. As one of my relatives from the area told me the other day when I asked him who he would be voting for, "I'm voting for the n----r." Yeah.

So's the owner of this house.

I wouldn't of known what a confederate flag looks like? Wasn't even sure what a confederate was either to be honest. I'd guess very few would know in Canada? I don't know whether to feel dumb for not knowing, or glad for never having been exposed to this kind of stuff?

So if I see this ever see this flag it's a racism flag?

That's interesting. It's almost like people know that their racism is stupid.

On a similar note, there are several Obama signs up in my parents' swanky neighborhood, which is pretty much the same thing. It's almost like "He'll raise my taxes, but at least he won't start another war."

"Vive la différence."

or

"Even rednecks get the blues."

or

"A house divided against itself cannot stand."

or

"Hell, I thought it was one of them Halloween headstone decorations."

or

"...and the doorbell chimes 'Y.M.C.A.'"

What did you expect, they live in a foursquare house (at least I think that is the style).

It's Halloween, the blue Obama sign is probably meant to scare their neighbors..... it worked!

I say give the accolades to Melanie Davis....

But... uh, Indiana had a lot of Southern sympathasizers during our late, great Civil War. The dialect in southern Indiana is mostly due to Virginians and Carolinians settling there. Vincennes used to vie for KKK fame in Indiana, the city park by the river used to be the KKK park/meeting place.

"Yeah, we put out the Obama sign. But just in case he comes around, we put out the cross, too!"

Bil, as you know, my partner is an African-American, a transplant from the East Coast. The subject of the Confederate flag and its meaning to almost all blacks and the great majority of Americans who understand it has been something frequently discussed, and on occasion experienced.

I remember a couple of years ago when we set out to visit every Indiana county seat and snap courthouse pictures. While our experience was almost entirely positive, there were a few anxious moments in a small handfull of counties that I won't name, when that symbol reared its head as a big sticker on a teenager-driven truck, along the side of a two-lane road, or on the back of a tee shirt underneath a "God Bless America" cap. The stares at what may in have some cases been the only person of color in the entire county at the time were obvious.

Nothing happened, and I suspect that those sporting the confederate flag or its representation would have largely scoffed if told that it was offensive. And it may be a good sign that some of the readers of your post seem "not to get it", an indication that an era is finally going to be behind us.

But, lest there be any doubt as to what the symbolism of the Conferate flag still means to most black people in the United states, imagine being a member of the LGBT community and being confronted with a big "FAGGOT!" sign on the town square, along with apologists who explain: "Oh, I didn't realize that offended anyone."

As to Martinsville, I'm one who thinks it comes in for an excessive amount of ridicule because of events in its past, including a still unsolved murder of a black person there many years ago. Arguably some other places in our Hoosier state would be more deserving for less racial progress than Martinsville seems to have generally made.

But clearly, forgetting too soon the meaning of symbols like the Confederate flag is as unwise as never moving on. In that sense, assuming that the pro-Obama sentiment on the yard sign is genuie, the juxtaposition may be a hopeful thing.

I live in Georgia and the Obama sign and the Confederate Battle Flag (Stars and Bars) would NOT appear in the front yard at the same time of anyone here. It's just ain't done. What I also see is many people who will not give up the old Georgia State flag that once has the Stars and Bars. Racism and bigotry is not as suppressed as it is in the North. Here, we have no doubt who the bigots are.

My country... warts and all.

What I find notable about Martinsville --- and I'll say this to give the fill-in to those outside Indiana --- is that it sits right in the middle between Bloomington and Indianapolis, probably the two most liberal cities in the state. (Not that Indianapolis is intrinsically all that liberal ... it's more liberal than the rest of Indiana in the same way that all big cities accumulate a liberal sub-population.)

So ... traveling from Bloomington to Indy (or vice versa) is like crossing through a foreign country --- perhaps like having to go through Coeur d'Alene, Idaho to get to Spokane from Missoula.

Luckily, there is little in Martinsville to encourage the traveling pinko's to stop for a little cultural exchange. Now that State Road 37 is four lanes, a quick transit through Klanland simply involves making sure your gas tank is full when you leave, and hitting a few stoplights on green.

15 years ago I lived in Bloomington and regularly drove up to Indy or spots further north. My partner at the time refused to stop in Martinsville for fear we'd get killed. No matter what, he just kept driving...

Oh,
Bil,
So it's Indiana's version of Vidor, TX

As far as the Confederate battle flag is concerned, using the 'people served with honor under it' spin is akin to saying the same thing to justify flying the flag of Nazi Germany.

Many WW2 German solders fought bravely and honorably on the battlefield as the death camps, the Waffen SS, Nazi party members and their sympathizers carried out their grisly work behind the lines making Europe Judenfrei and cruelly subjugating the peoples of Occupied Europe to build the Third Reich.

Contrary to the BS Southern revisionist historians put out, they seceded from the United States and fought a four year war in order to continue enslaving my ancestors in perpetuity.

Here's Exhibit A, the statements of secession for three states.

South Carolina
http://facweb.furman.edu/~benson/docs/decl-sc.htm

Mississippi
http://sheltonfamilyhistory.com/mississippisecession.aspx

Texas
http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ref/abouttx/secession/2feb1861.html

They all state slavery as the root cause of their secession from the Union.

So no, the Confederate flag was tainted even before white supremacists started using it as a symbol of opposition to the Civil Rights movement.

I'm a 20+ year resident of Bloomington, and I just want to make a couple comments.

First off, Martinsville is by far not the only corner of this fair state which daily still struggles with bigotry.

In fact, I believe some genuine and significant efforts have been made in recent years to 'reclaim' Martinsville from its legacy of hate. To the extent that any movement forward is a gift to be celebrated, I'm not sure that it serves the future well to dwell on the town's ugly past.

I believe that the real beauty of the photo is the Obama sign and the Confederate flag co-existing. Those two symbols would -- under any context -- instantly create cognitive dissonance for virtually anyone in the US. The fact that this photo was taken in Martinsville should be making us smile all the broader, not rehash that town's ugly past.

I'll submit that the Confederate flag isn't necessarily only going to be known for "one thing" in Indiana, as has been suggested upthread. With population migration (let alone the ease of "trade" in social and cultural capital), I'm just not sure that we can assume anything about many of this country's most "solid" symbols anymore.

This campaign season has shown me, over and over again, that people can change. Change can happen. I think people are "itchin'" to grow. That's why I get wee tears in my eyes when I see photos like the above. Damn, this is an amazing time to be in the US. I've been waiting a long time to be proud of my country. It feels really good.

"You had to push Beaureguard to be such a brain and finish 8th grade. I told you school would turn him into a fucking liberal! Now we are going to be forced out of the neighborhood."

Indiana has a substantial blue-collar population and education levels among whites are lower than in Pennsylvania or Ohio or Wisconsin. Definately not a progressive state, but hope Obama wins the state this time. First time a Democrat has won since 1964.

Hell, yeah, I'm a rebel but I ain't crazy.

I must admit that, some years ago, a number of us had the ill-conceived idea of converting the Stars n' Bars (as many call the battle flag used by the Confederate States in the War of Northern Aggression) to pink and purple, and using the triangular transgender emblem first authored by Nancy Nangeroni, in place of the stars. It's probably wise we never did so. i believe the idea had its genesis over shots of George Dickel's at a gay bar in Nashville, but I digress. I still think a Charger with such a flag on the roof, painted lavender, might be a fun thing to drive. However, I don't know of a GLBT general to name it after.

Martinsville's bad news. Been there, won't stop there again, although I must say I love the countryside of Southern Indiana in spite of its history. But do not forget that Corydon, about 20 miles west of Louisville, was where the KKK was actually formed.
I always feel that I am in the presence of evil when I stop there.

OK, one last comment from someone who was BORN in Martinsville, and lived there until he was 17 y.o.? (that would be me.)
Growing up in the 60's and 70's, I had many, many friends and role models who were not in the least racist. Teachers, nuns in catechism, parents taught us the equality of races. There were a few troublemakers (most of whom lived outside city limits) who made redneckism a fine art, but that was by no means limited to expressions of racial bigotry. And they were, by and large, proud descendants of Kentuckians.
The worst incident of racial violence was in 1968 (I was 8 y.o.), when a very young African-American saleswoman was stabbed to death on one of the main streets in town. The tragedy for her family was incalculable, but it was a horrible black mark for Martinsville. Ironically, as reported in the New Yorker (yes, that New Yorker) five or so years ago, the murderer had finally been identified as a drifter out of Indianapolis. Vindication for the community came more than 30 years too late.
When I went to Indiana University, people (not my friends!) thought it was hilarious to point out that I was from Martinsville to get a reaction out of students from Gary. I did not believe that anyone could be so foolish to think that someone must be a racist just because they come from a certain town. I was very wrong. And as a result, friendships suffered.
Today, there is a small but significant African-American population in Martinsville, and I understand that they are happy to be there and practice their professions.
I could write quite a bit more about growing up gay in Martinsville, and personal observations about race in the town, but the point I really want to make is that it is not right to label a community as racist when the majority are people of good will (hey, apparently, the same proportion of people there voted for Obama as in the rest of non-urban Indiana). While one decries bigotry, one must remember not to pepetrate it.