people, who recognize this false narrative usually hold their tongue. They don’t go around
telling people they don’t believe in that kind
of willful ignorance. So whenever you’re challenging the flag, you’re basically challenging
white supremacy that relies very strongly on
shouting down, not necessarily violent things,
but aggressive things.
The threats were… just that, threats. Nothing
like being in the Civil Rights Movement of the
1950s.
Archetype or Token?: The Challenge of the Black Panther,
in Marvel Comics into film: Essays on adaptations since the 1940s
Threats, you say? Were there specific
threats or was it just the idea that doing
this could be threatening?
No, no… people threatened me. People would
call my office. People would send these angry,
angry e-mails. People said they were going to
come to the event with guns. It was all over
these white supremacist boards with violent
imagery, and so on. It was a real threat, not
imaginary. There were real threats. At the end
of the day, I think that forced some people to
come. Some of my friends who weren’t going
to come were like, “Well, I’ll come now.” So,
ironically, on the day of, many people showed
up, but at the wrong place. On the day of, I
heard about all the angry people who were
“looking for the n-word that was gonna burn
the flag.” They were at the Greenwood Cemetery, but the day of? I was at the Urban Wetlands Project, so I never saw any of them.
I couldn’t just leave it at comics, that
was to limiting the full picture of this
great professor. Julian’s efforts in activism are an important part of his story.
tested meaning around the Confederate flag.
So, I understood; I said yes. It sort of jives with
my own understanding of the complexity of
the flag.
Considering the news media simply focused on the controversy, the outrage,
and the protest against his involvement
in the John Sims’s project, no one was
getting the full scoop unless we got
his story firsthand. Julian was happy
to oblige, and his true opinions of the
event, the factors surrounding it, and
what it means to America will surely
have you thinking hard about the role of
historical symbolism in modern society.
Were you worried about the backlash, or
did anyone close to you speak out about it?
People spoke out, in the sense that they were
worried for me. Because, you know, the Confederate flag is a flag that is full of, in my mind, Do you think that the general media has
a false narrative. Most people of color, or white had misconceptions about this?
Home to the Crossroads, in There Will Be Words vol. XXVI, The TrIP Issue
First, how did you find out about the protest, and what made you want to get involved?
Well, I was asked to be involved by John Sims.
He’s the artist that conceived of the project.
He has an established project called the Recoloration Proclamation. A few different projects
regarding the Confederate flag. He’s recolored
the flag. He did a show in Harrisburg, PA in
2003 or 4 where he hung the Confederate flag
(with nooses).
He reached out to people to organize this flag
burning across the South, in the former states
of the Confederacy. Thirteen flag funerals.
When he asked me to do the funeral for Florida, I already was aware of the anniversary of
the Civil War. I was aware that there is a con25
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