This might appear to some onlookers as a very
trivial thing – removing a patch from a personalised jacket – but if that patch
is a symbol of racism and pro-slavery then it is worth explaining and
apologising over.
I own two leather jackets – one of whom them is personalised
with studs and patches of my favourite bands or references to films. And the
other is a plain leather jacket which I’ve come to wear all the time. My
patches jacket is one I’ve kept away for several years now, but I have
officially decided to get rid of a part of it that I am fully ashamed of
adding.
When I first became involved in the Punk Rock and
Heavy Metal cultures, I was naive enough to confuse symbols of hate with those
of shock value. I would have dismissed questions of why I was wearing the
confederate flag on my shoulder as a piece of harmless shock humour – but even
shock humour is capable of stepping over the line and delivering something
profusely offensive.
I have therefore taken this flag of racism, sexism,
homophobia and slavery off of my jacket and you can see what I’ve done with it
below.
Having kept such a disgusting symbol on my clothing
is something I don’t think I could ever forgive myself of doing. And recent
actions in South Carolina, and a recent documentary on the Ku Klux Klan caused
me to do something which I know I should have done a long, long time ago.
It is with this post that I sincerely, humbly and
profusely apologise for wearing a patch so sickening that its ideology is
equivalent to Nazism. I will see this as a learning curve. A moment when you grow up and learn about how
things you say and do can carry more weight and meaning than you might expect.
 |
| A memory of an act of pure stupidity. |
One thing that I am now left to ask, is how was a
naive youth like me ever able to get his hands on such a terrible symbol? I bought
this patch in a music store in my hometown along with a patch which references
The Omen, one of my favourite horror flicks. Why on earth are people being sold
such atrocious things over the counter under the illusion that they are
harmless pieces of paraphernalia? You wouldn’t sell a swastika flag to a child
so why offer something like this?
All I can say now, is how could I have carried something
so treacherous on my shoulders? I guess I made the stupid mistake of thinking
the flag was harmless to handle because bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd and Kid Rock
have used it in the past. Anyone who has studied the American Civil War, knows
that the confederate ideology was white supremacist and has no place in a
multicultural society today.
Once again I am sorry to anyone who ever saw me
wearing this symbol of hate. I don’t think I can ever forgive myself for it and
I will do all I can to fight anyone who calls it ‘shock humour’ because you
have to know where and when you’ve crossed the line – and this is it.
And I don't think any word of mine can ever describe the atorcities committed under the leadeership of this symbol, but you have my word that no other such piece will
ever be carried on my clothing again. I committed the very crime of not thinking
before I acted.
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