Zombie Confederacy

I've never really been a NASCAR fan. I had a friend in college who was pretty into it and occasionally he'd try to sell me on it, but what he never understood was that if you take away the tailgating that goes on before, during, and after the race it's just a bunch of cars driving around in circles for hours, and hours, and HOURS. And look, there's obviously more to it than that, these drivers are exceptionally skilled. They're driving, maneuvering and turning at incredibly high speeds. But it's not that fun if you're just two dudes sitting in a living room watching it on TV.

And then there's the racism. No, not all NASCAR fans are racist but it's not a good look that the sport needs to implement a ban on the Confederate flag in 2020! All things considered it doesn't feel out of line to say that NASCAR and their fan base skew racist. But the times they are a changin' and on Wednesday NASCAR finally implemented a ban on the hateful symbol. The wheels were set in motion by Bubba Wallace, the only black driver on the circuit. Last Sunday, Bubba wore an "I can't breathe" Black Lives Matter t-shirt and had the artwork on his car changed to a Black Lives Matter design. He's also been doing a number of interviews including one with CNN's Don Lemon on Monday night. By Wednesday, shortly before a race in Martinsville, Georgia, NASCAR announced it was banning the Confederate flag, effective immediately.


While it should seem like common decency for a national organization, or even an individual person, not to display a symbol of oppression and hate at their events, this is a big deal. This is going to upset a lot of fans but NASCAR and their sponsors have obviously decided that they're going to endure whatever backlash they face. It also means that they think they'd lose more money if they didn't ban the flag, which means public support for Black Lives Matter must be pretty strong all over the country.