In the days following the horrific murder of nine innocent men and women at the Emmanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina, the Confederate or “Rebel” flag continues to stand as a point of controversy in a wounded nation.
Most egregiously, the Confederate battle flag was not even lowered to half mast as American flags around the country were. The symbolic gesture of not lowering that flag is pointed, a clear statement on where equality in America can go.
Still, raise the issue in conversation somewhere and plenty of proponents of the Confederate flag will race to its defense with claims that opponents are uninformed. The Rebel flag, they’ll say, is merely a celebration of Southern heritage.
By understanding the historic roots of that flag, we should be able to put defenseless positions to bed, recognize the Confederate symbol for what it represents, and at the very least remove it from government endorsed places of honor.
5 replies on “What The Confederate Flag Stands For”
Thanks for this follow-up, Clay. I didn’t know the history of the flag. Or that this was the “battle flag” and not the “Confederate” flag until the Facebook comment the other day. Regardless, everyone recognizes what that flag represents, whatever weak defense anyone tries to put up.
I grew up in and still live outside of Fredericksburg, Va.; this entire area is steeped in Civil War history. These memories are well worth preserving, good and bad they are our heritage. But this flag and the attitudes it represents should fall under the category of things we’ve grown beyond and persevered over, not our present or future.
Hi Michelle. Thanks for the comment. You know I’m as big an advocate of historic preservation as anyone, but you’re right, actively condoning a symbol that has caused so much pain is a different story.
The comments keep popping Matt’s post to the top of my FB feed and my curiosity keeps me looking at them. It’s gotten interesting over there to say the least. I keep thinking, “Did you see the video? Did you not hear what they actually SAID? In WRITING! For God and everyone to see. Why are you still arguing this flag was not created explicitly as a racist symbol.” It wasn’t morphed later.
According to the research of “JR.’s boy Clay”. 😉
Well said. I’m all for being proud of my heritage, but what really got me was it not even being lowered to half mast. Really?!?
Thanks Chris. That was a pretty big signal to many people. A lot of people unhappy about all the pushback keep saying that this is just a knee-jerk reaction and that the media is generating this, but a whole lot of people have been saying these things for many years.