The Confederate Flag has been thrust into the national spot light, after years of public discussion dormancy. Having lived in the south my entire life – Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia – I’ve witnessed its transition from flying over state capitols and local government buildings, to being displayed on personal property, bumper stickers and license plates.
Soldiers of the Confederacy (fathers, brothers, uncles, nephews, etc.) were fighting for the preservation of the southern economy, traditions and quality of life against their Yankee enemies. These are the primary factors descendants of the Confederacy and their supporters take pride in while touting the strength and courage these men displayed defending the mainstay of southern existence.
Today the symbol of the Confederate Flag held high by most of these descendants and sympathizers comes with a newer softer message…“Heritage Not Hate.” It’s as if this is about taking pride in mint juleps, willow trees, southern peach pie and The Dukes of Hazard.
They claim their heritage and pride isn’t about oppression, racism or slavery and that persons who use the flag in this deplorable manner, only lurk on the fringes of our current society. In my opinion at least the supposed “fringe” represents the flag as it was intended. If we are to speak about southern pride and heritage of the Confederacy we must include the enslavement of Africans. These Africans were not citizens (African Americans) of the United States, they were slaves who were the property of their southern slave holders. Their enslavement supported the economy of the southern states which reinforced and maintained the southern traditions and way of life the south fought to maintain during the Civil War.
It’s puzzling why “Heritage Not Hate” Confederate Flag defenders don’t know or choose to ignore this large portion of American history. What is even more troubling is why they don’t fully know the history of the “Stainless Banner”, which was the second Confederate States of America flag.
The creator of the “Stainless Banner” William Tappan Thompson made it very clear not only what the south was fighting for but why they were fighting. In 1863 Thompson who referred to his new design as “The White Man’s Flag” stated;
“As a people we are fighting to maintain the Heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race; a white flag would thus be emblematical of our cause.”
Dear Heritage Not Hate supporters, The Confederate Flags represents heritage AND hate. Your emotions and pride can’t change facts or history.
It still baffles me that the flag wasn’t banned as the symbol of treason that it was back then. The Confederacy literally tied to overthrow our government to preserve their “right” to dehumanize people and use them like cattle. Why would we allow that to remain as a symbol of pride in the first place?
Our government is a “reluctant racist” institution which claims to have no negative bias or prejudices towards African Americans yet it has clear discriminatory behaviors. That was taken from Vernallia Randall and it is truth. Like Discordant, I too am baffled that the flag hasn’t been banned. Allowing the flag to be displayed and masking its symbolism as “heritage not hate” is absolutely ridiculous. This can be equated to a German displaying the Nazi swastika in their window. It is illegal to display the swastika in Germany and it means the same thing as the Confederate Flag. They are both symbols of hate and racism in it’s darkest form. This article is great and very informative. I wonder what the response would be like if a group of black people got together and burned a few confederate flags? Would be it be considered anti-American? Would it wage war between blacks and whites? Thank you!
People have to realize symbols aquire new meanings in different contexts ,just as the Crucifix is no longer seen as representation of capital punishment and the Swastika isn’t attributed to balance and wholeness.It may represent your ancestors’ culture ,but their way of life sucked for everyone else involved.
I’m with the rest of the people who feel that it should just be accepted as a symbol of hate. It’s all that it’s used for. The white supremacist groups use it to remind minorities of their “superiority”. Southerners use it to do the same thing and love to flash it in front of the faces of minority. It is deplorable to allow it to continue to affect us the way it does. I think we should start burning it in protest of what it has stood for. Of course we would be accused of starting a race riot. Why not do it on our own terms.
The arguments I continually have with my extended family back home boil down to this, “In places where the Nazi flag is banned, the Neo-Nazis will use the confederate battle flag or the stars and bars. If we can acknowledge that one hate group sees this as a symbol of white supremacy, why the fuck do you want to celebrate that heritage.
Especially when Mark Twain, Chicken & Waffles, and the word y’all exist.”
Well me being black AND living in Columbia, SC (yeah, that place where the Confederate Flag debacle happened), I don’t like it. I’m with this article. I see more hate than I do heritage. And after reading this, I kinda saw the ‘heritage’ in it, but still the hate. So my opinion on this flag stays.