Flying the Confederate flag is at best ignorant, and at worst intentionally insensitive. It’s a symbol of bigotry, racism, violence, hatred and terror; it’s a symbol of the things wrong with the South rather than a symbol of the good things it has to offer.
First, it’s important to understand how symbols work and what they do. A symbol, for our purposes, is any intentional marking or denotation that refers to a separate thing, whether physical or abstract. Over time, symbols might shift in meaning (and often have), or have extra meanings tacked on due to the action or inaction of others.
Such has happened to the Rebel flag. It’s important to note that I have little or nothing to say about the original meanings of the flag. It symbolized a variety of things, little of which has to do with the current meaning. I just want to make it explicit that I do not in any way denigrate or degrade the sacrifices and valor of the South in the Civil War; if anything, this has nothing to do directly with the Civil War at all, so it should be shelved for now.
Perhaps my point can best be made through a modern analogy. The swastika is a symbol that originates in the Neolithic era. It’s an ancient symbol, meant to denote well-being. It has been used in a variety of positive religious contexts, including Hinduism and Buddhism.
However, after the Nazis hijacked the symbol in the early 20th century, the symbol now denotes something else in our society. It denotes a horrible ideology plagued with unfounded claims of racial superiority and the wholesale slaughter of Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals and various other groups. This has imprinted our Western world and society with the new meaning, and thus the old meaning becomes irrelevant and outdated. Wearing a swastika is inappropriate, due to the contemporary, common definition.
In a similar way, the Confederate flag was redefined; it came to stand for much different things than it did during its creation. The fact of the matter is that the Ku Klux Klan adapted this symbol with little to no resistance from Southern whites, and certainly no opposition of substance or import. In essence, the symbol was surrendered to violent racists. Recent attempts have been made by the Sons of Confederate Veterans to save it from this fate, but it’s too late. When it counted, the majority of Southern whites were complicit, silent, or indifferent to what happened under the banner of the Confederate flag.
It was surrendered to violent, racist groups with horrible actions and agendas. It has become synonymous with cross burnings, church burnings and lynch mobs. This has happened for a reason — these things happened, and due to a lack of resistance, the Confederate flag was the symbol beneath which these criminals rallied.
“Heritage, not hate” is simply revisionist hand-waving. The firm, real connection of the flag to violence and hatred still exists in the social and individual consciousness of most American blacks today. To insist that it stands for some other concept, or simply regional pride ignores the issue. It stands for a specific brand of regional pride, restricted to one race, associated with campaigns of racially aimed terror.
Stop flying the flag.
Remember the Confederate dead; honor their valor in ways that does not blithely insult and legitimately offend others. In the years following the civil rights movement, we should continue to heal and improve our racial problems in America. The Rebel flag only serves to exacerbate these issues.
Rebel against Mike at [email protected].
