On the subject of the Confederate battle flag, someone recently told me it’s just a piece of cloth. By that reasoning, the Magna Carta was just a piece of parchment. It is not the cloth that matters, but what that flag represents. To most people today, it represents the Confederacy and what the Confederacy stood for was racial superiority.
Despite what the apologists for the South like to say, the Civil War was about racial superiority, slavery, slavery’s extension into new areas of the country, and the economic interests of the powerful in the South. The economic value of the slaves for their owners was the single biggest economic interest in the country. The economic system of the South was based on slavery. These economic interests were also felt in the North. The poor of the South knew they at least had a class of people lower than themselves and therefore had a stake in the peculiar institution. Slavery was the boil on the United States from its founding and that boil at some point had to be lanced. The Civil War was not fought over the issue of state’s rights, an issue which we still argue about and have so since the adoption of the Constitution.
Some argue that the battle flag represents a part of their cultural history. I agree, but is slavery, segregation, and racism something that should be honored? There are many things in our individual past and past of our country of which we should not be proud. I certainly take no pride in the fact that our forebears committed genocide against native populations. I do not want to celebrate courage in the service of a wrong. I do not question the courage of many Southern soldiers, but they were traitors to the United States and fought to defend a positive evil.
Since the Civil War ended, the stars and bars have come to represent much more than a battle flag. The Civil War did not end the belief in racial superiority. While the Constitution was amended to eliminate slavery, the Southern states moved to a system of segregation which again demonstrated this strongly held belief. There are still many of our fellow citizens who still believe in racial superiority and practice this belief in whatever ways they can.
Our history has been written by a series of immigration waves which have been met with racial and cultural resistance. Job ads that read Irish, Catholics, Italians, Jews, Poles, and many others need not apply were once common. We have made significant progress as a nation, but still have a long way to go. The question of immigration today is tainted with the ethnic bigotry of the past.
The Confederate battle flag represents a symbol of racism for many. While “political correctness” has come under attack lately, to me it simply represents thoughtful good taste. While we can argue that political correctness may at times go too far, it should never go out of style. In this time of instant communication, we should as always think first before hitting the send button or opening our mouths. We should be considerate of others. Taking down the stars and bars represents our consideration of the feelings of those whose family histories are full of suffering because of the institutions which that flag represents. There are still millions of people living today who suffered from racial segregation.
Let us take the stars and bars down and put it where it belongs. It should be in a museum where people can learn about the mistakes our country has made. Let us not buy into the mythology of how wonderful the past was in the South. Let us not honor the generals who took an oath as an officer in the United States Army who then fought against the United States. Let us not honor a symbol of human evil and hate.