The Confederate Flag

Let's be clear: It's not about race.

At a South Carolina rally over the weekend where supporters of the Confederate flag had gathered, one supporter yelled at a black man to "go back to where you came from." But it's not about race.

When I was employed at a fast food restaurant in Huntsville, TX, more than one person walked in wearing a t-shirt with a big Confederate flag on the front of it. Below the flag, the caption read, "You wear your 'X' [referring to Malcolm X], and I'll wear mine." Definitely not about race.

And more recently, a meme was posted on Facebook pointing out that the Confederate flag offends some people, then says, "Spending my tax dollars to pay the offended peoples bills ,food and rent offends me!" (Errors in punctuation in original.) Nothing at all to do with race.

If you were to ask that rally member, restaurant customer, or meme creator if they were racist, they would all deny it. And they wouldn't just deny it, but secretly know that it was true. They really believe that they're not racist. Because racist people don't think they're racist. That n-word that they just used in casual conversation? They don't mean anything by it, it's just the way they grew up. After all, they have a friend (possibly their best friend) who is black, so they can't be racist.

Growing up in the South, I couldn't even begin to count the number of times I cringed over a racist comment that was just made, or was about to be made before someone else changed the subject. I also couldn't count the number of times I saw a Confederate flag on someone's bumper or hanging in their house. I thought nothing about that flag for a long time. Then one day, I was at some sort of festival in Texas, and saw a lot of the performers wearing the Confederate flag (often as a belt buckle), and for the first time, I thought, "Wait a minute. That flag represented the side that wanted to keep slavery. Isn't there something wrong with that?" I looked around and saw the smiles on the faces around me, and concluded that it must be alright, but my negative opinion of the flag was starting to form.

Let's just suppose, though, that the Confederate flag really wasn't about racism or slavery 150 years ago. This is purely hypothetical to me, but a lot of people have made that claim lately. Still, think about what it stands for today. Several people on my Facebook feed have said that the Confederate flag has been "taken over" by white supremacist groups, and that's why so many people associate it with racism. First of all, has it ever occurred to you to ask yourself why the white supremacist groups have decided to associate themselves with that flag? If the Confederate flag had nothing to do with slavery or racism, what would be the appeal of it to groups like the KKK? Second, the fact that a lot of people associate it with hate groups means that it is offensive today. Forget about what it stood for 150 years ago for a moment. As we sit here, in 2015, that flag represents a group of people who, despite their general lack of education, believe that they are superior to another group of people because of their skin color. And this is the flag that people are defending.

Despite what some people are claiming, nobody has suggested banning the Confederate flag. This is something that really gets under my skin. Almost every time there is a mass shooting, and rational people start saying that we might want to put some sensible gun control laws in place, the gun nuts really go crazy with comments about how we can't take their guns from them. Nevermind the fact that nobody has tried to take their guns from them. The same has been true of the Confederate flag recently. Republicans and Democrats alike have called for its removal from government-owned property. And somehow, this means the flag is being banned to those who defend it. To be sure, you may find it harder to get the flag at certain retailers now, but if you want to have it in your house or your yard or on your car, that is your right. But that disgusting flag certainly should not be flown from the capitol building or any other building where the government conducts its business.

The argument about "heritage not hate" was absurd 150 years ago, and it remains absurd today. The Confederate flag should not be flown as a symbol of pride on government buildings any longer. The offensive nature of the flag demands its removal to museums and history books where it belongs.