I have a really simple question. Did I miss something in the flap (pun intended) over the confederate battle flag?
Let me see if I've got this straight. An obviously depraved young man goes into a church and murders 9 black parishioners and somehow the solution to cope with this tragedy is a national campaign to remove a flag from every public display?
I'm a Northerner by birth; a Yankee if you will. I have no allegiance to the confederate battle flag. I do not and would not support the South's secession from the union for any of the reasons they heralded prior to the Civil War so I have no dog in this fight.
While slavery was a blight on our country and was reprehensible, equating the confederate battle flag with nothing more than slavery is devoid of historical context and understanding. The issues that caused the bloody results of the Civil War were far more multi-faceted than just the slave trade. What the flag does represent is the South and it's stand against the Union during the Civil War.
Many of the public places where the confederate battle flag is flown is in memory of the nearly 300,000 Confederate soldiers who lost their lives. To most civil-minded Southerners today, it's not viewed as some kind of pro-slavery symbol but rather a historical and cultural reference.
No one can argue that the confederate flag has been used and adopted by some groups who espouse hatred and racism, but so has the American flag and the Bible. Does that mean that there is a case that they represent hatred and we should cease using them?
I'm certainly sensitive to the black community's view of the confederate battle flag and what it might symbolize to them. Waving the flag in their face leads to nothing positive, however we must be willing to rationally handle this issue.
The people who are shouting the "take it down" rhetoric need to get a grip. Their contrived indignation is completely absurd. The removal of a flag is not going to have any impact on race-based crime and will bring no degree of healing to the families who lost loved ones at the murderous hands of Dylann Roof.
As I said, I'm a Yankee. I don't care if the flag stays up or down. I would just like to see an end to ridiculous trend reactions whenever a tragedy occurs.
