The Confederate Battle Flag
My wife and I have had the great pleasure of living in Georgia and Virginia. So we have encountered the deep feeling southerners have with reference to the Civil War.
There are some who believe the war is really not over. They are still fighting it.
There are some who call it the War of Northern Aggression.
There are many who have great pride in the culture of the south and all its history, focusing on the good not the bad.
This last feeling we have found when we lived in parts of the north. A feeling of great pride in local culture and history, and an acceptance that some was great and some was bad.
The Confederate Flag is more properly called The Confederate War Flag. Understanding that, it is not unreasonable to assume it should have been retired at the end of the conflict. But as we all know, it is hard to let go of things that have had great meaning to us even if some of that history has been unsavory.
Recognizing that people will have different feelings about this issue, I must admit that I do not have a personal animosity toward the confederate standard. It was a standard under which many good men and women gave their lives. They believed in their lives, their way of life. In those days I do not believe all these people were racist. Their economy was based on labor and we came to see that as slave labor. Some plantation owners treated their slaves very well. Others were treated horribly. I do not believe the south went to war to make sure black people were treated as non-human. I believe they went to war to preserve their way of life. The north was threatening their way of life, their economy.
The north did not go to war to free the slaves.
Their were many reasons for the Civil War but freeing the slaves was not high on the list. The freedom of slaves was a benefit from success at holding the union together.
When President Lincoln “freed” the slaves he freed the ones in the south, not the ones in the north. It was a military tactic designed to frighten the rebels at the idea that thousands of slaves would be on the loose behind their lines, in their hometowns.
During our time of living in the South we often were called Yankees or Northerners, all in good fun. None, not one of the people with whom we came in contact hated blacks. I would not apply the name racist to any of them.
Yes there were racists in the South. Their are racists in the North. There are also anti-Asian sentiments, and negative feelings towards lots of groups in the South, but I find them in the North also.
The Confederate Battle Flag has been made a symbol of racism. And as such it has become a national issue.
The Confederate Battle Flag should have been retired at the end of the Civil War. All 50 states are permitted to have flags. These are symbols of pride and honor. These states include those in the south. Collectively, all the states have a national flag, the Stars and Stripes. This flag represents as as a group, as a nation.
I think it is time to retire the Confederate Battle Flag as a banner to be flown in any kind of official way, such as on state capital grounds. In our country we need not deny private use of the Confederate Battle Flag. Individuals have the right to display and acknowledge their own prejudices or strongly held beliefs and loyalties.
Public buildings, public officials, people dedicated to representing all the people need to focus on state flags and the Stars and Stripes.
There are many things to love about southern culture. The people are courteous, welcoming and have created lovely communities. Let us work with one another to remove any sign of racism from our wonderful land and create symbols that honor the rule of law, the equality of people under the law, and the pride we have in our state and our nation.
We can do it. I hope we will.
I saw Johnny today. He is an accomplished banker with considerable skills. I think of him that way. He is also black but that is not what I notice.
Hyang Jang stopped by the other day. She is a hospice nurse and gives relief and love to people, people of all colors and backgrounds. Oh, by the way she is Asian.
Bill came by to help me with some work. He spent the day sweating and working and as a team we accomplished a lot. Bill happens to be a gay man but that is not what comes to mind when we are together.
We are a sophisticated people. We are a long way from when we were frontiersmen, prejudiced, and afraid others might take our jobs or our homes.
Today in America we honor hard work, people who exude love, folks who team up with us to accomplish tasks. The color of their skin or the country of their origin is the least of the things that we should notice, comment on or be concerned about.
We are better than that.
