No question in my mind that the current flag flap over the
Confederate Battle flag has gone to the extreme. Like slavery itself, the flag
is a part of history and should be honored for its place and meaning during
that time. For the most part, those who support the flag by flying it behind
their pickup trucks or on their houses or property understand that they are
supporting history and one’s first amendment rights.
The reaction doesn’t really seem to be against the flag
itself. More, it’s against Dylann Roof whose actions on June 17 of this year
left nine members of Charleston’s Emanuel African United Methodist Episcopal
Church dead. It is retaliation against Roof, but without the ability to attack
the man people instead attack the Confederate Battle Flag, an inanimate object.
No doubt master Roof was involved with groups that tout the
flag and use it as some kind of rallying point, as if to say we stand in
defiance of whatever it is they perceive as the object of their cause. But in
so doing they desecrate the flag and what it actually stands for. It’s doubtful
that even the smallest number of them understand any of the history. In fact,
to them it’s just a symbol of their revolutionary spirit and disdain for whatever
it is their cause célèbre seems to be.
It’s painful to watch the “system” retaliate against such
honored groups as the Sons of Confederate Veterans who simply wish to honor
their fallen dead ancestry by sporting the flag on their license plates. Shame
on the State of Virginia, of all places, for acting in such a knee-jerk
reactionary manner. Clear thought should have prevailed. Those who have the
plates are not like the Dylann Roofs of this world. Clearly, these are not
white supremacists, skin heads, or neo-Nazis.
Certainly, the Confederate Battle Flag has come to mean more
today than it did when it was first put on the battle field in order to
identify their own units. While I am not so big a fan of the flag and have
definite opinions about it, it should not come under siege by every quadrant of
society as it seems to be today. To me, if you wish to fly the flag go ahead
and fly it. But know that when you do fly it you open yourself up to more than
just the ancient history, defined as more than 150 years. The standard has come
to mean more than it did in the 1860s, and much of that meaning is so
distasteful that it taints any display. What do you think people at large think
about anyone who brandishes this emblem? History buff is somewhere way back in
their thought patterns, I assure you.
Still, whatever it is that drives that spirit, there are
some definite places the flag ought not to be displayed. For starters, any
government public building ought not to fly the flag. The flag, at its very
best, stands for revolt ala that in the United States in the 1860s. Sorry, but
there is no escaping that. Can we honor those who stood up and died supporting
their cause? Yes.
Yes and it is people like them who play an important role in
this or any society. It is one of the sounding bells of a democratic republic.
The ability and desire to stand up for what one believes to be the right thing.
It’s the grist of the mill that drives a democracy.
Yet it seems incongruous that a state house or any public
office building would support flying the flag. It seems an incredible oxymoron
that on one hand we fly the American flag while on another we fly the flag that
represents those who would rebel against the United States.
But let’s not just jump off the bridge and ban symbols on
license tags for those who would simply like to honor those who fought and died
for a cause that was near and dear to them. Despite ideology, they were
American’s also. Differences in opinion often end up in battles on the field.
But in the end we are not a house divided. Please continue to honor those in
your family who stood up and took notice for those things in which they
believed. I agree and honor them, too. The State of Virginia; however, should
rethink their actions regarding the license plates. There are many other vanity
tags out there that are far more disturbing than those of the Sons of
Confederate Veterans.
