The Confederate Flag Controversy
"The Confederate flag is the battle symbol of a terrorist organization that sought to overthrow the US government through violence period. It represents an uprising in support of an economy and a way of life that depended on the enslavement of human beings."
This is a statement that has been made by a man whose name is "Radical Russ." While he makes his feelings about the Confederate flag and the southern state's observance of it quite clear, there is also another side to this story, as is most usually the case. What is most heartbreaking for me, as a writer and as an American, is that the Civil War does not seem to have truly ended with the surrender of General Lee to General Grant. We are still debating the same issues, fighting the same fight, just at another level and in a different place in time. Have the Union and Confederate soldiers all died in vain?
Five years ago, I moved from upstate New York to North Carolina and the first thing that caught my eye was all of the Confederate flags I saw displayed with pride in so many front yards or as decals in the back of someone's car window. I soon became familiar with the phrase, "American by birth, southern by the grace of God." At first I took offense to these people and their seemingly outright disrespect of the country they called home. But I soon formed close friendships with many of these people and realized that the flying of their flags and the speaking of their phrase was a matter of southern pride. It is a pride that cannot easily be summed up into a sentence or a phrase, and it is more than the words that they speak, it is shown through their manners and their actions. I truly feel, after taking the time to get to know so many on such a personal level, that the pride they have in the Confederate flag is based on their heritage, a heritage that many of us will never understand. It is based on a way of life that they cling to, however trivial we may perceive it to be, and it doesn't necessarily include slavery. For even before and during the Civil War, there were many in the south who felt that there was a better way to prosper economically besides the use of human enslavement.
I feel that the real controversy here lies with those who view the Confederate flag as a symbol of slavery and inhumane treatment of our fellow man, regardless of their skin color. This only shows that in the nearly 200 years since the War, our mindsets have really not changed at all, and neither has our level of respect for each other and the way we choose to live our lives. After all, isn't this why the war began? While I certainly do not agree with slavery and am ecstatic that the outcome of the Civil war wasn't the opposite, I also feel that those in the south who choose to still display the Confederate flag in honor of those who served and lost their lives, should not be judged nor prosecuted for it.
Another point does need to be made here though, and that is about the white supremecist groups who hide behind the Confederate flag, using it as a justifiable reason for their inexcusable actions. They feel that by displaying this piece of our Nation's history, they are proclaiming to the world that Arayan's reign over all other races and the Confederate flag is representation of this. These are the people who cause the controversy, and they take out of context the true meaning of the flag itself and of the southern pride that lies behind it.
When all is said and done, this topic would be better labeled a debate for the simple fact that although there may be some research involved to retrieve historical facts, every one of us who write about it will have our own points of view. Some will even be heated points of view, but to write intelligently on this topic, we all must first have an open mind. It is imperative for us to accept and respect the differences in each other, embrace them and not judge one another. In doing so, I will leave you all with a touching poem that I came across while researching this topic. The author is unknown, but I feel that it displays the heart of southern pride to a tee. Enjoy.
"For Confederate descendants today,aside from our European and SouthAmerican compatriots, our "NationalIdentity" is now the United States ofAmerica.
While our national flag is the "Stars andStripes", the flag representing asignificant part of our national origin isthe "Stars and Bars" and all the rest ofthe national flags of the Confederacy.Let them all keep flyin, forever and in peace."
