The recent mass shooting in Charleston has recently sparked a lot of racial tension, especially in regards to the Confederate flag. And while racial tensions in the nation are boiling to heights near if not equal to that of the 1960’s, many still cling to the notion that racism does not exist and that the Confederate flag is not a symbol of hate.
The recent mass shooting in Charleston has recently sparked a lot of racial tension, especially in regards to the Confederate flag. And while racial tensions in the nation are boiling to heights near if not equal to that of the 1960’s, many still cling to the notion that racism does not exist and that the Confederate flag is not a symbol of hate.
Many news media stations responded to the act of terror by questioning whether or not the gunman, Dylann Roof, who killed nine, had mental health issues as a factor. Even after he confessed to the mass murder and personal accounts featured pictures of him with a confederate flag stating that he was a white supremacist, many news stations still chose to question mental illness rather than accepting that it was a malicious act of hate.
Controversy further arose in South Carolina, when a young African American woman by the name of Bree Newsome climbed the flagpole of the South Carolina Capitol building to remove a confederate flag, which can only be removed with a two-third vote of its state legislature. Newsome faces up to three years jail time for defacing a monument, which brings to light the issue of the Confederate flag’s presence in not only southern society but also the rest of the United States, and the “southern pride” that it supposedly represents.
The Confederate flag we know of today was not brought about during the Civil War, as many believe, but rather during the Civil Rights Movement as a way to combat those moving for equality. However, the design of the current Confederate flag is derived from the designs of the Civil War.
For many, the flag has always and will likely always represent racism and hatred towards black people. During the Civil War it was the symbol of rebellion against the United States, as well as fervent support of slavery in the south. Many in the south claim that the flag is a representation of how strongly their ancestors fought in the Civil War. But to be proud of this is to be proud of traitorous acts that were very clearly racially motivated.
Regardless, that still leaves us to consider the fact that the flag that we have today stemmed from the opposition to the Civil Rights Movement. It seems ridiculous to think that a flag stemming from the opposition to racial equality could mean anything other than hatred towards black people.
Nazi flags are outlawed in Germany, because unlike many southerners in America, most Germans are not proud of what their ancestors did, they are ashamed. The Confederate flag, and all merchandise containing the Confederate flag, should be removed from all government property and society as well, and the flags should be placed in museums.
Racism is still alive and well today, and the Confederate flag stands as nothing other than a symbol of hatred and oppression that African Americans have experienced all throughout American history. To be proud of the pain, torment and suffering that our ancestors brought to African American’s is sadistic, and I can see no non-racial standpoint on which to object to the complete removal of the Confederate flag from American society.
