Editor:
The debate about the Confederate Flag has come back into the light of the general public due to a heinous crime committed in a Charleston, South Carolina church. It is amazing to me to see the sheer volume of people saying take it down or leave it be.
Background: The Confederate Flag, also known as the St. Andrews cross was never meant to be the banner for Southern states; it actually came about due to battlefield confusion. The actual Southern banner was similar to the original United States flag except the stars were designed in a circular pattern rather than rows.
Many of my friends from the South say that it is not hate, but rather heritage. Not truly knowing the meaning of the word I accepted that answer. However, after reading logos on cars and seeing that statement on that piece of cloth with thread I finally decided to look this word up, one of the definitions says: “Something Reserved for One.” (From Dictionary.Com). Heritage no longer sounded innocent or acceptable to me, in fact it sounds somewhat selfish and definitely exclusive.
In 1904, Mississippi Senator John Sharp Williams explained what he felt the reasons for seceding were and there were a few. However, I believe the one most important is the one I am quoting “This other thing for which we fought was the supremacy of the white man’s civilization in the country which he proudly claimed his own; in the land which the Lord his God had given him; founded upon the white man’s code of ethics, in sympathy with the white man’s traditions and ideals.”
Heritage: It was heritage that caused the loss of 100 million Native Americans lives as the search for America began. About 180 million Africans had their lives and identity changed, as well as the lives of their children. During World War II, 120,000 Japanese Americans were relocated to camps in fear of American heritage being threatened.
I am sorry for taking the long way home, but the truth is we are burying the lead when we discuss a piece of cloth that was a mistake in the first place and we allow the truth to roll off the tongues of our closest friends when they say “it is not hate it is our heritage.”
How can a man who admitted to killing nine blacks at a house of worship be granted the opportunity to make bail, it is his heritage that makes him and others believe that all is reserved for him. What is the answer to heritage, or better yet how do we get beyond heritage? The day that we stop allowing racist jokes to be a topic for humor at the dinner table, and the defeat of stereotypes about others whom we know so little about, or seeking out diversity rather than exclusiveness, then maybe that piece of cloth and thread will come down on it’s on accord.
Maybe time is the answer, when all of us old heads die off and the new leadership redefines heritage to mean not reserved at all. If I offended any of you by not calling it a flag, rather a piece of cloth and thread, you must understand it is only a symbol of the ideals of heritage. You see the problem is not a piece of fabric, rather it is deeply ingrained within the fabric of our souls and like fabric, once stained, it can be very hard to clean.
Randall Walker
Statesboro