The Confederate flag is off the SC Capitol grounds. Was it called for?
On the afternoon of July 10, a large crowd descended upon the South Carolina Capitol building in Columbia. All were there to see the Confederate battle flag come down.
The flag, which was placed with the monument to fallen Confederate soldiers during the Civil War (1861-1865) became the subject of scrutiny after the June 17 Charleston Church Shooting, where Dylann Roof is charged with entering Emanuel AME church and killing nine people, including SC state representative Clementa Pinckney.
What followed was a quick deliberation in the SC Senate, but a marathon debate in the House that eventually led to the decision to remove the flag form the Statehouse grounds and into a museum.
What the House debate showed though, was that even after 150-plus years, the Confederate battle flag is still a dividing issue.
The question is, one, what does the flag actually mean? Southern pride or a symbol of hate?
The second question of course is was this takedown warranted? I'll get to that later.
But first, what does it mean? To fully understand, you have to go back to before the Civil War, and understand what the war was actually fought over.
The big argument is between state's rights vs slavery.
To fully understand, you must look at the Missouri Compromise of 1820.
In a nutshell, the Compromise kept the number of states where slavery was legal and illegal equal, and made it illegal to have slavery in states/territories north of 36 degrees, 30 parallel. This act was later overturned by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.
All that is to say the Civil War was about the same fight we still have today: The role of the Federal Government and how its power relates back to the states.
It just so happens that the debate in the 1800s centered around state's economic rights, and it just so happens the Southern states had an agrarian economic system built on the backs of slave labor.
So really, there is no argument about what the war was fought over...it is merely over a battle of semantics.
Fastforward to 1865. The Civil War is over, Recunstruction is underway and the nation is working on healing some deep wounds. Go all the way to April 1961.
The South Carolina General Assembly motions to put the Confederate battle flag atop the Capitol buildings flag pole, underneath the American and South Carolina state flag.
This was done to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Confederate States of America. At this point, it can be argued this is still a symbol of Southern pride.
But that argument is soon to be washed away. Because in the following years you have desegregation and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which gave African-Americans the right to vote.
The South Carolina General Assembly, aided by the support of Senator Strom Thurmond and the Dixiecrats, decided to leave the flag atop the Statehouse is a form of protest to desegregation and giving black Americans the right to vote.
This is when the Southern heritage argument loses all credibility. It is this moment, when the representative body uses it as a form of protest that Americans of color should not have the same rights as white Americans do, that it becomes a symbol of racism.
So overall, is the flag racist? Of course not, it is an inanimate object incapable of feelings. But what it was used for, especially after 1961, made it a symbol of fear and oppression for many, many black Americans, and white Americans.
In 2000, the flag was moved from atop the Statehouse dome to the Confederate soldiers monument. But it appears that was not the original deal, if you read here.
But the question remains, did the SC Legislature do the right thing?
A resounding yes, it is just a shame it took nine people getting killed in a senseless shooting to get it done.
The flag had no business being on the Statehouse grounds. Why was a flag of a defunct nation that was an open act of rebellion to the United States of America on the grounds?
If you go to other countries, you don't see flags flying of the old Prussian Empire, When you go to Germany, you don't see flags of East Germany, or Nazi Germany flying around on state buildings.
When you go to Zimbabwe, you don't see flags of Rhodesia and other symbols of the oppressive apartheid era.
Not only that, it was bad business to continue to fly the flag. That was proven when both the NAACP and NCAA lifted their economic boycotts of the state shortly after the flag was taken down.
The argument going on now though from those against taking the flag down was that the move won't change anything. If so, why were they so against having it taken down in the first place?
They are right about one thing, taking down the Confederate flag won't take away the hate some have in their hearts to those of other races, nor will it change people's minds on the role and relationship the Federal government has with the states.
But what it does do is remove a reminder of two of the darkest eras America has faced in its history: A time when the country was ripped in two, and a time when people of a different color did not have the same rights as everyone else, laid out in our Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
We cannot bury our past. The flag is where it belongs, in a museum. There, it will hopefully be studied by future generations to learn from our mistakes. If they do not learn, they are destined to repeat those same mistakes.
So nice job to the SC General Assembly. It is just a shame the move was made 15 years too late.
The flag, which was placed with the monument to fallen Confederate soldiers during the Civil War (1861-1865) became the subject of scrutiny after the June 17 Charleston Church Shooting, where Dylann Roof is charged with entering Emanuel AME church and killing nine people, including SC state representative Clementa Pinckney.
What followed was a quick deliberation in the SC Senate, but a marathon debate in the House that eventually led to the decision to remove the flag form the Statehouse grounds and into a museum.
What the House debate showed though, was that even after 150-plus years, the Confederate battle flag is still a dividing issue.
The question is, one, what does the flag actually mean? Southern pride or a symbol of hate?
The second question of course is was this takedown warranted? I'll get to that later.
But first, what does it mean? To fully understand, you have to go back to before the Civil War, and understand what the war was actually fought over.
The big argument is between state's rights vs slavery.
To fully understand, you must look at the Missouri Compromise of 1820.
In a nutshell, the Compromise kept the number of states where slavery was legal and illegal equal, and made it illegal to have slavery in states/territories north of 36 degrees, 30 parallel. This act was later overturned by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.
All that is to say the Civil War was about the same fight we still have today: The role of the Federal Government and how its power relates back to the states.
It just so happens that the debate in the 1800s centered around state's economic rights, and it just so happens the Southern states had an agrarian economic system built on the backs of slave labor.
So really, there is no argument about what the war was fought over...it is merely over a battle of semantics.
Fastforward to 1865. The Civil War is over, Recunstruction is underway and the nation is working on healing some deep wounds. Go all the way to April 1961.
The South Carolina General Assembly motions to put the Confederate battle flag atop the Capitol buildings flag pole, underneath the American and South Carolina state flag.
This was done to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Confederate States of America. At this point, it can be argued this is still a symbol of Southern pride.
But that argument is soon to be washed away. Because in the following years you have desegregation and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which gave African-Americans the right to vote.
The South Carolina General Assembly, aided by the support of Senator Strom Thurmond and the Dixiecrats, decided to leave the flag atop the Statehouse is a form of protest to desegregation and giving black Americans the right to vote.
This is when the Southern heritage argument loses all credibility. It is this moment, when the representative body uses it as a form of protest that Americans of color should not have the same rights as white Americans do, that it becomes a symbol of racism.
So overall, is the flag racist? Of course not, it is an inanimate object incapable of feelings. But what it was used for, especially after 1961, made it a symbol of fear and oppression for many, many black Americans, and white Americans.
In 2000, the flag was moved from atop the Statehouse dome to the Confederate soldiers monument. But it appears that was not the original deal, if you read here.
But the question remains, did the SC Legislature do the right thing?
A resounding yes, it is just a shame it took nine people getting killed in a senseless shooting to get it done.
The flag had no business being on the Statehouse grounds. Why was a flag of a defunct nation that was an open act of rebellion to the United States of America on the grounds?
If you go to other countries, you don't see flags flying of the old Prussian Empire, When you go to Germany, you don't see flags of East Germany, or Nazi Germany flying around on state buildings.
When you go to Zimbabwe, you don't see flags of Rhodesia and other symbols of the oppressive apartheid era.
Not only that, it was bad business to continue to fly the flag. That was proven when both the NAACP and NCAA lifted their economic boycotts of the state shortly after the flag was taken down.
The argument going on now though from those against taking the flag down was that the move won't change anything. If so, why were they so against having it taken down in the first place?
They are right about one thing, taking down the Confederate flag won't take away the hate some have in their hearts to those of other races, nor will it change people's minds on the role and relationship the Federal government has with the states.
But what it does do is remove a reminder of two of the darkest eras America has faced in its history: A time when the country was ripped in two, and a time when people of a different color did not have the same rights as everyone else, laid out in our Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
We cannot bury our past. The flag is where it belongs, in a museum. There, it will hopefully be studied by future generations to learn from our mistakes. If they do not learn, they are destined to repeat those same mistakes.
So nice job to the SC General Assembly. It is just a shame the move was made 15 years too late.
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