Photo by Kim Truett
I want to apologize first, for not knowing how to imbed a video on here, having to settle for the link:
https://www.youtube.com/...
On Monday, Larry Wilmore, of "The Nightly Show," joined the chorus of voices calling for the removal of the confederate flag flying over the State House in North Carolina. Despite the horrific church shooting, there remains debate on whether to remove this symbol of repression and fear. I, for one, join Larry in asking...um, guys? What, exactly, is there to debate?
There are those southern whites, who claim the flag as a symbol of their heritage. It's not about racism, they claim, but about history. Let's just examine that history, shall we?
The flag was officially adopted in 1861, by Alexander H. Stephens, the vice president of the confederate states. In his infamous "cornerstone speech," Stephens said:
"Our new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition."
So, from day one, this flag represented a political agenda of white superiority.
After the civil war ended, the flag was removed as an official flag for 100 years. It didn't rear its ugly head again until 1961...the centennial of the civil war and, not coincidentally, the beginning of the civil rights movement. Still a symbol of racial division, it was meant to instill fear and intimidation in the southern blacks, reminding them of their place.
Today, only one state, Mississippi, has this ugly symbol as part of its official state flag. The remaining states that fly it over government buildings have it as a separate flag, merely as decoration, NOT an official state symbol.
Why, then, does South Carolina's governor, Nikki Haley, claim that two-thirds of the state congress are needed to remove it? In Mississippi's case, that would be necessary, in order to redesign their hateful state flag. But the others can simply take it down.
If these states are truly sincere about their desire to build bridges to connect with their racially diverse population, they can go a long way by removing the symbols that keep the old ways in place
Oh...and don't name those bridges after Ku Klux Klan members, of course.