Confederate Flag

With all the media attention, it did not take long for someone to ask me what I thought about the Confederate Flag. My response was, "Do you mean the flag atop of the Dukes of Hazard car?" Growing up in New York, that sums my personal experience of that flag: a TV show I knew as a teenager in the early 1980's. Then I wrote a longer response, which I will share with my readers.

Flags are symbols. Symbols can mean something at one point of time, yet something completely different at another point of time.

The Nazi swastika, for example, was used as far back as 12,000 years before Hitler, as a sun symbol in India. It was also used by ancient Greeks, Chrisitans, Celts, Druids, Arabs, Native Americans and Buddhists. The word "swastika" in Sanscrit means: It is, well being, good existence and good luck. However, through the actions of Hitler and the SS, that symbol now has a far more sinister meaning in the global perspective. Their actions changed its meaning.

Likewise, the confederate flag was once a sign of the unified South (USA). Yet it has become associated with racism, bigotry, segregation, hate, lynchings, arson and violence. Much of this (but not all) was directed at the African Americans from the end of the Civil War through the 1960's. Growing up in the North, I did not see any from the 1970's onward -- until recently.

It reappeared on a National level when Obama became President, with an uptick in violence and hate. Not just toward African Americans, but against homosexuals, Muslims and any others whose appearance, lifestyle and/or beliefs do not match those hating.

I have seen a shocking level of hate spewed from Republicans toward Obama, and anyone and anything associated with Democrats or Liberals. Sadly, many of these people are self-proclaimed followers of Christ.

I can only guess that this hatred stems from either (or both) of two reasons: (1) Republicans are sore losers from the last two Presidential elections, or (2) Obama is Black and there is still bigotry and racism in some American hearts.

The Confederate flag is still a symbol of unification, but now used by those who degrade and hate others, as well as think themselves superior or on higher moral ground. While defendants argue the Confederate flag is a symbol of Southern heritage, like the swastika, it has been recast by the words and actions of negative people and become a symbol of elitism, bigotry, violence and hate. I am not against its historical symbol, but I am against the latter.

~ ESA