Donald Sensing, writing from his home state of Tennessee, offers some thoughtful and informed observations on the use (and misuse) of the historic Confederate battle flag.
It was extremely rare in the Old South for any kind of CSA flag to be publicly displayed for almost 100 years after the war ended. The reason? There was near-universal sentiment among surviving Confederate veterans, passed on for two or three generations, that the Confederacy’s colors could rightfully be flown only over an independent Southern nation. But that independence (such as it briefly was) ended in 1865 and therefore the CSA’s flag was retired by those who had fought and bled for it. Hence, for decades after 1865, the only time the CSA flag was flown was in solemn anniversary commemorations or perhaps at funerals, and maybe not even then....Most people don’t know that the modern resurgence of displaying the Confederate flag only dates from the 1950s, and was started by Southern Democrats in protest of integration and civil rights rulings by US federal courts....
In my view it is appropriate to fly Confederate flags as historical reminders or to recognize that the Confederacy’s soldiers, however evil the cause they fought for, were American men whose legacy we still bear and struggle with. But to use the CSA’s battle flag as an emblem of “Southern pride,” or Southern culture or white supremacy is repugnant. As a son of the South I love so much about this region of the country and the people who live here. I wish there was a different insignia that Southerners could display to show their pride and love of the South.
Read the whole thing, and watch the predictable debate in the comments.
Posted by Alan at October 8, 2006 08:20 PM