i thought that war was over?

What Does the Confederate Flag Mean to Me?

Or

Why Can’t We Just Get Along With Each Other?

      I think it has more to do with states’ rights and unity and as a symbol of racism and hatred that existed in the civil war era than it does anything. A recent event where a young shooter has used the symbol of the flag to draw attention to his hate crimes against a black population has reignited controversy over the Confederate flag.

      The last time I looked I was still in a Northern state that opposed slavery and had made attempts to establish the underground railway as an attempt to usher black slaves out of the South to freedom. This happened as close as Minerva away from us. The quilt patterns you see on the end of barns have to deal with whether or not that farm was a safe place to harbor slaves for the evening. Quilts and different patterns were hung from the end of barns and would be changed to indicate whether that farm was being watched by sympathizers of the slave movement and it also indicated a path for the slaves to take when trying to escape the oppression of the South via the underground railroad movement.  

    We also participated as a state quite fervently in the battle against the Southern states and many of our families lineage can be directly involved in those battles fought against the South of whom under the banner of the Confederate states that shot and killed our kinfolk as well as what we did to theirs. It was a war of families at times, as ties between families were torn apart and it pitted brothers against brothers at times. It was a sad time in the United States history and as much as today’s Southern folks insist it was over states’ rights, it had more to do with slavery as the central issue behind it all. The Southerners were accustomed to slave labor and saw no issues with indenturing humans to accomplish work they would rather not do. And at the same time it also increased their profit especially when it came to selling labor intensive products like cotton and tobacco.

     The Southerners would have liked to have kept things status quo, but the North didn’t want to have any part of it as slavery in the Northern states was going out of favor. Rather than find a compromise, the Southern states decided to strike out on their own and declared war on the North. They started the fight, our ancestors ended it with a surrender of Southern states and the freeing and abolishment of all slavery after significant damage had been done to the South and as well to all who participated in the bloody civil war. It was the South’s decision to inflict the misery they suffered on themselves as well as the United States. The actions of a few led a blind and ignorant many to misfortune all under the banner of that flag foremost.

     But the hate didn’t ever subside, but again rose to prominence when Black’s civil rights were called into question and under that same banner of the confederate flag,  the Ku Klux Klan once again spouted their hatred for blacks , denouncing their rights and forcing them into subservient roles in society, until again in the 1950’s till the Blacks finally demanded their rights as equal citizens. This confederate flag has all along been sided with an unwillingness to conform and accept that which is granted everyone under the same constitution they ratified in Congress and accepted prior to the civil war. That in the preamble to the constitution and under the Declaration of Independence from British forces, the very first words it goes against are that all men are created equal. It  is the most basic and remembered part of our revolutionary war and what it was all about and where we as a nation gained our independence.

    The Southern states were there signing on to that declaration until it meant taking profits from their pocket by giving their slaves the same independence they desired. Now that ugly banner of hatred has rose its head again  and should forever be put in its place as it stands for in my opinion the resistance  instead of  acceptance of man as an equal. That regardless of the color of your skin all men are created equal except when it applies to the Southern states. It smacks of hypocrisy in all it stands for. The same people who started wars over slavery would have been the first to cry foul had the North indentured them as prisoners of war to work off war crimes against the states that didn’t succeed from the union till all injured parties were forgiven for their debts.

    President Lincoln went out of his way to forgive the South for the damage done to the union from the civil war. But still that hypocrisy exists today with the hatred against blacks and the killing of the seven black folks in Charleston. The fact that South Carolina refused to lower the confederate flag to half-staff, or the fact that it existed on state grounds paid for by public dollars is enough to mandate its lowering if not removal from public property. But instead the lawmakers of that state and others that see the confederate flag as part of their history of hatred and ignorance of human rights, was more important than seven citizens right’s to live.

     The social media i.e. Facebook and readers and posters are asking you to sign on to this symbol of hatred and support Southern states in their right to choose what heritage symbols they want to. Being from the north and out of respect for my forefathers I have no choice in rejecting their pleas of sparing their symbol of hatred. It is a hate for the North, it is hate for fellow man, it is a symbol of hypocrisy at its finest.

       A woman responding to calls to abolish the flag from flying on public grounds at the state capitol in Charleston asked, “What do we want to do, erase all the history of the civil war era and what it stands for?” My response to that is as follows and it treats blacks as well as whites or any race equally.

     When we forget the color of one’s skin and the hatred and bigotry and accept that persons rights as citizen of the United States as an equal and forgive all the wrongs done to them before, only then will we begin to heal as a nation. 150 years ago we had a war and we are still working on forgiving each other. We cling to how we have been wronged. How the White people have oppressed the Blacks, forced them into slavery , denied their rights  , how the blacks have taken our jobs , our daughters and how we as a society have to pander to them, and create laws that amend to their needs as an equal member of society in order to get along . Blacks are only part of the problem with racism , if it isn’t them it will be the native Indians, or the other Indians , or it could be Isis for that matter, as it is the new hatred in America now.

     Eventually, when we as a world melt into one color it will be the rich against the poor. I doubt if racism or hatred will ever cease in some people’s minds. In others, the majority are thankfully tolerant of people’s rights. As long as we hold on to hate it will always exist in some form. My denial to name the ignorant idiot that sought fame trying to make a name for him by starting a race war was best summed up by a response I read from a 79 year old woman who said in regards to the shooting of those seven people in that church, and she asked, “Where does someone that young learn to hate like that? He hasn’t lived long enough at 22 years old to even know hate or why he is feeling it.” he learned it from others who have never forgot what it is to hate. As long as there are symbols of hate, the stories will follow as to why it is there.

      I think it is time for the flag to come down and forget that ugly part of our past. As far as the blacks go , it is also time for them to forget the past wrongs of others on their society and embrace that part of themselves that made it this far. I feel for the seven individuals and their families that were tore apart with this senseless tragedy of hate and fame for the wrong reasons. No one should ever have to go through that. Denial of a person’s right to live is against all that society as a whole has to offer. We have failed as humans to be humane to ourselves. Don’t ever ask me to embrace hatred of any kind.