Is the Confederate Flag still a thing?
Only one thing has changed about the Confederate flag this week.
It is still a hate symbol.
It still represents white supremacy.
It still represents a treasonous group.
It is still called both the Confederate and Rebel flag.
It is no longer a historic symbol.
Madison Indiana, October 2020.
The Confederate flag is now a modern symbol. On January 6th, 2021 this flag flew in the US Capitol, brandished by criminals who attempted a violent coup to overthrow the US Government and stop the certification of a valid democratic election. A man waving this flag in the literal home of the US government raises the question of how we must treat this symbol.
In conversations about the Confederate flag that I have seen and had, the most common argument has been that it is a historic symbol that shouldn’t be erased from history. There is truth in the idea that this symbol is historically significant for the purpose of hindsight, but the danger in displaying it is that we can’t control when it is used to revere it’s terrible history rather than to see it as a symbol to warn against systems of white supremacy seeking power. Usually historical symbols tied to enemy armies are only displayed in museums so that they can be interpreted correctly and not misrepresented. The United States never banned or even made it socially unacceptable to display the Confederate flag despite it being the final flag of and enemy army defeated in the Civil War. To be more specific, it was the flag that represented the people who cut themselves off from the United States so that they could continue to legally own, profit from, rape, and murder people that didn’t look like them.
In its modern context, the flag still has a clear connection to the violence associated with white supremacy. When Dylann Roof murdered nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015, images of him posing with a confederate flag surfaced and his intention to commit a race based hate crime was made clear. That year the confederate flag was removed from the South Carolina State House grounds and many other venues respectfully removed images of the flag. That change came because Governor Nikki Haley said that Dylann Roof “Hijacked the meaning” of the flag. I always found that odd because the flag has always represented a history of violence in the name of white supremacy, so why are we surprised when modern, violent white supremacists claim it as their own?
The Confederate flag’s presence in the US Capitol building this week brings it fully into the present. The flag was brandished in an attempt to overthrow the US government by people shouting “revolution” and wearing shirts that said “MAGA Civil War.” People were hurt and killed in this attack. A gallows with a noose was erected in front of the US Capitol, and a man was photographed in government chambers with zip-ties to restrain lawmakers. The communication between the attackers clearly showed an intent to do far worse. This was a modern act of treason based on complete misinformation. This was the second time in our history that the Confederate flag flew over a group hoping to bring down the US government. Clearly, the hindsight that this historical symbol was supposed to give us didn’t work.
Now, we must make a very close examination of our tolerance for the image of the Confederate flag. Does Southern culture still want to claim this image now that it has been associated with treason twice? I haven’t seen any videos of people burning their confederate flags, and I am concerned. I see the confederate flag all over my community, so am I wrong to suspect that people flying that flag could have been in the mob at the Capitol or at least cheered them on? Should I start reporting Confederate flag fliers to the FBI as possible seditionists? I am sure this sounds extreme to some, but I seriously want to know! I have always seen “treason” when I look at the Confederate flag, but now I see “TREASON” as the visuals associated with it are not from blurry black and white photographs from the Civil War. The images of treason I see now are from this past Wednesday and they came from high definition videos and photos with plenty of megapixels to make them crystal clear. Everyone has a choice in how they represent themselves, and if someone chooses to represent themselves with confederate flags and hate symbols… you look like an enemy of the state to me.
If you have read some of my previous blog posts, you will find that I have spent a lot of time and energy over the last year trying to get my local school to change its “Rebels” nickname. There are plenty of photos that show the confederate flag or a “Colonel Reb” mascot throughout the school’s history and even as recent as November despite the school trying to distance the name from those images. The school Superintendent tried to put the issue to rest in October after issuing a survey that he thought proved that there was no need to change the name. The survey didn’t change my mind, and the events of this week only solidify my resolve. The fact that the Superintendent’s survey found that 18% of participants associated the word “Rebels” with the Confederacy is proof enough that this word is dangerous. The idea that children in my community learn to have “Rebel Pride'' at school makes my blood run cold. This week proved that normalizing hate symbols and treasonous acts is dangerous, and these symbols and the names associated with them should have no place in the general public, and especially not our schools.
Photo of Colonel Reb at Southwestern Schools by Jill Kelly Koren, November, 2020.
