Confederate Flag Controversy Addressed
Two Sides to the Issue
February 4, 2016
Stemming from events over the summer of 2015, the Confederate flag debate has been plaguing government officials for months. The Danville City Council voted August 6 to approve a new ordinance that only allows city, state, and the national flag to fly on city owned property, but the order has been met with resistance when the flag was taken from the Sutherlin Mansion and other historic sites in the local region.
Retaliation has come in the form of Confederate flags being flown on private property and rallies with the flag flying from vehicles. The true question of where the flag can be appropriately flown has not been answered clearly though, especially when dealing with schools.
Up in arms for the flag
The controversy of the year for kids, adults, and elders—what does the Confederate flag truly symbolize? Should it be flown in the greater Danville area or burned? Should students be allowed to wear it on clothing or hitch it to the back of their trucks? Opinions have been swarming the halls of schools and plaguing government grounds for the past few months, but no conclusions have been made.
The view of and the flag and the images it brings along is subjective to the eyes and mind looking at it. To some it will always be a symbol of racism or white supremacy, but to others it’s a representation of southern pride and a memorial for all those who served in the war that tore this country apart.
It’s sad to think that the actions of one young, racist terrorist can send this country in an uproar and twist the symbolic nature of the flag for an entire country. One leaked photograph of Dylann Roof—the suspect in the Charleston Church shooting—posing before Confederate flags from his website reminded half the American population of a moment twenty years back to ninth grade history class about the Civil War and harsh feelings dug up from graves long buried. But why now? A hundred and fifty years later and one boy’s actions cause a bit of cloth to be the object of 2015’s hatred.
For some of the nation it might not be a big deal, but living in a southern society, students can’t walk the halls without seeing monogrammed everything, entire camouflage outfits, muddy boots, and Confederate flag shirts. It’s a part of southern culture. It can’t be helped. So why must students shed their right to free speech at the school’s front doors when camouflage and other southern brands aren’t being banned as well?
Unfortunately, though, with a topic this controversial teenagers are going to want their say in the matter. And although a good majority of us can be mature when we want to be, there are plenty of young adults out there who are only jumping on the Confederate flag band wagon because it’s a fad. With Dylann Roof came a hurricane for the topic and the moment adults said no, we screamed yes. Not every young adult wearing a Confederate flag shirt is doing so to oppose our elders or get attention, but there are plenty of them out there strutting through school hallways like red, white, and blue dyed peacocks who wouldn’t even be able to tell you what war the flag is from.
The flag doesn’t necessarily represent everything bad and good that comes with it. If the Confederate flag only represented slavery and white supremacy and a nation full of hate, what can we honestly say the American flag represents? Inequality not just among races but all people, bullying and school shootings, riots against police officers trying to protect us, and bad health care for the elders who raised us?
If it’s the flag that you don’t like, don’t fly it. If it’s the Oscars you don’t like, don’t watch it. With a free country comes free choices.
History becoming history
Do people actually know the story and significance behind the confederate flag, or are they just hopping on the bandwagon? Did this ‘trend’ start like the rest? One country boy sees another with a south-ified version of the American flag waving in the wind on the back of his pick-up?
If you legitimately know the history behind it and fly the flag, then hooray for you. If you don’t, then what on earth are you doing? Some of us would like to know the attraction behind it. Why is it so appealing to you, oh, brethren who dost not know thy history?
Is this “confederate flag movement” the country boy fad equivalent to the rich girl standard of everyone wearing Jack Rogers on their feet with a Michael Kors hanging off of their shoulders? Was this flag-exhibiting behavior already existent and we never knew it until now?
Try driving around these days. It’s hard to go on a peaceful ride without seeing someone’s six-inch lifted, exhaust blowing, Ford F150 or a busted up Jeep flying some variation of the symbols of their southern faith.
The real question becomes: how many of these people know their history and the history behind the flag, and how many are just following the others like ducklings?
How about we design quizzes in order to figure out who knows their history and who qualifies to fly the confederate flag? A less than ten questions quiz- short answer, multiple choice, fill-in-the-blanks- we could cover the whole spectrum. Those who pass the test with a 90 or more will be allowed to fly those colorful stretches of fabric.
Maybe then we would be able to stop the spread of this flagtastrophe.