preview

The Importance Of Confederate Heritage

Decent Essays

Your Intentions Do Not Matter In front of an otherwise respectable-looking suburban house, a banner waves in the wind from a flagpole. As you look more closely, expecting to make out the stars and stripes, you see instead a different arrangement of red, white, and blue. "Stupid rednecks," you think to yourself as you see that flag flutter on the breeze. What motivates a person to fly the Confederate battle flag in front of their house? Ask them, and you may receive various answers. Some of them will point to history. I could do that. Some of my ancestors fought in North Carolina regiments during the Civil War, serving under that offending flag until the army surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse. Although they served on the wrong side (and across the lines from others in my family), I respect the devotion and bravery of …show more content…

They will claim that although the flag was created for a specifically Confederate purpose, it has come to represent the distinctive culture and values of the American South. They might even note that although that culture included a nasty racist past, the American flag has its own negative baggage to carry around as well. The defender of the Confederate flag might note that it wasn't their flag under which various Presidents and Congresses dispossessed Native Americans of their lands, driving them ever farther to the west. Another group of flag fliers might suggest that this symbol indicates their political views. Feeling that the Federal Government has become too powerful and has grown too intrusive in our lives, these people take up the flag of the states-rights South, not to champion slavery or racism but to argue for individual liberty. That helps to explain why you might find the flag flying in areas hundreds of miles north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Finally, you might find some unregenerate racists clinging to the Confederate flag and wishing to return slavery. Honestly, they're not worth my

Get Access