Students Wearing Confederate Flags Accused of Racism

The Confederate Flags is one of those symbols created for one thing and thought of for another. It was created to give the Confederate States of America a flag that did not look like the Union flag. After the war it was adopted as a symbol of pride by southerners, but also as a symbol of hate by racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), American Nazi Party, segregationists, and countless others. As a result people in northern states typically view it as a racist symbol while many white southerners see it just as a symbol of their heritage.

I guess the real meaning of the Confederate Flag like any symbol created for one thing and constantly used for other stuff should boil down to how someone is using it. If its being used as part of Civil War re-enactment then it is not racist, if its being displayed by a southerner with nothing else indicative of their views then it probably shouldn't be considered racist, and if its being used as part of a white pride rally then it is obviously racist. Personally I'm not a big fan of flag, but people should not be labeled racists just for wearing it.

This incident reminds me of an incident that happened back when I was in my early teens. I was out at some dunes with a friend, his step dad, and his buddies. His step dad was a red headed guy named Earl from Virgina who loved flying a Confederate Flag on his sandrail. I asked if he would take it down while I was riding in it because I thought it was racist and I didn't want people thinking that I was racist. He took it down once, but after that he told me that unless I wanted to wait my turn or find someone else to ride with that I would have to learn about tolerance and tolerate his flag. He later explained that that it was not a symbol of racism, but a symbol of his heritage. He said that to him flying it was about being proud about who he was and where he was from.

Personally I think people should ask themselves if they are racist before judging people based on that flag alone because if displaying by itself makes someone a racist in your eyes then maybe you are the real racist. Its in the same ballpark as the German Iron Cross that was heavily used by Hitler's army and still used by neo-Nazi groups. Lots people see it and associate its use with Nazis, but don't realize that it was invented nearly 100 years before WWII, is still awarded to German soldiers for bravery, and is still used as a logo by the German armed forces today.