A Southerner’s View on the Confederate Flag — Yes It Is a Symbol of Hate, Get Over It Rednecks!

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By Nikki Slusher

The Confederate battle flag has become a debate topic throughout the country, especially for Southerners who relate to the symbol with pride in Southern heritage and states’ rights. Yet for many others who view the flag, it is a symbol racism, slavery, segregation, and a multitude of other nefarious ideograms that remind us of the pain and separation the country once felt 170 years ago.

What exactly is the Confederate Flag and its history? Once known as the Dixie, or rebel flag, the highly divisive symbol of the United States is a popular and widely recognized symbol of white nationalist and supremacist movements. Its revival as a modern display began with Senator Strom Thurmond’s Dixiecrats as a response to growing public support for racial equality in opposition to civil rights back in 1948.

After the American Civil War, many of the former slave states that were members of the Confederacy adopted state flags with designs that mimicked the Confederate idol. Mississippi, Alabama, and even my home state of Florida adopted the pattern around the same time state legislatures enacted Jim Crow segregation laws. These changes purposely coincided with flag changes in order to pioneer provisions to politics that effectively disenfranchised most African Americans.

Initially, the flag was first debuted during the American Civil War as a part of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. It is more specifically a representation of the South — the rebels and the rebellion — and of the Confederate soldier and nation which specifically addressed the privations of the White South. The Confederate States of America consisted of the southern states that succeeded from the north in 1860 in an attempt to preserve slavery and states’ rights.

As a born and raised Southerner, this flag is deep within my roots and my ancestors who utilized it as a message. For myself, it is not only a symbol of hate but also a symbol of a time where our country was no longer united and was followed by bloodshed of men who fought their hardest to keep us as the United States. For one to say this flag does not mean more than Southern pride is simply ignorant. In the Ordinance of Secession, the name given to the multiple resolutions drafted and ratified from 1860 to 1861, which were the formal declaration of the secession of Southern states from the United States of America one can easily read only two paragraphs in that the major reasoning behind this dissolution of the union was due to the formulation of autonomy by the Confederacy regarding Southern society and protecting an integral part to its livelihood — slavery.

I am a proud Southerner. I do not see myself living above the Mason-Dixon Line ever; hot summers, sweet tea, and saying y’all is apart of who I will always be. I also am aware that this flag will forever be a symbol of hate in the place myself and the generations before me call home. Denying this truth is blatant disregard to the facts that almost 200 years ago eleven states decided to branch away from the union over the indifference of slavery, fighting one of the bloodiest wars in American history.

History is extremely important. As for a plurality of Americans, the Confederate Flag is a sign tied to both the southern rebellion and deep racism. So why is it that many of my fellow Southerners claim pride in a symbol of the nation’s traitors over a century ago? With over 90 percent of Black Americans saying that the flag is mainly a symbol of racism it is time we take initiative in ending the discussion on if it is a symbol of hate and replacing it with one of unity. I may be southern but one thing I’m not is dumb. The flag was never even adopted by the Confederate States so it is truly idiotic that many defend its purpose. It is not a sign of a heritage, but a sign used by military tacticians and complex leaders in a difficult time. It was also a time of absence for federal oversight.

The South has much to offer historically. Continuing to hang onto an outdated symbol is outright stupidity. Many see the southern states as country hicks who make moonshine out of bathtubs, which isn’t completely false my granddaddy had a gift, but there are various other aspects you will only find from Virginia down yonder. I grew up on hospitality saying “yes ma’am” and “yes sir”, but I did not grow up with acceptance to blatantly brandishing this flag or its true meaning.

Simply stated, the flag is not of Southern heritage but a constant reminder that the South was at one point a rebellious and treasonous actor on the global stage. It’s redeployed purpose only surfaced during times of racial inequality, and specifically with opposition to the civil rights movement. It was a backdrop for hatred, and absent as part of a memorable war time aspect. Modern day mass shooters, including Dylan Roof who is a bigoted racist that shot up a Charleston prayer group only a few years ago, hoisted this emblem to remind others that blacks do not deserve rights, representation, or even life.

There are numerous other concepts that one could flaunt as Southern pride and heritage; however, this flag is not one of them. Even Helen Keller could see through the nonsense arguments in support of the rebel flag and tell you it is downright offensive. If you call yourself a Southerner, then you more than anyone should know that in contemporary American culture the commitment to this battle flag is only a consequence of lingering allegiance to racial prejudice. Flying it off your house or on your car is a reminder to the world that you are a stakeholder in the South’s Confederate history; therefore, defending slavery and racial preconceptions.

What really blows my mind is that the people who defend the rebel flag the most are usually the ones screaming ‘Murica every chance they get. I am not here to purposely destroy a significant symbol of the South’s history but to bring awareness as to why it is time to let this one go. Those who continue to fight in support for this emblem of hatred will always be the trailer park boys and girls the rest of the country laughs at; the ones who say “the South will rise again” only this time it’ll take them 15 minutes to get up from their fold up lawn chairs.
While the rest of us continue moving forward, some of us have decided to regress back 160 years.

It’s time to see the truth y’all — 1865 called and it wants its flag back.

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