The Symbol Of The South Essays - Political History, Vexillology

The Symbol Of The South The Symbol of the South The battle flag of the South stands above the capitol building in Columbia, SC. It waves proudly, echoing the lives and blood of men who sacrificed everything they were, and everything they had for something they believed in. They fought valliantly and bravely to protect their homeland, and to gain independence of the Union. The flag stands there, not as a symbol of hate, racial inequality, or blood-thirsty war, but as a symbol reflecting the rich South and the men who gave everything for it. Black and white, Indian, Irish and English, so many fought in the war. Blacks stood, shoulder to shoulder, with white men. Their blood is embedded as deeply as any white man's in the flag of the Confederacy. We all bleed red, the blood of many races were mingled on those ghostly battlefields when the smoke cleared. Removing the flag from where it has stood for over 60 years would be like saying that all of those men had given their lives for naught. Perhaps it would not have been best for the South to have won the war, but we should respect and uphold the men who fought so bravely for their cause. The mistaken idea that the Civil War was about slavery is one of the many causes that the flag's right to be above the capitol is questioned. This mistaken idea often causes problems between the races of this state. Slavery was wrong. I would never try to justify it, because it can not be justified. It was simply wrong, God made us all equal. A human being was never intended to be treated like an animal, animals even were not meant to be treated like slaves. Slavery is a sensitive area, but the flag does not reflect this. The war was about the South's right to make it's own laws, and to be free from the Union. There were many Black soldiers there in the Confederacy of their own will. They loved the South just as any white man. The flag means to harm to black people; it is there representing many lives of blacks who died in the war as well! Most of the white men who fought in the war did not even own slaves. The very high majority were not slave owners at all. When will the people see that the flag is not a symbol of hate? It is a symbol of pride, blood, and the lives of many men. Any and every man who fough in that war would want to see that flag flying above the state building. It has been said that the flag had a place in history, but that it has no place in the present. How can that be? The history makes the present what it is! Many people have exploited the flag. Hate-mongers fly it proudly in their racist ways, but they are the wrong ones. It is not the flag that reflects hate, it is their hearts. People who would misuse the flag in that way are not worthy of having it at all. It is people such as themselves who have ruined the reputation of the flag that once meant so much. The Confederate Flag belongs above the state capitol. It should be where the people of the South can watch it stand in it's glory. It should be the tie between races, not the wall seperating them. People who would remove it couldn't feel much pride for their state, or the blood of the ones who made it what it is. When the people of the state walk by that flag, they should hear the battle cry of the South. I am one who hopes to see the flag standing in the future. It has earned and it deserves the place where it is, and it should remain there to remind people of their heritage and history. American History