South Carolina’s legislative debate over the Confederate battle flag pitted those viewing it as an honorable symbol of courage and sacrifice against others who regard it as an emblem of terror and oppression. For years each group regularly lectured the other on the “true” meaning of the Stars and Bars, without changing anyone’s mind. It’s tragic that a church shooting made people begin listening to one another – to the extent that they did.
State declarations of secession demonstrate that protecting slavery was the reason for leaving the Union. But, after the Civil War, defeated Confederates began to argue that it was about defending states rights and Southern honor, not slavery, and that though the South succumbed to overwhelming resources and manpower, the cause itself was and remained right. “Conquered, but never defeated” was the watch-cry reinforced at countless veterans reunions and Confederate holidays, and popularized in novels and films, like Birth of a Nation and Gone With The Wind, romanticizing both slavery and the war.
This perception has tremendous staying power. Recently, officials in the former Confederate state of Texas mandated that public schools teach the causes of the Civil War as sectionalism, states rights, and slavery, emphasizing the first two. The fact that sectional debates and conflicts over states rights occurred because of slavery was de-emphasized. But knowing that generations of white southerners grew up with these beliefs helps explain their allegiance to the flag as a symbol of an honored heritage.
But this ignores 20th century use of the Stars and Bars as a symbol of white supremacy and resistance to the civil rights crusade.
As targets of this hostility, black Americans have searing memories of the flag as an emblem of violence and terror.
Southerners arguing the Confederate flag is solely a heritage issue are wrong on the facts, but that rarely stops anyone from believing something. Black Americans have history on their side, but that doesn’t always help.
Our past defines us. Challenges to our perceptions of our history threaten our personal identity. And we don’t change because other people say we should; we change when we decide we must.
Unfortunately, though the flag’s gone from the South Carolina capitol, the struggle over whose history matters will continue.
