The Movement To Remove

There is a strong movement underway in these parts -- a movement to remove all vestiges of the Confederacy from the South. It begins with removing its most noticeable symbol, the Stars and Bars. This was the battle flag used by the 11 seceding Southern States, and it probably should have been retired long ago and removed from any official capacity on April 9, 1865. Robert E. Lee surrendered his forces to Ulysses S. Grant that day at Appomattox Courthouse. But it wasn't retired and now the time has come. It has been forced upon us by a simple-minded, hate-filled murderer who championed it while committing an almost unspeakable crime, the cold-blooded killing of nine innocent people in Charleston, S.C., during a Bible study.

I'm a Yankee from up North (actually I'm from out west in Colorado) so I have never had an emotional attachment to the Stars and Bars. I've always thought of it as a symbol of the South and the Civil War, you know, part of the history of this great country. It never really occurred to me that this flag represented a symbol of hatred. It was just a flag. On further reflection I'm now aware that it was much more than that, and it's time for it to be retired. In fact its retirement is long overdue.

The reality is the South was a defeated nation. It surrendered, and with the surrender should have come the retirement of the flag. Recent wars have seen this very thing happen at their conclusion. The Japanese changed their flag from the Rising Sun to just a red ball in the center or its flag. The Germans did away with the iron cross and the swastika. So any remnants of the Confederacy should also be put away. It's not that they never existed because they did, but they belong in the past and their proper place is the museum, along with old uniforms, fire arms, canons and other symbols of a long ago war.

South Carolina's Governor Nikki Haley came to the same conclusion and asked her legislature to take action to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of the State House, and it did so by an overwhelming majority vote. The only other state that has a Stars and Bars flag on it is Mississippi, and I'll be surprised if it doesn't follow suit soon. There are enough things that divide us as a nation and a flag should not be one of them.

I do understand those who say that taking this drastic action is just a distraction and we needn't act in such haste to destroy a symbol that's been with us for more than 150 years. This flag has been around for a long time, and it has a place in our history, but it also represents a dark part of our past and it's not a symbol to look back on with pride After all about 3 million people were held in servitude under this flag, and while it also stood for states' rights the overwhelming reason that 11 states seceded from the Union was to preserve slavery. While the flag itself never conjured up the image of slavery in my mind, it is difficult to overlook the fact that this symbol represented the true cause of the Confederacy, and that cause was, in no uncertain terms, slavery. That being the case the flag must go.

It should be consigned to a museum and not be revered as something that might have been. From now on the Stars and Bars should be viewed only in its historical context and not seen as something representing courage, valor, elegance, grace or melancholy, nor should it be regarded as a remnant of a romantic historic period. It was hell for those who were slaves. Every minute of their being belonged to their master. They were his property. They were not considered persons. It's more than past the time to remove and retire the Stars and Bars.

I opine, you decide

WILLIE WILLIAMS IS A SILOAM SPRINGS RESIDENT. HE CAN BE REACHED AT [email protected]. THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR.

Editorial on 07/01/2015