There is a bubbling controversy here in Richmond,
Virginia concerning an organization called The Virginia Flaggers. They have
purchased a plot of land just south of the city adjacent to interstate 95 and
it is their stated intention to begin flying an enormous 10’ x 15’ Confederate
flag atop a 50’ flagpole which will be fully lit by floodlights at night
starting next week. This has reignited the tired but still explosive debate
over “hate vs. heritage”. Is the Confederate flag an offensive symbol of
slavery or does it represent the brave sacrifices made by thousands of young
men who rallied to defend Virginia from invasion?
According to Susan Hathaway, spokesperson for the
Flaggers, “The sole intention of this is to honor our ancestors.” The local
chapter of the NAACP has a different view espoused by its executive director
King Salim Khalfani, “If those soldiers had been successful, I’d still be in
chains.”
So, what to think? The claim made by Mr. Khalfani
that he would still be in chains had the Confederacy won the war is a dubious
one since the economic underpinnings of slavery were already unraveling before
the war even started, but his larger point is valid. For African Americans,
nostalgia for the old south isn’t exactly a hot topic of conversation. The
feelings that the flag brings to mind for them are quite different than the
simple devotion to ancestors claimed by Mrs. Hathaway. More likely, for African
Americans, the confederate flag is associated with jacked up pickup trucks, gun
racks and beer swilling teenage boys out on a Friday night looking for trouble.
I write these words from my study at home. On the
wall to my right hangs a print of the famous E.B.D. Julio painting, The Last Meeting
depicting Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson on horseback talking just hours
before Jackson would be mortally wounded in the Battle of Chancellorsville.
Behind me hang portraits of the two generals and to my left is a picture of Jeb
Stuarts plumed hat, riding gloves and pistol taken from him the day he died. In
my library there are no less than eleven books about the history of the Civil
War. It has always fascinated me and I have studied it as an amateur all of my
life. The point is that I have great sympathy for the heritage point of view in
this debate. But I must also say that my feelings about the flag and what it
represents has gone through many changes over the years. I have come to the
position that, like it or not, the flag carries with it a ton of baggage and is
offensive to a sizable slice of our population. For this reason, I’m against
this enormous display on such a highly travelled highway entering the old
capital of the Confederacy. The symbolism is too heavy. I think of how I would
feel if this was a giant Mexican flag erected by a Pro-Amnesty group and
imagine it would be close to what African Americans feel towards the Stars and
Bars. The vast majority of people who see it will not be thinking about the
brave men who gave their lives defending their homeland from invasion, they
will be thinking, “What the hell? Who put THAT up??”
The question of whether the Virginia Flaggers should
be prohibited from flying it is
another issue all together. As much as I would prefer that they found a less
ostentatious way of honoring their ancestors, they have every right to fly this
flag. It’s their land, their flag, and their decision. It’s a free country. But
just as they have a right to fly it, those opposed have every right to protest
against it. It’s called Democracy, and public conflict and debate is how we
roll.
Bring it on.
