A giant leap out of the past
- December 12, 2014
- / Reggie Dogan
- / training-development
The Escambia County Commission made a wise — and courageous — decision to remove the Confederate battle flag from public property.
It was long overdue.
It is a shameful disgrace that officials obstinately allowed the flag to flap in the southerly breeze at the Pensacola Bay Center in the first place. The flag should have gone to its grave with the Confederate soldiers.
The Stars and Bars is a racist relic of a shameful period in our past, when a nation was created and went to war for the specific purpose of perpetuating the institution of slavery.
We live in the United States of America. Our allegiance is to Old Glory.
Since the Civil War, the Confederate battle flag, called the “Southern Cross” or the cross of St. Andrew, has been proclaimed, on one hand, as a proud emblem of Southern heritage and vilified as a hateful reminder of slavery and segregation on the other.
Several Southern states (my native state of South Carolina included) flew the battle flag along with the U.S. and state flags over their statehouses.
I shouldn’t have to remind you that this flag flew as a battle flag for the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, an awful and awkward time when the country was split over the issue of slavery as a way of life and economic prosperity for white plantation owners.
The Southern states tried to secede from the Union. They, in essence, committed treason. It led to violent, bloody war that cost too many young lives and left behind a country battered, broken and divided.
When the Confederacy raised the white flag in defeat, the battle flag should have seen its demise, too.
I've heard ad nauseam the arguments about how the Confederate flag is no longer a vestige of slavery, but now indicative of "Southern pride and heritage."
But I'm really not interested in "respect your heritage" nonsense, especially when the heritage represents hate.
The Confederate battle flag should never have flown on public property. It is no place for the demagoguery and division that the flag represents. No city or state should be promoting symbols of hate.
I am an American. My ancestors’ blood, sweat and tears seeped into the Southern soil like that of Confederate soldiers, albeit for distinctively different and defining reasons.
A little more than a hundred years after the Civil War, I had my first introduction to the “honorable” heritage of the Confederate flag. The image was etched into my mental skies by a burning cross at a KKK rally.
I was about 6 years old. That would have been around 1966, two years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Venom and vile still dripped from the curling lips of angry segregationists who despised Civil Rights and the progress and possibilities it would bring along the way.
My family was returning from church on a Sunday night. Rising smoke and flames from a burning cross lit up the darkened sky. A group of hooded men stood in a cemetery. The battle flag proudly flapped behind them.
That was my first lesson in hate and fear. I could barely sleep that night. I feared our house would end up like the burning cross.
I learned then and still believe today that the Confederate flag is no different than the swastika. It symbolizes the ugly hatred of mankind.
Jewish people would rightly object to entering a governmental building where a Nazi symbol was displayed. Why should I be subjected to seeing the Confederate flag adorn a public place in Pensacola?
To be sure, the Confederate battle flag is a part of history — a racist, divisive and ugly history that no one should be proud and honored to celebrate.
If anywhere, the flag belongs in a museum with pictures of men in hoods, standing around burning crosses, or milling under a tree smiling at the strange fruit hanging from a limb.
When flag supporters refer to the flag as representative of heritage and “Southern pride,” they are refusing to condemn the symbol as the horrific reminder of human slavery and discrimination that it remains even to this day.
If we stand idly by and say or do nothing, we are encouraging modern-day acts of racism and ideology that have no place in this new world we live in.
I support the First Amendment. And I unabashedly support the right of individuals or private organizations to wave the Confederate flag with fervor and faith.
But as a symbol of government, it is inappropriate and totally wrong to fly the flag on public property.
It is an insult to many Americans and another blemish on this country’s storied history of racial reconciliation and harmony.
We owe our County Commissioners gratitude for taking a stand on a divisive issue.
A small step for a city; a giant leap for humanity.
The Stars and Bars is a racist relic of a shameful period in our past, when a nation was created and went to war for the specific purpose of perpetuating the institution of slavery.
We live in the United States of America. Our allegiance is to Old Glory.
Since the Civil War, the Confederate battle flag, called the “Southern Cross” or the cross of St. Andrew, has been proclaimed, on one hand, as a proud emblem of Southern heritage and vilified as a hateful reminder of slavery and segregation on the other.
Several Southern states (my native state of South Carolina included) flew the battle flag along with the U.S. and state flags over their statehouses.
I shouldn’t have to remind you that this flag flew as a battle flag for the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, an awful and awkward time when the country was split over the issue of slavery as a way of life and economic prosperity for white plantation owners.
The Southern states tried to secede from the Union. They, in essence, committed treason. It led to violent, bloody war that cost too many young lives and left behind a country battered, broken and divided.
When the Confederacy raised the white flag in defeat, the battle flag should have seen its demise, too.
I've heard ad nauseam the arguments about how the Confederate flag is no longer a vestige of slavery, but now indicative of "Southern pride and heritage."
But I'm really not interested in "respect your heritage" nonsense, especially when the heritage represents hate.
The Confederate battle flag should never have flown on public property. It is no place for the demagoguery and division that the flag represents. No city or state should be promoting symbols of hate.
I am an American. My ancestors’ blood, sweat and tears seeped into the Southern soil like that of Confederate soldiers, albeit for distinctively different and defining reasons.
A little more than a hundred years after the Civil War, I had my first introduction to the “honorable” heritage of the Confederate flag. The image was etched into my mental skies by a burning cross at a KKK rally.
I was about 6 years old. That would have been around 1966, two years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Venom and vile still dripped from the curling lips of angry segregationists who despised Civil Rights and the progress and possibilities it would bring along the way.
My family was returning from church on a Sunday night. Rising smoke and flames from a burning cross lit up the darkened sky. A group of hooded men stood in a cemetery. The battle flag proudly flapped behind them.
That was my first lesson in hate and fear. I could barely sleep that night. I feared our house would end up like the burning cross.
I learned then and still believe today that the Confederate flag is no different than the swastika. It symbolizes the ugly hatred of mankind.
Jewish people would rightly object to entering a governmental building where a Nazi symbol was displayed. Why should I be subjected to seeing the Confederate flag adorn a public place in Pensacola?
To be sure, the Confederate battle flag is a part of history — a racist, divisive and ugly history that no one should be proud and honored to celebrate.
If anywhere, the flag belongs in a museum with pictures of men in hoods, standing around burning crosses, or milling under a tree smiling at the strange fruit hanging from a limb.
When flag supporters refer to the flag as representative of heritage and “Southern pride,” they are refusing to condemn the symbol as the horrific reminder of human slavery and discrimination that it remains even to this day.
If we stand idly by and say or do nothing, we are encouraging modern-day acts of racism and ideology that have no place in this new world we live in.
I support the First Amendment. And I unabashedly support the right of individuals or private organizations to wave the Confederate flag with fervor and faith.
But as a symbol of government, it is inappropriate and totally wrong to fly the flag on public property.
It is an insult to many Americans and another blemish on this country’s storied history of racial reconciliation and harmony.
We owe our County Commissioners gratitude for taking a stand on a divisive issue.
A small step for a city; a giant leap for humanity.
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