A few weeks ago, I was driving down a residential street in a familiar town here in north central Illinois. Hanging outside one of these houses that lined this street was not one but two Confederate flags.
I went a little further down the same street and noticed another flag on another house, but this one was only half Confederate; the other half displayed the American flag. I was tempted to check the date on my phone to make sure I wasn’t in some time warp, but I didn’t. I knew I was still indeed in May 2018.
What baffles me is the continued willful ignorance of using symbols to represent meanings that they do not represent. Now, I doubt few, if any, WNIJ listeners display Confederate symbols of any sort. But, if you know someone who does, here are the facts and falsehoods of what those symbols mean and don’t mean.
Fact: The Confederacy was about the preservation of slavery. Falsehood: It was not about a state’s right to throw off the shackles of federal tyranny.
Fact: The Confederacy represented the worst form of state tyranny. Falsehood: It doesn’t represent a noble rebellion with its overt racist overtones conveniently left out.
Fact: It does represent a heritage, but a dark and cruel heritage that is to never, ever be celebrated. Ever.
I’m Andrew Nelson, and that’s my perspective.
