The Confederate Flag

I do not believe that there should be a law against displaying the Confederate flag. It's your right as an American to fly whatever flag you want to fly. It's a part of history and shouldn't be white-washed away. But if you fly the Confederate flag, or you don't understand why people get pissed off when people fly the Confederate flag, like it's just no big deal, you need to wise up.

It's not about tradition. It's not about history or heritage. The Confederate flag is about one thing: commemorating the armed rebellion of almost half the country in support of racism.

The Civil War was about slavery. That's not reductionist nonsense, that's fact. If you say it was about states' rights, you're correct: specifically, it was about a state's right to have legalized slavery. If you say it was about the economy, you're also correct: specifically, it was about the fact that the South had virtually no economy without slaves.

So if you're flying the flag of the side that was fighting to own slaves, that says something. It says you support that side. You don't fly the flag of a country you don't support. You don't wear the opposing team's jersey to the big game.

Now, you may be fine with that. And it's your right as an American to fly that flag. But you can't get offended if I call you a racist.

More than that, if you believe that flying the flag isn't racist, then you're ignoring the concerns of people who see it as a symbol of racism. Sure, some of those people, like me, are white, but a lot of them are not. Which means you're ignoring how those people, of a different race, feel. You're giving more credence to the views of white people than of black people.

Now you may be fine with that. And it's your right as an American to do it. But you can't get mad if I call that action racist.

And here's the kicker: it doesn't matter at all what you think. If you love black people with every fiber of your being in your head, but you treat them worse than you treat white people, you're acting racist, and that means you are a racist.

And if I tell you this and you get butt-hurt about it, well now you know how it makes black people feel when they see that flag that you don't see anything wrong with.

If you act racist, you are a racist. And if that's an insult to you, maybe work on being less racist.

But again, it is your right as an American to be a racist. You just don't have any right to stop me from calling it like I see it.