Forget Racism. The Confederate flag represents treason.

photo by Morguefile

The Confederate flag has made a lot of controversy lately. Actually, it was controversy for years. Some say that it supports racism, some say it's a symbol of heritage. I am against the flag at any government or public facility. My position is that regardless of which side you stand on the racism debate, I don't see how we can't agree on the issue of treason on this.

The Confederate flag, whether racist or not, has a long history of being tied to racism. Of course, the Klu Klux Klan have proudly displayed it throughout it's history. A symbol of pride in southern heritage it may be. I'm not arguing either side of that. I'm sure that for many people it is just that. I think that's beside the point. The rebel battle flag honors an armed REBELLION against the United States. If a person wants to display the flag on their lawn, as clothing, or as representative of their group, they should be able to do so proudly. I can't think of any logic to displaying, the battle flag of all things, the symbol of an illegal secession.

There is some debate as to the legality of the secession. Did the southern states have a right to secede? Of course they did. But did they have the right in the way they did it? Between the United States Constitution and the Articles of Confederation, no legal right to secede is addressed. Of course, the counter argument is hard to ignore. It's unlikely that the south (or any state) would get a legal secession. In the years up to the civil war, northern states had much more voting power in congress, and would have been able to vote down secession even with a united south. This may be why no significant attempt to legally secede was made. Then again, that was the cause of the war in the first place. The south feared that slavery (oops, tied to racism again) would eventually be voted away, and they'd be powerless to stop it. Despite, or maybe because no clear guidelines exist, the fairest path to session should be similar to admission, an act of Congress. You get out the same way you came in.

Being an entertainment professional I'm constantly encountering the debate on our influence on the public. Violence in music, television, movies and video games. We all know the discussion. We've all had it at some point. No I don't believe that any song, film or image can drive someone to do bad things, without the presence of some underlying issue. However images do matter. We are all conscious of how we present ourselves when we go out into the world. To work, to party. Some of us even have to look a certain way just to go to the laundromat. When our own ethnic, age, gender, or whatever group is presented in a way that we don't agree with, we voice our opinion. Much like defenders of the rebel flag, or advocates against it.

When the rebel flag was hoisted to during civil rights movement, the point was to symbolize defiance to the movement. It's image, intentional or otherwise, indicates a government acceptance of what it's history, and what it means to anyone familiar with it. If an individual embraces racism, the vision of the flag in front of a government building can unconsciously say, this state stands with you. But I got off track. My argument was that it represents treason. The racism part is so tied to the rebel flag, it's hard to separate it.

For many years my attitude was the same as most Americans, pretty ambivalent towards the flying of the Confederate flag on government grounds. "If the south wants to fly it's flag, whatever". Like a lot of people, my attitude has changed as a result of it's history, along with recent events. Many defenders of the rebel flag take issue with this as tying of racism to the flag. this anger is misplaced. The problem with this that the civil war, the KKK, and most anyone rallying in defense of racism has spent decades burning that link into our psyche. They are at fault for the perception of the flag. But who wants to go head-to-head with them. Some may even end up criticizing family members. Oooh!

I think the Confederate flag should go. If you want to wear it on clothing, fly it in front of your home or on the back of your car (as I've seen quite a bit lately), you should have every right. Regardless of your position of racism or not, it is the flag of an illegal armed rebellion against the illegal United States. And I can't think of any reason for that to fly over anything but private property.