Last week’s massacre of nine black churchgoers by a white gunman in Charleston, South Carolina, re-ignited debates over the Confederate battle flag.
While federal and state flags were lowered to half-staff in the wake of the shooting, the symbol of the Confederate forces flew high over the state’s Capitol grounds in Columbia. That flag is padlocked in place, preventing it from being lowered to half-staff, but many activists, politicians and regular citizens want it gone altogether, citing it as a symbol of racism and hate.
Even South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called for the flag's removal from the statehouse at a Monday press conference, saying that the symbol "does not represent the future of our great state."
While some supporters of the flag say they see it as a racially neutral symbol of Southern heritage, the flag has strong ties to racial injustice that extend far beyond the Civil War.
The flag flown above the Capitol grounds in Columbia and commonly called "the Confederate flag" was never actually the official flag of the Confederate States of America. The CSA had three national flag patterns between 1861 and 1865, which can be viewed at the Museum of the Confederacy website.
However, because the first CSA national flag was so similar to the United States flag, it was difficult to tell which flag was which on the battlefield. That’s why the Army of Northern Virginia began using a separate battle flag that looked like a square version of the flag most people are familiar with today.
An oblong version of this flag was used by the Army of Tennessee and adopted as the Second Confederate Navy Jack. This version is the one most strongly associated with the Confederacy today, and has been nicknamed the “rebel flag,” “Southern cross” or “Dixie flag.” It’s sometimes incorrectly called the “stars and bars” -- a term that actually refers to the stars and bars present on the CSA’s first national flag.
Champions of the battle flag argue “it’s not a racial thing,” but it’s tough to deny the pattern has strong links to slavery.
Those who believe slavery was not a central point of conflict in the Civil War may wish to peruse the South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi and Texas declarations of secession. Those documents all explicitly cite threats to slavery as reasons for secession. Mississippi's declaration goes so far as to say that “a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning author James McPherson, as quoted by the Civil War Trust, explains:
The Civil War started because of uncompromising differences between the free and slave states over the power of the national government to prohibit slavery in the territories that had not yet become states.
McPherson adds that the government refused to recognize the secession because they feared it would result in the U.S. turning into "several small, squabbling countries."
It was not until long after the Civil War ended, however, that the battle flag began to take on even stronger connections to racial injustice.
In the late 1940s, the flag was adopted as a symbol of the Dixiecrats -- a political party devoted to, among other things, maintaining segregation. They also opposed President Harry S. Truman’s proposals to instate anti-discrimination laws and make lynching a federal crime.
Some of the Dixiecrats went so far as to declare their commitment to “white supremacy,” according to The Confederate Battle Flag: America’s Most Embattled Emblem by John M. Coski.
Coski writes that though the Dixiecrats soon faded into obscurity, their campaigns “made the flag a fixture in places where it had been only a novelty before.” Coski gives the example of the University of Mississippi, which he notes rarely used the battle flag as a symbol prior to 1948. He says the university began heavily incorporating the symbol into school activities and events a few months after students protested against Truman’s civil rights proposals.
Notably, Ole Miss is the same institution that erupted into riots in 1962 when the federal government insisted that the school accept a black student.
In 1963, the year after the Ole Miss riot, Alabama Gov. George Wallace raised the flag over the state Capitol in protest against desegregation, as described by the Georgia State Senate Research Office in a 2000 report.
The same report found that the integration of the battle flag into the Georgia state flag in 1956 was racially motivated. When the pattern was incorporated into Georgia's flag, the researchers wrote, the state “was in a desperate situation to preserve segregation.”
They went on to say:
Resisting, avoiding, undermining, and circumventing integration was the 1956 General Assembly’s primary objective. The adoption of the battle flag was an integral, albeit small, part of this resistance.
The flag has also periodically been flown by the Ku Klux Klan -- though to be fair, so has the United States flag.
Though some people may genuinely feel that the Dixie flag represents their Southern heritage or commemorates those who lost their lives in battle, the reality is that in far more recent history, the flag has been used as an explicit symbol of racism and racial inequality.
That’s why, as John Oliver says, it should be lowered not just to half-staff, but all the way off of the Columbia flagpole.
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Mauaji ya watu tisa weusi waliohudhuria kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la kanisa la Confederate. Bendera za jimbo na za jimbo zilipopunguzwa nusu kwa sababu ya mauaji hayo, ishara ya majeshi ya Confederate iliruka juu ya uwanja wa Capitol huko Columbia. Bendera hiyo imefungwa kwa kufuli ili isinyeshe, lakini wanaharakati wengi, wanasiasa na raia wa kawaida wanataka iondolewe kabisa, wakisema ni ishara ya ubaguzi wa rangi na chuki. Hata Gavana wa South Carolina. "Nikki Haley aliomba kuondolewa kwa bendera hiyo katika mkutano wa waandishi wa habari Jumatatu, akisema kwamba alama hiyo ""hawakilishi siku zijazo za jimbo letu kubwa.""" Ingawa baadhi ya wafuasi wa bendera hiyo wanasema wanaiona kama ishara ya asili ya Kusini, bendera hiyo ina uhusiano mkubwa na ukosefu wa haki wa rangi ambayo huenea mbali zaidi ya Vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe. Bendera ya Marekani iliyopigwa juu ya Capitol, Columbia, Marekani, ambayo kwa kawaida huitwa "Bendera ya Confederate" haikuwa bendera rasmi ya Marekani. Mfano wa bendera ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani ya Marekani. Kwa sababu bendera ya kwanza ya CSA ilikuwa sawa na bendera ya Marekani, ilikuwa vigumu kujua bendera gani ilikuwa ni ipi. Hiyo ndiyo sababu Jeshi la Virginia Kaskazini lilianza kutumia bendera tofauti ya vita ambayo ilionekana kama toleo la mraba la bendera ambayo watu wengi wanafahamu leo. Toleo la muda mrefu la bendera hii lilitumiwa na Jeshi la Tennessee na kupitishwa kama Jack ya Pili ya Jeshi la Wanamaji la Confederate. "Toleo hili ni moja ya nguvu zaidi kuhusishwa na Confederation leo, na imekuwa jina la utani ""upinzani bendera,"" ""Southern msalaba"" au ""Dixie bendera."" ni wakati mwingine makosa aitwaye ""nyota na baa"" - neno ambalo kwa kweli inahusu nyota na baa zilizopo juu ya CSA ya kwanza bendera ya kitaifa." Mabingwa wa bendera ya vita wanasema "si jambo la rangi", lakini ni vigumu kukataa muundo huo una uhusiano mkubwa na utumwa. Kwa wale ambao wanaamini kwamba utumwa haukuwa sehemu kuu ya vita katika Vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe, huenda wakataka kusoma kwa makini taarifa za kujitenga za South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi na Texas. Hati hizo zote zinataja waziwazi vitisho vya utumwa kuwa sababu za kujitenga. "Mwanzoni mwa mwaka wa 1900, Rais wa Mississippi, James McPherson, aliandika katika kitabu chake cha ""The Civil War,"" kwamba vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe vilitokea kwa sababu ya tofauti kati ya majimbo ya uhuru na ya watumwa juu ya nguvu ya serikali ya kitaifa ya kupiga marufuku utumwa katika maeneo ambayo bado hayakuwa majimbo." "McPherson anaongeza kwamba serikali ilikataa kutambua kujitenga kwa sababu waliogopa kwamba kungesababisha Marekani kugeuka kuwa ""nchi kadhaa ndogo zenye ugomvi.""" Hata hivyo, ni baada tu ya Vita vya Wenyewe kwa Wenyewe kumalizika, kwamba bendera ya vita ilianza kuunganishwa kwa nguvu zaidi na ukosefu wa haki wa rangi. Mnamo mwaka wa 1940, bendera ya Marekani ilitumiwa kama ishara ya Dixiecrats, chama cha kisiasa kilichokuwa na lengo la kuendeleza ubaguzi wa rangi. Pia walipinga mapendekezo ya Rais Harry S. Truman ya kuanzisha sheria za kupambana na ubaguzi na kufanya mauaji ya kikatili kuwa uhalifu wa shirikisho. Baadhi ya Dixiecrats walienda mbali sana hadi kutangaza kujitolea kwao kwa "utawala mweupe", kulingana na Bendera ya Vita ya Confederate: Nembo ya Amerika ya Most Embattled na John M. Coski. "Coski aliandika kwamba ingawa Dixiecrats hivi karibuni fade katika obscurity, kampeni zao ""alifanya bendera fixture katika maeneo ambapo ilikuwa tu novelty kabla.""" Chuo kikuu hicho kilianza kuingiza alama hiyo katika shughuli na matukio ya shule miezi michache baada ya wanafunzi kupinga mapendekezo ya Truman ya haki za kiraia. Ole Miss ni chuo kikuu cha Marekani ambacho kilikuwa na ghasia za kihistoria mwaka 1962 wakati serikali iliposisitiza kwamba shule hiyo ikubali wanafunzi weusi. Mwaka 1963 baada ya ghasia za Ole Miss, Alabama ilifungua shule ya msingi. George Wallace aliinua bendera juu ya Capitol ya jimbo la Georgia katika maandamano dhidi ya ubaguzi wa rangi, kama ilivyoelezwa na Ofisi ya Utafiti wa Seneti ya Jimbo la Georgia katika ripoti ya 2000. "Hata hivyo, ripoti hiyo ilisema kuwa ""kuunganishwa kwa bendera ya vita katika bendera ya jimbo la Georgia mwaka 1956 kulikuwa na nia ya ubaguzi wa rangi.""" "Wanasayansi hao waliandika kwamba wakati bendera ya Georgia ilipopigwa alama, ""ilikuwa katika hali ya kukata tamaa ya kuhifadhi ubaguzi wa rangi.""Waliendelea kusema: ""Kupinga, kuepuka, kudhoofisha, na kuepuka ushirikiano ulikuwa lengo kuu la Mkutano Mkuu wa 1956. """ Kupitishwa kwa bendera ya vita kulikuwa sehemu muhimu, ingawa ndogo, ya upinzani huu. Bendera pia mara kwa mara imekuwa flown na Ku Klux Klan - ingawa kuwa wa haki, hivyo ina bendera ya Marekani. Ingawa baadhi ya watu wanaweza kuhisi kwamba bendera ya Dixie inawakilisha urithi wao wa Kusini au huadhimisha wale waliopoteza maisha yao katika vita, ukweli ni kwamba katika historia ya hivi karibuni, bendera imetumiwa kama ishara ya wazi ya ubaguzi wa rangi na usawa wa rangi. Hiyo ndiyo sababu, kama John Oliver anasema, ni lazima kupunguzwa si tu kwa nusu ya fimbo, lakini njia yote mbali na Columbia bendera mti. Mtangazaji wa mawasiliano