Confederate Flag Will Not Rise Again

Early Thursday morning, the South Carolina House of Representatives voted to remove the Confederate flag from the state’s capitol grounds. After 13 hours of debate, the vote passed 93-27. The bill was signed later on Thursday by South Carolina’s Republican Governor Nikki Haley, and the flag is set to be taken down at 10:00ET on Friday. This decision follows weeks of debate surrounding the meaning of the Southern emblem. Historically, the flag has been seen as a symbol of Southern heritage and history, with its origin dating back to the American Civil War.

However, attitudes towards the flag have changed dramatically in recent years.

Amidst several displays of violence against African Americans throughout the southern US, the event that sparked the most recent debate was last month’s killing of nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Dylann Roof, who is charged with the killings, was photographed holding the Confederate flag prior to the massacre – a stark reminder of the flag as a symbol of slavery, segregation, and inferiority of the African American race.

Changing sentiment towards the flag was strongly expressed by Republican representative Jenny Horne, a descendant of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. During the House of Representative’s 13 hour debate, she argued that the removal of the flag was not about southern heritage but “about the people of South Carolina who have demanded that this symbol of hate come off the statehouse grounds."

With the vote to remove the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State House, there has also been conversation in national Congress over the flying of the flag in other parts of the US.

In Alabama, the governor ordered the removal of the Confederate flag from a Confederate Memorial at the state capitol. Virginia’s governor announced that license plates with the image of the Confederate flag would no longer be issued. There is also impending debate in Mississippi where the rebel flag is part of the actual state flag.

While debate over the Confederate flag is certain to continue, the removal of this symbol of hatred and inferiority from the capitol grounds in South Carolina is certainly a step in the right direction. Going forward, we must only be cautious that this debate not focuses solely on the symbol which represents racism and segregation, but that it takes action to resolve the conflicts that are at the source of such attitudes.

Alexandra Fox