Editorial: Symbolism of Confederate flag is undeniable
Monday, July 20, 2015
(Published in print: Tuesday, July 21, 2015)
... A Massachusetts man said: “It has nothing to do with racism. It’s history. They teach it in school. It has nothing to do with slavery.”
A New York woman said, “It’s history, but if you want to be ignorant, that’s your choice.”
She’s correct. Ignorance can be a choice, and it’s the choice made by each and every person who denies the racist symbolism of the Confederate flag. They accomplish this nimble feat in many ways, often by regurgitating phrases from a widely circulated “facts and myths” article that attempts to soften the South’s past ...
To mine selective histories in order to secure Southern absolution is an act of willful ignorance, pure and simple. In fact, Confederate Vice President Alexander Stevens himself left no question about the motives of the Confederacy when he delivered his “Cornerstone” address in 1861: “Our new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition” ...
http://www.concordmonitor.com/home/17843350-95/editorial-symbolism-of-confederate-flag-is-undeniable
