Ole Miss, South Carolina made right calls on Confederate flag

By: Sarah Stortz

Carelessly blowing through the wind, the bright red fabric along with it’s large blue X can be clearly seen by anyone as it stands prominently on top of Mississippi flag poles. Even 150 years since the Civil War, this piece of history remains, but no more for Ole Miss. Just this week, the University of Mississippi chose the right path and lowered the Mississippi state flag, which contains the Confederate symbol.

This flag, however, has stirred up a large amount of controversy with many regarding its history and whether or not it’s ethical to display. Many have called for a ban on the Confederate flag, saying that it represents a racist time period of America. Others state that it has nothing to do with slavery, rather that it’s just a symbol of southern American culture.

One of the other most recent instances involving the issue was when the South Carolina capitol finally decided to take down the Confederate flag last summer. On that day, thousands of people gathered around the capitol and cheered in unison as the flag was rolled down from the pole as they saw history moving toward healing.

The Civil War began primarily because several southern states wanted to secede from the United States. These states were known as the Confederate States of America. There were many factors that went into why they wanted to secede, but one of the primary reasons was because of slavery.

The Abolition Act in the United States was becoming more widespread in the north. At the time period, the southern economy thrived on slavery with their cotton business. They thought that the Northern mentality was a direct threat because they wanted to take away their slaves. They thought they had the right as states to maintain that lifestyle.

Despite knowing all of this, many supporters of the Confederate flag still stand by it, saying that it only represents their heritage and how their men bravely fought for their rights.

Yes, the Confederate flag does represent an important piece of southern American history, but it’s not a piece of history to be proud of. Those fighting for the Confederate flag haven’t taken into consideration the slaves that their ancestors mistreated for years.  Proudly displaying a Confederate flag on a car or front yard implies that one proudly supports the undeniably immoral background behind the Confederates.

No matter what, the flag will always have an attachment to slavery. The ugly history of the United States will never change, but we always have a chance to acknowledge what went wrong and how we can prevent it from happening again, and taking down the Confederate flag is a step in the right direction.

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