Southern Hatred or Southern Heritage

Following the American Civil War everything that represented the Confederate Army should have been wiped away. As far as I know, every country that has ever lost in battle on someone’s home turf took all of their belongings with them, especially their flag. The Confederate flag, once presented as a battle flag, represented everything the south, The Land of Dixie stood for. All resemblance of racial disparity should have dissolved with the defeat of the Confederacy, down to the very anthem they hummed.

Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton,
Old times there are not forgotten, 
Look away, look away, look away Dixie Land.
In Dixie Land, where I was born in,
early on one frosty mornin’, 
Look away, look away, look away Dixie Land. 
I wish I was in Dixie, Hooray! Hooray! 
In Dixie Land I’ll take my stand
to live and die in Dixie. 
Away, away, away down south in Dixie.
Away, away, away down south in Dixie

“Dixie” is still associated with its Confederate identity. Although just a simple minstrel song, almost 200 years of history has loaded the song with permanent political, racial, military and social connotations. “Dixie” is still the South’s anthem and will probably continue for many years to come. For too long, blacks have had to turn a blind eye and suppress the pain of the South’s resemblances. I’m not saying a flag nor a song caused any murders but many have acknowledged that the flag and its heritage has always represented more than ancestral pride. For many, both blacks and whites, that flag itself was a reminder of systematic oppression and racial subjugation. Removing the flag could have easily closed wounds that people of color endured for years, but instead, it’s as if salt is constantly being poured in a wound every time a tragic event takes place of opposite races.

2015 became another illustration of hate that exemplifies my point. Dylann Roof, a 23 year old white male (2017) was welcomed into a black church as they worshipped. It started as compassionate bible study, but it ended as another catastrophic historic event of racism. Dylann Roof brutally massacred 9 people of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 17, 2015. Many asked, why Charleston, why the church? Maybe it’s because Charleston was the gateway of slavery into America. Charleston was so identifiably black that even the white people called it “Negro Country”. Roof felt that blacks were taking over and leading up to the event, he also felt that hundreds of black on white murders got ignored especially as the news plastered the 2012 Trayvon Martin murder case. Roof went on to say “I had no choice”. “I was not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. I chose Charleston (South Carolina) because it is the most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to whites in the country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK (Ku Klux Klan), no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone had to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that had to be me.” Roof killed under the same banner (Confederate flag) in which many blacks previously died under. This was not an act of southern heritage but southern hate and time after time blacks have chosen to forgive and find incredible strength to overcome. The strength of the black community always led back to the church, and once again black believers will recite scriptures, such as (Colossians 3:13: Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you), to heal the pain. This is way too familiar, but the reality is either all black lives matter or none matter at all. As far as the Confederate flag, the reality is, it does not matter if it flies or not. The Confederate flag is a symbol, you can take it down but it doesn’t erase the substance. A substance which includes treason; over throwing the government, which is punishable by death today. The Confederate flag is minute compared to the American flag, the flag that blacks were enslaved under, the flag that blacks have suffered under, picked cotton under, lynched for 100 years under, deceived, betrayed, pushed back on the plantation and lived as sharecroppers under. A flag in which Emmett Till was killed under, the American flag is still the flag that blacks still suffer police brutality under. In my opinion, do not exert too much energy on the smaller issues; instead start looking at the bigger picture.

Thanks for reading,
Historian, Derrick Caples

Author's Note

I'm from the south so this may be a southern thing...