Think Tank: The Confederate flag

Flying it draws supporters and critics

Pittsburgh, PA
Friday, September 06, 2002

By Lynda Guydon Taylor, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

When the Confederate flag got "flagged" from state houses in the South, it inspired impassioned debate between whites claiming their heritage was attacked and African Americans enraged over the images of slavery it conjures.

Discussion continues in several states. The controversy about why people fly the Confederate flag is the subject of today's Think Tank.

On the panel are Bill Keene of Washington, Bill Brna of Carroll, and Westmoreland County residents Curt Storey of Hunker and David Reitsma of Scottdale. Storey became embroiled in the controversy a year ago when he was fired as a Burns International security guard at the Sony plant in South Huntingdon. At issue were Confederate decals he displayed on his lunch box and truck bumper.

"I fly the Confederate flag proudly in my front yard along with the Betsy Ross flag. Why shouldn't I?" said Storey, who although he's lived all his life in Westmoreland County claims Southern ancestry.

"I think the problem with the Confederate flag arose because many people in the South believe that it is a reminder of slavery, and while that may be true, I think the Confederate flag should legitimately be flown at Confederate cemeteries, monuments and so forth because these people died for that cause," said Brna who sees nothing wrong with Storey flying the flag at his house.

"No, they did not die for slavery," Storey said.

"I did not say that. I'm saying people today are offended by it," Brna said.

Storey said while Martin Luther King never "badmouthed" the Confederate flag, the NAACP in 1983 launched the first protests. He questioned why, when the flag is only a piece of cloth.

"Whites view it as a heritage issue where blacks view it as a racial and slavery issue," Keene said. "Now there's no problem with viewing it as a heritage issue if it's private. When it becomes public, like on the courthouse lawn or in public view or on statues of Confederate soldiers, this is where the problem comes in. The bottom line is: Why are they, after 130 years, still holding onto the Confederate flag?" Keene asked.

Keene questioned whether it's patriotic to fly a Confederate flag.

But Storey maintained "Confederate soldiers did not kill one Northerner in defense of the cause of slavery." Slavery was legal for 224 years and the flag was only in existence the last four years of that period. Every slave brought to the country in Northern ports arrived here under the banner of the Stars and Stripes.

"If you want to dishonor or show some disrespect for a flag of slavery, try the Stars and Stripes," he said.

Most blacks were enslaved under the Union Jack, Reitsma said. The British sold 5 million slaves all over the world, Storey said. The Portuguese and Spanish also sold slaves under their flags. Neither the Confederate flag nor the South was involved in any of this. He contended Sudanese Muslims have been enslaving Christians for years.

Furthermore, slaves fought under the Confederate flag and the Confederacy abolished slavery in its Constitution.

"What we're alluding to is the Confederate emblem," Keene said.

Keene said while symbols like the Confederate flag have no intrinsic meaning, human beings attach meaning from what they've learned. Controversy then arises from the meaning inferred from the symbol.

Still Storey argued the flag is not a worldwide hate symbol as some say.

"It's really not a hated flag. When the Berlin wall came down, the flag that they chose to fly over that Berlin wall coming down was that flag, the Confederate flag. When Hungary, Poland, the Ukraine, Lithuania and East Germany broke away from the Soviet Union -- those five flew that Confederate battle flag."

The Confederate flag stands for freedom, liberty and Christianity, Storey said. The design is based on St. Andrew's cross, the same design that Scotland uses in its flag today (the Scottish flag contains a white cross on a blue background while the Confederate flag contains white stars in a blue cross on a red background).

While white supremacists claim to be Christians, Reitsma said, "we freely acknowledge that these white supremacists have abused that flag."

The Klan also reads the Bible. "Do you want to get rid of the Bible? Why single out that noble Confederate flag. It doesn't make sense," Storey said.

"Everyone that reads the Bible; do they actually believe what the Bible says? Do they actually believe the Bible speaks about love?" Keene said. "When they read the Bible, what are they reading into the Bible?"

Keene repeated his objection to the use of public funds to fly the flag on public property. That's where the problem arises.

Storey also argued the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery but rather states' rights. He called President Lincoln an evil man who waged the Civil War to preserve the union, not to abolish slavery. The mistreatment of slaves is grossly overstated. They lived in slave owners' homes, were treated well for the most part and were free to come and go as they pleased as long as they didn't run away.

"Slavery was not in and of itself an evil institution. It wasn't. What made it look that way was Harriet Beecher Stowe's book"Uncle Tom's Cabin.' It's fiction and it's bad."