Here’s a topic that’s a sore spot to many people today. All around the country we hear the cry ringing out, “Racist!”. Everything is about whether you are or aren’t racist. Whether an object or symbol is or isn’t racist.

Well known to Americans all across the country and acclaimed to be among the top racist symbols in the US, is the Confederate flag. We’ve all seen it. It’s familiar to most of us. However, with the amount of misinformation that encompasses almost everything that comes through Mainstream Media today, it’s hard to know what is truth and what is not.

Is the Confederate flag really racist? It’s what the Media is all pushing. The BLM movement screams it every chance they get.

So is it really racist? Does it automatically make you a racist if you fly the Confederate flag?

I am a firm believer that the only way to solve issues such as this, is to study it out for yourself. Find out what you believe and why you believe it. It’s not good enough to just believe something because your school book said it, or even because your teacher told you it was true. Do your own research into all sides of the story, and make your conclusion from there.

That having been said, let’s look into it and see what we find!

It Supported Slavery?

This is the number one reason I hear for why the Confederate flag is racist. School books teach us that the Confederacy was fighting for the right to own slaves. Ask most any person on the street today and they would tell you that the Confederacy was the wrong side to be on, because they fought to own slaves.

There are very few people in the US today who believe that slavery is okay, and if they do believe it, they would never be bold enough to say it out loud. No-one wants to be connected with anything having to do with slavery. Rightfully so! Slavery is a wicked, wicked practice that should not be condoned or tolerated.

In teaching that the War Between the States was fought over slavery, it has essentially pitted our nation against the Confederacy. School children in America are taught to despise the Confederacy and look upon it as being wicked. I mean, what kind of sickos would actually go to war over the ability to own another human being? They must’ve been a wicked, vile group who flew this well known flag. Why would anyone want anything to do with something connected to them and their fight for slavery?

Here’s the problem though: Slavery was not the cause of the War Between the States. If people who claim it was, actually studied the whole matter out, they would find that it is far from being the truth.

Actually, the Confederacy was fighting for a righteous cause, and in the grand scheme of things, slavery had nothing to do with the War Between the States. Nothing.

In fact, it’s interesting to me to note that Abraham Lincoln, was actually not the friend to African Americans that everyone makes him out to be. Yup, you read that correct.

 “I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races—that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people.”

~Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln used the issue of slavery as a political pawn. The war was not going well for the Union. Lincoln recognized the fact that he needed a way to raise momentum in order to win the war—not just from Union citizens, but also to bolster the ranks of the Union army with African American’s who wanted to be free. That’s when the Emancipation Proclamation came into play. You see, the Proclamation that supposedly freed all the slaves, was in all truth, a political ploy. It carried out two different things.

1. It was intended to push slavery to the forefront of people’s minds, in order to make the Union seem holy and just.
2. It was meant to convince and bribe the Confederacy to come back to the Union.

Actually the Emancipation Proclamation only gave slaves freedom if the Confederacy continued fighting against the Union. If, however, the Confederacy agreed to come back and reunite with the Union, the Emancipation Proclamation would be null and void. Slavery would continue if the Confederacy would only come back.

Now, let’s think about this for a second. If the Confederacy was truly fighting and dying for the right to own slaves, would they not jump at the opportunity to make amends with the Union and end the war? I mean, it was clearly stated within the Proclamation that they could keep their slavery if they came back.

If they really were fighting to keep slaves, it would’ve been moronic of them to continue dying and allowing themselves to be maimed in battle over something that the Union already told them they could keep.

Not to mention the Emancipation Proclamation didn’t even touch slavery within the border states. Many of the border states that were part of the Union still allowed slavery, but they were not included in the Proclamation.

It’s also interesting to note that men like Robert E. Lee, were actually anti-slavery—yet another fact that has been covered up in our history books. Check out this quote:

“While we see the course of the final abolition of human slavery is onward, we give it the aid of our prayers…”

~Robert E. Lee

Why would General Lee fight a war over the ability to maintain an institution he was praying would come to an end? And before the war even began, Lee himself freed all the slaves that his wife’s father had given them, because he didn’t believe in slavery.

So then, it begs the question, was the Confederacy really fighting for slavery?

Before you get up in arms about what I’m saying here, let me say, I’m not making any of this up. Do the research for yourself and find out if what I’m telling you is true!

It was the Flag of the Confederate States of America?

The excuse is heard and used that the Confederate flag in question is racist because it was the flag of the Confederate states, many of which at the time of the war, still allowed slavery.

For starters, that’s another discussion for another day, because there’s a lot more that goes into that than meets the eye. I mean, think about it: Do these people not realize that there were states that remained within the Union that still had slavery during the War Between the States? We’ll be dealing with that, hopefully, in future posts.

However, the argument is still made that it is racist because it was the Confederacy’s flag, and the Confederate states still allowed slavery.

Those who make this claim, however are wrong. The flag that is in question here, was not in fact the flag of the Confederate States of America. It was the Confederate Army’s battle flag—there’s a difference. The troops carried it with them when they went to fight. It did not fly over each Confederate State as their country’s flag.

The battle flag represents their bravery, courage, and tenacity. None of which, I might add, is able to be denied by anyone who studies history. The Confederates had a fierceness and courage that was identical to American soldiers throughout all our history. (Hmmm, I wonder why. Maybe because they were Americans.)

It represents their willingness to stand up for what they believe is right; for things that are granted in our Constitution.

Above all, it’s a piece of so many Americans’ history—white and black; male and female.

Heritage of Hate?

To many people like me, the Confederate battle flag is a piece of our heritage and history. To remove it, is to remove a piece of who we are.

However, the typical response by those who oppose the Confederate flag, is that our heritage is one of hate. Some of these who are in the front lines of opposing everything having to do with the Confederacy are, for lack of a better term, willingly ignorant. They refuse to do research into history to find out the truth, but rather hail excuses that couldn’t hold water if it was in the form of an ice block.

I have for you an example of one such instance. This is a quote from an article posted on ACLU, entitled “It’s time to tell the truth about the Confederacy and its symbols”. The author of this article wrote,

“The heritage of the confederacy was white supremacy. All people who fought under the battle flag that appeared on Mississippi’s state flag fought for white supremacy.”

(Let it be noted that the battle flag in question is that of which we are discussing.)

I was appalled by the ignorance drenching that statement. Let’s stop and think about it for a minute.

Can the author of that article say that they know every single person who waves the Confederate flag, and they can prove that we are all white supremacists?

It’s very interesting to me that a statement like that is not considered racist or discriminatory in today’s world. For one thing, how do they get around the fact that roughly 65,000 blacks served within the ranks of the Confederate army, and proudly—I said proudly—waved the Confederate battle flag?

So you’re telling me that blacks who fought and died for that flag, and who still proudly wave it today, in honor of their heritage, are also white supremacists? That’s so moronic it’s laughable.

And by claiming that all who fly the battle flag of the Confederacy are white supremacists, they are attacking us in a manner that is hypocritical of the ideals they hold to. Isn’t it considered racist of white people if they “label” black people to all be the same way? Why is it not the same when it goes the other way?

Why is my southern heritage not acceptable, but other’s black heritage is? We want to talk about racism here, and a heritage of hate? What about the fact that in the year 1830 alone, free blacks in the United States owned roughly 12,907 slaves—whites and blacks? Yeah, look it up. I’m not lying to you.

Why is there no talk of that in our history books? Why is it okay to sweep slavery under the rug of black history when they are the ones perpetrating the evil, but it is brought to the forefront when they are the ones being perpetrated against?

Call me stupid, but that’s hypocrisy in its greatest form.

So what, slavery is all right as long as it’s a race other than Caucasians that’s doing it? It’s okay to declare white people 100% racist pigs, but ignore the fact that Blacks also owned slaves in the United States, right alongside their white counterparts?

I don’t think so. If you want to pull the race card in the debate of the Confederate flag, then you better be prepared to answer to the truth of history, or sit down and be quiet. Facts are indeed a stubborn thing, but they don’t lie.

I refuse to listen to the narrative that says all whites are racists, and all blacks are being discriminated against.

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I’m not asking you to blindly believe me. I’m asking you to study it out for yourself. Don’t let the Media, BLM, or anyone else make you blindly follow because it’s what you’ve always been told.

Go with an open mind to the pages of history, and let it write its story on your heart.

You might be surprised to find that history has far more to say than people are putting in the school books—and yes, it sometimes has a different story than what is in the school books.

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What are your thoughts on the Confederate Flag? What is something that you hold as a piece of your heritage? Let me know in the comments!

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~A. M. Watson

Hebrews 13:8