America’s Fraught Relationship with Confederate Symbols
They are another example of how history is never neat, tidy, or convenient
In the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police on May 25, Americans have had to wrestle with some harsh questions. How do we deal with systemic racism? How do we unwittingly perpetuate racism? How do we reform police departments? How do we deal with attitudes of white supremacy?
And what do we do with persistent symbols from the American Civil War, specifically Confederate statues and flags?
State and local governments, plus individuals and organizations, are starting to sort out the last question. Their answers may not be neat and tidy, but they are answers nonetheless.
Confederate Flags
The three flags below are the various national flags the Confederacy had in its four short years. They were problematic. The middle one looked like a flag of surrender, which is why it got a red bar attached to it later.
But the first one, the “Stars and Bars,” could easily be confused on a smokey battlefield for…
