The Confederate flag and monuments are not simply displays honoring southern heritage, they are painful reminders to Black people that they are not welcome and certainly are not equal. They are a reminder that the South was willing to start a war in order to continue to enslave Blacks. They were erected to reinforce the societal belief that Blacks were second class citizens during the Jim Crow era and continue to fulfill that role now. I grew up in the South and I have never felt like the Confederate flag represented me, nor have I felt inspired by monuments of Confederate leaders. Monuments and flags are symbols intended to memorialize and glorify a societal ideology, and the people and events that bolstered its ideals. For the South that ideology was rooted in the dehumanization of Blacks and the glory of White Supremacy, and as such, their symbols can only represent the same.
In the seventh grade my mother moved from Memphis city to a neighboring suburb, Collierville. We went from a city that was 65% Black to a city that was 75% White. The change was most noticeable on my first day of class. However, being in a group of predominantly White people was not new to me. I played soccer for a team where I was the only black player, not just on my team, but on most of the teams in Memphis. I went to a church that was predominantly white. But in all of that time, I never felt entirely out of place. Collierville middle school changed that. It was the first time that I can remember seeing the Confederate flag displayed on apparel. It wasn’t just one person; it was a significant portion of the student body. It made me uncomfortable, and it made other Black students uncomfortable. Enough so, that parents complained and the school banned anything that contained images of the flag. From a young age, we knew this flag did not represent our heritage or pride. We knew it was not a symbol that was meant for us as Blacks in America.
Most Blacks would not perceive a building flying the confederate flag with a statue of Jefferson Davis out front as a welcome sign. Yet so many state capitols did just that. To this day we have seen the very people who lambasted us for taking a knee during the anthem, proudly fly the flag of those who wished to split this country into two and keep Blacks enslaved. Parents have had to explain to children that our society built monuments to honor men who did not see us as people. Black Americans have been forced to live in the shadows of these symbols of oppression, all in the name of preserving history.
These symbols are not our history. They are the history of those who sought to oppress us. It is time for us to put these symbols where they belong, in accurately written chapters of history books. It is time to build a new history and erect new monuments that represent all Americans and the people that fought to unify this country, not destroy it. It is time to honor the efforts of Black leaders who have pushed America towards the Democracy that it has always claimed to represent. It is time to create a new culture that includes Blacks. Tearing down confederate flags is a small but necessary step in creating that culture.
