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Debate over rebel flag widens to include all symbols of Confederacy
The debate over the rebel flag that began anew after last week's church shootings in Charleston, S.C., has morphed into a full-blown Confederate controversy.
While Stars and Bars have long been associated by many with slavery, the latest campaign to remove Confederate emblems has extended beyond the flag to statues, memorials, parks and even school mascots. Never has the debate over what symbolizes heritage and what stands for hate covered so much ground, as efforts to strip icons that have been part of the visual and cultural landscape of the South for decades are afoot at national, state and local levels.
The debate over the rebel flag that began anew after last week's church shootings in Charleston, S.C., has morphed into a full-blown Confederate controversy.
While Stars and Bars have long been associated by many with slavery, the latest campaign to remove Confederate emblems has extended beyond the flag to statues, memorials, parks and even school mascots. Never has the debate over what symbolizes heritage and what stands for hate covered so much ground, as efforts to strip icons that have been part of the visual and cultural landscape of the South for decades are afoot at national, state and local levels.
Those memorials, parks, and symbols aren't about bigotry. They are about American history, and they need to be preserved. The effort has spread to the education system, where the Ft. Smith (Ark.) school district has decided to rename Southside High School's athletic teams. A school board committee passed a resolution that will ban the school’s fight song, "Dixie," and trash the name "Rebels."
It also wouldn't surprise me any at all if, after their successful campaign to destroy any memory of the South, they then come after the American flag and the symbols of patriotism, freedom, and constitutional law.
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