Robert Ariail for July 10, 2015

Charlie, no offense, but that is a stunningly ahistorical comment. The Confederate Battle Flag hung in SC was an actual flag carried by SC troops into battle during the Civil War.South Carolina seceded in order to perpetuate slavery.On Dec. 24, 1860, delegates at South Carolina’s secession convention adopted a “Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union.” It noted “an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery” and protested that Northern states had failed to “fulfill their constitutional obligations” by interfering with the return of fugitive slaves to bondage. Furthermore, they wanted the right to bring their slaves to free states and ignore the laws of THOSE states. Even the empty “states rights” argument should not permit a state to assert its rights over other states, would you not agree?The Civil War was started by and in South Carolina, which for the record had a population of 60% black slaves, none of whom had a vote.The Confederate Battle Flag symbolizes treason to the US Constitution, slavery, and racism. This action rightly restores the proper flag to its position: the US flag. Our flag.

Try living as real slaves lived and see if you banter that word about so freely.You’re just mad that the SCotUS ruled you can’t force your beliefs on the gays anymore.

Well thank God that’s over… Wonder when they’ll get back to doing something meaningful like getting our federal spending under control? Or will it be back to “Ignore the man behind the curtain”?

Taking down the flag doesn’t take down the attitude.

At the same time, keep off public “office” buildings where business is conducted, but not from private use/property, or when on federal cemeteries or historic sites relative to the Confederacy and our history. Even the evil of slavery is part of OUR total history, and certainly not just of “the south”.

dtroutma said "Taking down the flag doesn’t take down the attitude.” — and tom, whether you meant to or not, you just provided a beautiful illustration of the truth of dtroutma’s statement.

So, what exactly does that flag mean to those millions of Southerners who abhor all those things?

And is what it means to white southerners different from what it means to black southerners?

And what exactly did it mean in the ’60s when it was revived after nearly a century of disuse — right in the midst of the Civil Rights struggle?

I grew up in the South, charlie. Two of my sisters were born in South Carolina. I lived in South and North Carolina and have relatives there, in Georgia, in Alabama, and more distant relatives in Texas. I know it well.I know full well that a lot of people see the Confederate Battle Flag as some sort of “Southern Pride” flag. White people, who do not know their history. To black Southerners, it’s a constant, ongoing, and threatening slap in the face.The fact is that the Confederacy lost the war but won the peace. All sorts of myths are now prevalent that have saturated the South and caused too many people to take pride in an appalling historical moment.In fact, it was a sign of STATE government trampling NATIONAL rights for it to fly at all. The tyranny of the entrenched powers of white racists continues, in fact; but at least they have been given a sign that it shall not stand.

““So, what exactly does that flag mean to those millions of Southerners who abhor all those things?”.I would rather leave that to a Southerner to answer.”

Fair enough. But you have a pretty good idea what the answer(s) is/are.