As the result of a decree made by Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, April is now our state’s Confederate-Heritage Month. According to the Jackson Free Press, Bryant chose the month of April because it “is the month in which the Confederate States began and ended a four-year struggle.” The Jackson Free Press goes on to point out that Governor Bryant’s supposed reasoning behind making this proclamation includes comments about the importance of gaining “insight” about Mississippi’s past as well as to “understand and appreciate our heritage.”
I was going to make this article solely about Governor Bryant’s proclamation, but it seems that in order to discredit his proclamation as misguided and wrong, I am going to have to clarify some poignant facts about the Confederacy that a significant portion of Southern white Americans have trouble coming to grips with.
First and foremost, the Civil War was undoubtedly about slavery. Hopefully the majority of you are thinking, “Wow, Sherlock! How did you figure that out?” I applaud your sarcastic Holmes reference and agree with you completely because it is obvious that the crux of the American Civil War was always slavery. Yet, a significant portion of our white community cannot come to grips with the fact that there was no honor in the Confederacy because there is no honor in slavery.
Some try to argue that money, state rights, and territory were roots of the Civil War, but each and every one of those factors is linked directly to the disagreement over slavery in the United States.
Secondly, the Rebel flag is irrefutably a symbol rooted in racism. Created by William Thompson, the original Confederate flag featured the Rebel flag design on a white background. Thompson stated, “Such a flag would be a suitable emblem of our young confederacy, and sustained by the brave hearts and strong arms of the south, it would soon take rank among the proudest ensigns of the nations, and be hailed by the civilized world as the white man’s flag.”
The Vice President of the Confederate States, Alexander Stephens, also stated, “Our new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition.”
You cannot simply remove the only truly designed aspect from the Confederate flag, start calling it a “Rebel” flag, and slap a bumper sticker on the back of your old pick-up that reads “HERITAGE NOT HATE!”
A blog on DanielMiessler.com says it best: “If that flag also means certain things to other Southerners, that is fine. But this does not erase its enduring power as beacon of racism. Just as we cannot wear Nazi memorabilia and claim it represents military discipline and nation pride, we also cannot display a Confederate flag and claim it means sweet tea and Southern solidarity.” In other words, put that in your snuff can and dip it.
Last but certainly not least, while Governor Bryant claims the foundation of Confederacy Heritage month is “understanding” and “appreciation,” all evidence proves otherwise. If the month was about understanding the Confederacy for what it was and still is, there would be no conflict between knowledgeable Southerners who understand the negative influence of the stain left behind on symbols associated with hateful ideology and wishful-thinking Southerners who want to be able to fly the flag that their grandfathers flew without everyone thinking they are inherently racists.
I have personally argued time and time again with other young and old white men who have convinced themselves the Civil War was not about slavery, the Rebel flag has no inherent ties to a symbol of racism and white-supremacy, and that it is okay to call black people the N-word when they qualify for the modern-day southern white man’s definition of worthless.
This sort of ideology logically must be woven into the foundation of a Confederate Heritage month because it is the clearly the ideology of a significant portion of Mississippi’s population. Governor Bryant should rename April Confederate Education Month and focus on educating our population with the bitter truth that we were never the “good guys.” Perhaps then Mississippi will begin to understand there is no pride or honor to be felt when reflecting on a time period in which rampant racism, abuse and murder was socially accepted.
For some, the month may truly be about heritage and not hate, but there is no doubt the heritage of Mississippi is, in and of itself, filled with hate.
