By Anjanette, Class of 2022
There are many discussions on whether the Confederate Flag is a symbol of hate, but its not. I think is symbolizes the South. Most people make it sound like hatred, but some people think of it as the battle their ancestors fought in for freedom. Therefore, the flag should stay up.
“It is not about slavery,” wrote Ron Springer in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “It’s about my ancestors fighting for their freedom.” The flag is a part of their heritage in the South, a part of their family. Most people claim it is symbolizing them. “The more the white south lost on the issue the more important that flag came to be,” Charles Zeiden, a political science professor at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said. The flag was all they had to show for their state’s rights.
Because of some individual’s cruel acts, some states have been forced to take down their beloved Confederate Flag. “George Washington owned slaves,” a great-great grandson of Confederate Army commander Nathan Bedford Forrest recently told a reporter after the city of Memphis, Tennessee decided to remove a statue of his great-great grandfather. “Are you going to take him off a dollar bill?” He is right. Are we going to get rid of everything that deals with slavery? If we try to get rid of every thing dealing with slavery it is going to take forever. However, it won’t change people’s hearts.
In conclusion, as an African American student, I think the flag should stay up. Most people use it as hate, but some people do not. People use it to represent the South; do not punish them because of a few people in our world think differently.
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Teacher’s Note: Above is the final artifact of one of my very talented young writers, who took a stance on the article entitled Is This a Flag of Hate? that appeared in the September 2015 edition of Junior Scholastic Magazine. Each of my scholars got to analyze the article, discuss, debate, and write their thoughts with a group of diverse learners. Tackling this topic was very challenging, but one of the most rewarding for me as a teacher as many racial barriers were broken down.
Pocomoke Press 
I love the honesty of this post. I am an African American too and I find this is a topic that raises lots of feelings. The flag, like many other symbols throughout the world stood for more than one idea. Some of the ideas the Confederate flag stood for was freedom and states rights. But who’s rights and freedoms were at risk of being granted or striped away?
It’s safe to say lots of people have mixed feelings about the flag. There are people who think it was a part of their nations history. Some people think hatred when they see it. Others think the flag represents standing up against oppression or even insurrection because states succeeded the Union. I guess the real question is when does a symbol lose its original meaning and transcend to mean something else?
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Anjanette,
I really like all the information you out in to it. I don’t know much about the confederate flag but i know it isn’t being racist….But it was nice to be able to read about all them amazing facts about cats.
-Madison
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