Flag Revelations

The debate about the symbolism of the Confederate Flag reflects is a prodcut of the historical ambiguity of the Civil War. The Confederate flag was used by the Confederacy. The Union forces defeated the Confederacy. What happened to the leaders of the failed coup d'etat? Robert E. Lee retired and died of old age. Jefferson Davis retired and died of old age. The General of the Confederate army and President of the Confderacy were not treated as traitors of democracy but as discharged combatants, and arguably as war heroes. When the leaders of treason are left to suffer the pangs of their conscience rather than justice for their crimes, what is a southerner to make of that? In showing grace to those who actively worked to destroy the Union, we failed to repudiate the act of secession. The United States neglected to provide punishment commensurate with the actions of the rebels, and Southerneres were allowed to rebuild their society with racism and terrorism. In a broad sense, the southern way of life remained unchanged, which can be interpreted as a type of victory. Humans are motivated by rewards for pro-social behaviors and penalties for anti-social behaviors. The penalties leveled against the rebellion and it's leaders are grossly disproportionate in relation to the destruction they wrought and the evils they sought to maintain. 

More than 150 years after a clear Union victory, there are large portions of Americans who revere a flag of treason and rebellion as a symbol for southern pride. A southern pride which would have me in shackles. I find it difficult to convince my fellow Americans and Southerners to adopt my position when the reconstruction period is still underway. History books place a clear end for Reconstruction but voting rights for African-Americans still lag in southern states. African-Americans are still discriminated within financial institutions. The sharecropping system which kept African-Americans in economic bondage, has been replaced with low-wage jobs and shameful public housing. Non-profit organizations are fighting to bring a true end to the Reconstruction era. 

The Union failed to dispence justice to it's enemies. As a result our nation never healed priperly. We continue to remain divided because we chose to be silent about injustice. We preferred to create legends and heroic narratives of our past rather than telling the truth.