In today's Houston Chronicle, an article regarding Alvin ISD's banning the Confederate flag made me think (again) about the selective use of the past by Southern racists (a group made up of %99.99 religious-right types).
Whenever there is a displaying-the-Confederate-flag issue, the proponents always resort to claiming that the display is in honor of the noble deeds and sacrifices of antebellum southerners.
But when the painful issues of Black America's history are raised, these same good-ol'-boy groups decry such usage of the past. You know the tactic. It goes something like "all that slavery and shit happened in the past and them black folk just need to get over it."
Let's all just admit it. The Confederate flag is a nauseating symbol of hatred and intolerance and has no valid general public use. Just as the swastika, the rising sun or the apartheid-era South African flag should only be used for purposes of studying history, so should the Confederate flag.
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