FREE ESSAY ON THE SYMBOL OF THE SOUTH

THE SYMBOL OF THE SOUTH

The Symbol of the South
The battle flag of the South stands above the capitol building in Columbia, SC. It waves
proudly, echoing the lives and blood of men who sacrificed everything they were, and
everything they had for something they believed in. They fought valliantly and bravely to
protect their homeland, and to gain independence of the Union. The flag stands there, not
as a symbol of hate, racial inequality, or blood-thirsty war, but as a symbol reflecting
the rich South and the men who gave everything for it. 
Black and white, Indian, Irish and English, so many fought in the war. Blacks stood,
shoulder to shoulder, with white men. Their blood is embedded as deeply as any white
man's in the flag of the Confederacy. We all bleed red, the blood of many races were
mingled on those ghostly battlefields when the smoke cleared. Removing the flag from
where it has stood for over 60 years would be like saying that all of those men had given
their lives for naught. Perhaps it would not have been best for the South to have won the
war, but we should respect and uphold the men who fought so bravely for their cause. 
The mistaken idea that the Civil War was about slavery is one of the many causes that the
flag's right to be above the capitol is questioned. This mistaken idea often causes
problems between the races of this state. Slavery was wrong. I would never try to justify
it, because it can not be justified. It was simply wrong, God made us all equal. A human
being was never intended to be treated like an animal, animals even were not meant to be
treated like slaves. Slavery is a sensitive area, but the flag does not reflect this. The
war was about the South's right to make it's own laws, and to be free from the Union.
There were many Black soldiers there in the Confederacy of their own will. They loved the
South just as any white man. The flag means to harm to black people; it is there
representing many lives of blacks who died in the war as well! Most of the white men who
fought in the war did not even own slaves. The very high majority were not slave owners
at all. When will the people see that the flag is not a symbol of hate? It is a symbol of
pride, blood, and the lives of many men. Any and every man who fough in that war would
want to see that flag flying above the state building. It has been said that the flag had
a place in history, but that it has no place in the present. How can that be? The history
makes the present what it is! 
Many people have exploited the flag. Hate-mongers fly it proudly in their racist ways,
but they are the wrong ones. It is not the flag that reflects hate, it is their hearts.
People who would misuse the flag in that way are not worthy of having it at all. It is
people such as themselves who have ruined the reputation of the flag that once meant so
much. 
The Confederate Flag belongs above the state capitol. It should be where the people of
the South can watch it stand in it's glory. It should be the tie between races, not the
wall seperating them. People who would remove it couldn't feel much pride for their
state, or the blood of the ones who made it what it is. When the people of the state walk
by that flag, they should hear the battle cry of the South. I am one who hopes to see the
flag standing in the future. It has earned and it deserves the place where it is, and it
should remain there to remind people of their heritage and history.