Flags

Is it possible to write about the Confederate battle flag controversy objectively? I will make an attempt. The United States Civil War Center maintains subject folders of articles and clippings for every conceivable aspect of the war. Why is the thickest folder about the most visible of the Confederate battle flags? The answer to that simple question is extremely complex.

The controversy evolves out of a long and complex history of flags in general and of the Confederate battle flag in particular.

Those American citizens who regard the issue as trivial fail to see the profound role of flags as symbols and of symbols per se throughout world history and their special role in war time and in the history of wars. Without taking sides, we do well to attempt to understand the dynamics of controversies over flags in general. The emotional, imaginative, and intellectual significance of the cross is an unusually clear example of the power of symbolism. In most wars, each side believes that God is on its side. Each side's flag symbolizes, therefore, not only national but religious conviction, doubling its power to motivate those involved in the relatively brief but intense war and to inspire memorials in the long aftermath, for both victors and vanquished. Especially in civil wars, defeat intensifies and prolongs feelings of both piety and resentment.

The aftermath of the American Civil War is complicated by the fact that a large group of people, as the descendants of slaves, consider themselves--as many other Americans agree--to be the cause of the war; the battle flag therefore provokes extremely complicated emotions.

Another complication derives from the fact that during the Civil Rights movement the Confederate battle flag came to symbolize in the minds of African Americans, and many whites nationwide, white supremacy. Some Southern state capitols brought the battle flag into renewed prominence by flying it beside or in place of the American flag and/or the state flag as an expression of defiance of the federal government.

A time followed when focus on the Confederate battle flag was less prominent. The flag became the expression of individual feelings, not always directly connected with the war.

Feelings about flags in general were expressed during the Vietnam protest era, when some groups burned the American flag; among the outraged were those who also revered the Confederate battle flag.

Then popular culture took over the Confederate battle flag, and it appeared, as did the American flag, as a fashion motif and was exploited commercially. Artists also got into the mix, using both the American and the Confederate battle flag to express radical ideas and attitudes in works that many Americans found objectionable and set out to censor.

The controversy over the Confederate battle flag that generates so much coverage in the media can be simply stated. Many African-American groups and individuals, with the support of white groups and individuals, demand its removal from public places; groups and individuals dedicated to the preservation of Confederate history, and other groups and individuals with other reasons, demand that it fly. But it is by no means that simple; possible solutions are various and inconclusive.

The vast majority of Americans, North and South, who see and read about the controversy in the media, are not deeply stirred, but find it interesting. American citizens in the vast middle can see value in aspects of the arguments of both sides. The controversy is inflamed by the fact that most people, on both sides and in the middle, do not seem to know the difference between the battle flag and the Confederate national flag. Clarification has often resulted in compromise, leaving people in the middle relieved, while people at both extremes remain unsatisfied, resentful, restless.

How long will this controversy continue? There are no signs of an end in sight. Flags as symbols, by their nature, have a very long and vigorous life. Meanwhile, the flag acts, as it did in the many battles of fratricidal conflict over 130 years ago, as a rallying point for discussion as...