Opinion

Not Even The Dead Can Have Confederate Flags

REUTERS/Jason Miczek

Scott Greer Contributor
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The federal government just won’t let Dixie lie down peacefully.

On Thursday, House Speaker [crscore]Paul Ryan[/crscore] allowed for a floor vote on a measure to remove Confederate flags from federal cemeteries that serve as the resting places for thousands of veterans. The measure passed by a comfortable margin, to the joy of its liberal sponsors.

“Symbols like the Confederate battle flag have meaning,” bill sponsor and California Democratic Rep. [crscore]Jared Huffman[/crscore] told his House colleagues. “They represent slavery, oppression, lynching and hate. To continue to allow national policy condoning the display of this symbol on federal property is wrong, and it’s disrespectful to what our country stands for and what our veterans stands for.” (RELATED: House Votes To Ban Confederate Flag From Veteran Cemeteries)

None of Huffman’s colleagues voiced opposition to the anti-flag measure on the House floor, but one congressional aide offered a biting critique to the move in the behind-the-scenes wrangling over the vote.

“You know who else supports destroying history so that they can advance their own agenda? ISIL. Don’t be like ISIL. I urge you to vote NO,” Pete Sanborn, legislative director for Republican Georgia Rep. [crscore]Lynn Westmoreland[/crscore], wrote in an email to other offices.

Sanborn signed his plea with, “Yours in freedom from the PC police.”

Apparently, Sanborn’s own office wasn’t free from the PC police as Westmoreland reprimanded him for the email and explained in a statement to reporters that his legislative director would never do such a thing again.

Westmoreland’s statement and the total lack of floor opposition to the flag measure clearly show how debate over the topic has become completely one-sided. The Confederate flag is an evil symbol of hate and only bigots would defend it. As evidenced by the 159 members of Congress who voted against the cemetery ban, there’s another side to this debate, but people are becoming too afraid to voice it.

For many Southerners, displaying the Confederate flag serves the purpose of honoring your ancestors and showing pride in where you come from. They do not fly it to celebrate racism or slavery. Similar to several other historical symbols, the Confederate flag’s meaning is a topic for heated debate — which explains why state governments no longer want it on their capitol domes.

There’s a difference in wanting the Confederate flag removed from the grounds of state capitols and trying to eliminate its presence from American life altogether. As South Carolina was in the process of removing its Dixie emblem from capitol grounds last summer in the wake of the Charleston church shooting, other forces were proposing exterminating the Confederacy from history.

The NAACP called for blowing up Georgia’s Stone Mountain because it featured the faces of Confederate leaders — a move that’s remarkably similar to the tactics of jihadis like ISIS and the Taliban. (Maybe Sanborn had a point comparing anti-Confederates to ISIS.) (RELATED: NAACP Literally Calls For Imitating The Taliban)

Memphis’ City Council voted unanimously to tear down a monument to Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest and dig up his remains in order for them to be transferred out of the city.

More troubling were the actions of private companies which sought to prevent the purchase of any products bearing the Confederate flag. Amazon, Wal-Mart and other retailers removed flags from their catalogs. Google went so far as to block any listings of places to buy a flag from its search engine. (RELATED: The Biggest Threat To Free Expression Isn’t The Government)

Corporations are notorious for doing everything possible to avoid giving offense to any special interest group and there’s presently an incentive to appear progressive. So while they’ll take down Confederate flags, they’ll hock out paraphernalia celebrating the murderous communist Che Guevara.

Google itself decided to show off their left-wing bona fides on the same day the House of Representatives from federal cemeteries.

For its Google Doodle Thursday, the company chose Yuri Kochiyama, a Japanese-American activist the company decided to remember for her activism on behalf of those citizens interned during World War II. However, Kochiyama was not just a civil rights activist who just wanted “equality,” as spelled out in the background behind her.

She was was a black separatist who supported the efforts of militants to create an African-American ethnostate in North America. She was a Marxist who had no qualms endorsing paramilitary groups which openly engaged in violence and illegality. She was also a Muslim convert who praised Osama bin Laden for the terrorist’s efforts to bring down American evil. (RELATED: Google Honors Bin Laden Supporter With Google Doodle)

It’s clear that the late Kochiyama was a bit of a nut and might not be the kind of person to be remembered as an American hero. Especially since she wanted this country brought down to its knees by any means necessary. Yet The Washington Post published two gushing articles on her on the day of her doodle commemoration that instructed readers to overlook her bin Laden support and focus instead on her “fierce” patriotism.

And they say Lost Cause apologists whitewash history…

The juxtaposition of Kochiyama’s praise and the further dishonoring of the Confederate flag shows what kind of history the Left would like to us cherish. The brave ancestors of millions of Americans are evil bigots who probably don’t even deserve marked graves. Crazed terrorist sympathizers are predecessors to Beyonce and deserve all the honors.

It’s worth noting that the soldiers who laid down their arms after the Civil War eventually came to love the Union they fought against. It appears Kochiyama never did in spite of all the opportunities given to her by this country.

History is a complicated matter and will always have areas prone to controversy and dispute. But it makes no sense to wash away all traces of the Confederacy while upholding racial Marxists as all-American heroes.

To do so would be a disgrace to history and our national identity.

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