The War Is Over

Oddly enough I am not referring to the current war in Iraq. Instead, I am referring to the American Civil War. Yes, the Civil War that ended in 1865, almost 142 years ago. Indeed, the Civil War where more than 620,000 American lives were lost at the hands of their own countrymen. I bring this up today on the eve after Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) day in the United States. The entire country celebrated the legacy and accomplishments of the greatest civil rights activist in the history of this great country. Undoubtedly, King's work and life has affected the lives of countless African Americans in life and in death.

On this most auspicious day, Senator Joseph Biden (a presidential hopeful) of South Carolina, stated that he wants the Confederate flag completely removed from the grounds of the Columbia state house. He deemed the flag’s presence as a persevering reminder of racism in this country. Six years ago the NAACP successfully lobbied for the subsequent removal of the Confederate flag from the dome of the statehouse in Columbia. Even though the flag was removed from the statehouse itself, it still remains on the grounds in the form of a tribute to the confederacy.

This “tribute” is indeed a mockery of those who lost their lives in the Civil War, much less the millions of African Americans that are descended from the very slaves that were emancipated through blood, sweat, and tears. A group of 35 individuals protesting the movement to remove the Confederate flag from the state house grounds gathered today in what can only be described as a “consorted” charade to “maintain their heritage.” These people want to maintain the heritage of their ancestors, the ones who illegally succeeded from the nation in 1861?

These “neo-Confederates” as I have termed them, are in severe denial. I live in the state of Illinois, the very state that Abraham Lincoln resided in upon his election to the presidency in 1860. This was also the man who lost his life at the hands of a rouge confederate by the name of John Wilkes Booth who disagreed with Lincoln’s emancipation of the slaves (I am firmly aware of the fact that Lincoln was rather indifferent on the issue of slavery). It sickens me to still see bumper stickers and various other ornaments decorating countless vehicles (mostly pick up trucks from 1970 that somehow still run) of those who “maintain their heritage.”

It is an insult that we should be having this debate 142 years after the end of the Civil War. The war was won by the North, not the South, plain and simple; these individuals need to deal with it. Slavery has long been outlawed in this nation. But there are those that still maintain the appalling beliefs of the secessionists. That flag represents a time in American history that many would assume forget. The Confederate flag should be removed from any governmental building in the South, much less from the psyche of the American people.