The Confederate Flag was raised over the South Carolina State House in 1961 where it stood for the next 54 years. To most United States citizens, the Confederate Flag has very little meaning; however, to the Southern and Eastern portion of the United States, it is deeply entrenched in everyday life. CNN reporter, Ageista, took a poll that showed 57 percent of Americans see the flag symbolized as heritage or pride; meanwhile, a poll was taken among African-Americans. 72 percent saw the Confederate Flag as a meaning of racism (Agiesta). These percentages directly show the people who were impacted by the removal of the Confederate Flag. Most of the 57 percent of Americans do not live in the South; therefore, they do not see or experience the problems stemming from the flags past. On the contrary, the African-Americans were the ones with slavery in their ancestry so they see the flag as that awful past. The controversy over the Confederate Flag has spanned many decades and will continue for many more. I, along with the general population, can come to an agreeable realization that the Confederate Flag may very well have stood for something good once, but with the South's actions following the Civil War and the controversy surrounding the Confederate Flag since then, the Confederate Flag has become a symbol of slavery and racism. 

Many United States citizens ask, if the so called 'Confederate Flag' was even an official flag of the Confederacy? No, it was not. Throughout the entirety of the Confederate States of America, there were three official flags. The first official flag was the "Stars and Bars". This flag contained a star for each of the original seven states that seceded. It also contained red and white stripes. However, this flag was too similar to the Stars and Stripes of the Union, so after two years it was removed. The second flag was a small square version of the "Southern Cross Flag". In the top left corner, there were 13 stars that represented the rest of the Confederate states, and the rest of the flag was white. While the Confederate soldiers carried this flag in battle, it too closely resembled a white flag of surrender. After another two years, the Confederacy adopted their third and final flag. The third flag was very similar to the second flag, but differed in the fact that it contained a red vertical bar on the edge of the flag. While all three flags were the official representations of the Confederacy the "Confederate Navy Jack Flag" or the "Army of Northern Virginia Flag", was widely used in battle and going forward was and still is the general symbol of the South (US Flag). 

In present day, most people would say that blacks have become equal in society mostly being that we have a black president. However, following the Civil War, the South did not let go of their white supremacy beliefs and continued the hindrance of blacks for a little more than a century. This is where the North and the South differ hugely and why all the blame gets put on the South. Following 1865, the North allowed slaves to enter into society as equals which, as previously stated, the South would not allow. Starting just shortly after the Civil War, whites imposed "Black Codes". "Black Codes" were designed to restrict the freedom of blacks and preserve slavery as much as possible. Through these the blacks could not own guns, they could not attend church on Sundays, and they had no apprentice laws (Burrows). The North continued to let this happen and even made deals with the South. The Compromise of 1877 allowed Rutherford B. Hayes to be president if the North would take troops out of the South which ended reconstruction (Burrows). The Compromise of 1877 forced out all the northern soldiers that were protecting the blacks of the South and allowed whites to go back to limiting black freedom. 

The racial persecution toward African-Americans died down heavily from 1910-1940. Through World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II, the country as a whole had way bigger things to worry about then degrading blacks. However, as the country started to come back in the late 1940s to early 1950s, the segregation and bigotry toward blacks took off fast as ever. The main limitations during these decades were segregation and limiting black voters. Whites had their own schools, buses, and restaurants. Whites made it so that a black would not dare step in any of the segregated places or there would be harsh repercussions. Burrows says, 1963 Birmingham (Where MLK launched his non-violent series against segregation) and 1965 Selma (March on Edmund Pettis Bridge lead by Martin Luther King Jr. to protest segregation in Selma) lead to the passing of Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 which were the two most influential pieces of legislation in the modern civil rights movement and brought society closer to achieving equality of men in America (Burrows). Through all these harsh times, the Confederate Flag flew over most of the previous Confederate States. Cenk says "in 1963 ... Alabama governor George Wallace raised the flag over the state capitol in protest against desegregation." (The Young Turks) This quote directly shows how the South felt about the blacks and segregation. The Confederate Flag was used as a symbol for the segregation of blacks. Since the Confederate states were the only ones who flew the Confederate Flag, they were the only ones that prohibited African-American rights and the negativity toward the South as a whole was directly pushed onto the Confederate Flag.

The term "white supremacy" is no stranger to the South. Many organizations that use the Confederate Flag as their official symbol along with select individuals still try to uphold this notion. The actions set forth by these groups through the years has continued to cause heavy controversy and violence between the two races of whites and blacks. The Klu Klux Klan, along with their racist counterparts, such as the Imperial Klans of America, have more than helped and molded the unfavorable attitude toward the Flag. While the Klu Klux Klan was formed 1865 and died out shortly thereafter, it was revived in 1915 and has kept a strong presence in the United States and Canada through the present day (Anti-Deformation League). The Klu Klux Klan uses the Confederate Flag as their official symbol; therefore, everything they stand for most people directly correlate to the Confederate Flag. General actions of the Klu Klux Klan were aimed toward former slaves; however, they even killed some northern teachers, judges, and politicians that were heavy supporters of the anti-slavery (Anti-Deformation League). In the Klu Klux Klan's peak of 1924, there were hundreds of thousands of members. 40,000 of them marched through the streets of Washington D.C. and this movement had a great impact on citizens and had governors and politicians. President Harry S. Truman himself donned the Klu Klux Klan (Anti-Deformation League).  As the Ku Klux Klan grew hatred toward African-Americans, the flag prospered with it. This was a huge factor in sway people's opinion of the Confederate Flag. 

An individual that practiced and believed along the same racism was Dylan Roof. The shooting in Charleston, South Carolina was a major final action that caused the inevitable removal of the flag. Dylan Roof is a 21-year-old white male who went to a prayer meeting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church where he shot and killed nine African-Americans and left one to tell the story. "Roof is white and appeared in photos waving Confederate Flags and burning or desecrating U.S. flags. Roof planned for months to increase racial tensions throughout the country and seek retribution for perceived wrongdoings against whites." (The Associated Press) The Dylan Roof shooting is one of the many violent actions between whites and blacks is the reason for the racist context behind the Confederate Flag and the South. 

The public's reaction to the Dylan Roof shooting was very different than the norm predicted. Instead of rioting and having violent outbreaks to the racial hate crimes such as those that took place in Missouri and Baltimore, they responded with compassion. As a symbol of sympathy, and in the nation's time of grieving, the rest of the Confederate Flags were removed from state grounds around the South. The families of the nine African-Americans murdered by Roof not only forgave him, but wanted nothing to do with violence and uproar (The Associated Press). The forgiveness amongst the nine families struck the nation because they had never seen a reaction like this before. The nine families' forgiveness also made people realize that more people need to find the compassion in their hearts so that everyone can be equal one day. 

As previously stated, 57 percent of America see the Confederate Flag as a symbol that stands for the heritage and pride of the South during the Civil War. Most of these people say that the Civil War was not fought over slavery and that the North owned slaves that were not released until after the Civil War was over. The Sons of Confederate Veterans(SCV) says that the Civil War was fought over money and that Lincoln could not let the South go of the wealthy landowners who's taxes paid for government (the SCV)? While Sarratt says, the war was not fought over slavery, but slavery in the new territories, as the South saw not having slavery in new states would mean a soon end to it in their states (Sarratt). I would have to agree mostly with Sarratt in this case, but more along the lines that it was fought for slavery in old territories. I also agree that it protected the continued slavery in the South, which was their main concern. If taken a closer look at some of the seceding state constitutions post-secession, they further back my stance. In the South Carolina Constitution, after seceding from the Union, it states "States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinion and purposes are hostile to slavery." (The Young Turks) Another example of the Mississippi Constitution says, "Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery  --  the greatest material interest of the world." (The Young Turks) These quotes from the Confederate states themselves prove that the preservation of slavery was their number one interest because this was a massive part of the economy in the South. 

Southerners saw these wage slaves as worse than slavery in the South. What is wage slavery? Wage slavery is when one works for long hours in a dangerous job location for very little pay to cover expenses. PBS says the industrial economy of the North swallowed these new workers into factories, they work for long hours for little pay. These jobs were most time hazardous and their meager earnings made it difficult for one to pay for life's necessities (PBS American Experience). Southerners often provided food, clothing, medical care, and housing; therefore, Southerners thought slavery in the South was much more humane than wage slaves. While supporters back those findings heavily, they also draw from the fact that the Southern slaves were the only ones released with the Emancipation Proclamation, while the states that supported the Union still had their slaves. In Teals article, he says upon president Lincoln's signing and release of the Emancipation Proclamation, it called for the freedom of slaves in all Confederate states. However, it did not call for the release of slaves in the North (Teal,1). All of these facts about the Northern slaves are very much true. However, once the North won the Civil War, the Northerners welcomed all freed slaves and accepted them into society. Did the North hinder blacks from voting? Did the North segregate all public places? Did the North continue to take away African-American rights? The answer is no, because all of those were the South. The South continued to treat the blacks as sub humans and did so for more than a century. For these reasons is why all the blame is put on the South. Even though the North and South were both at fault at a certain point in history, the North made it right; however, the South continued it. 

There has been so much violence and bloodshed over the Confederate Flag that something needs to be done. The Confederate Flag has a very big impact on our everyday lives. The lasting impacts of our ancestor's debacle between the whites and the blacks has effect behavior and has almost become second nature. The distress between whites and blacks has not been settled. It is most obvious when noticing how each race looks at each other. It is also shown in friend groups and who people associate with. These two groups are still very segregated people, but blend with their own kind. This issue is such a huge deal because it has not been solved yet, and so many people are still being impacted by the deep-rooted controversy it has caused. There is bullying, violence, and even death that takes place. 

On July 10th, 2015, the Confederate Flag was removed from the South Carolina State House grounds in Columbia, South Carolina. This step was only a small one in a part of a larger problem that will take a lot more then taking down a flag to fix. As American citizens, we need to find a way as an end to the distress and strife between the two races. Taking the Confederate Flag down was a step, but that happened more than 8 months ago and the question we ask now is, "is there really that much change in everyday life?" A bystander at the Confederate Flag removal ceremony put it a good way, "by taking down the flag, or even doing more with gun control, it is not enough to change the hearts of men" (Cable News Network). The Confederate Flag was just that: a flag, which carried a negative meaning, but taking it out of plain sight does not change people's values and ethics. It is awful that two races that are around each other in everyday life and are having such a hard time blending together and see each other as equals.  Regan's way to eliminate the rest of the strife and disagreement between the two parties is to remove the Confederate monuments along with the Confederate Flag so that new generations will grow up seeing symbols of peace or monuments of strength so that racial isolation in generations to follow does not exist (Regan). I think this is a little much because the Confederate Flag is one thing, but taking down all the monuments of some of the most powerful men in this country just because they supported the Confederacy is not something that should take place. The best way would be to find a way to completely integrate all of society and make the two groups, along with the other minorities, have to interact and connect with one another. 

