Flag Is Our Heritage

Published: Monday, October 09, 2000

I was reading about the Kansas boy who was suspended for three days for drawing a picture of a Confederate flag (A-J, 10-3). The school said it violated a racial harassment and intimidation policy that the school had adopted.

The Confederate flag is a part of this nation, no matter what we think it stands for. If we make it a symbol of racism, it will be. But if we make it a symbol of what this nation has fought for to get to where we are, then we should see nothing in that flag but pride and determination.

Is it really necessary to believe that a little boy, who is probably just now learning about the Civil War and what it stood for, is really using this flag as a symbol of his racism?

What really surprises me is the Supreme Court held up the decision of the school and dismissed the case altogether. Does that mean they dismiss the Confederacy's role in building this nation? People's fathers, brothers and sons died under that very flag fighting for something they believed in.

Should we deny our ancestors their pride and their legacy because of a symbol that "some" people see as offensive? If they do see it as offensive, then they don't understand their American heritage or history. How are we going to end racism if we keep drudging it all back up? The Civil War is over, slavery is abolished, and segregation was ended. Let's move forward already!