Ban the Confederate Flag

Dear CHS Paw Print :

My very first day attending Capital at the beginning of this year, I saw a truck parked in the parking

lot with a confederate flag waving in the back of it. I was stunned. To many, the sight is unnerving. A symbol of racism, hate, and superiority, in a school parking lot? It’s disturbing. To avoid the discomfort to students and any prejudice imposed on those who choose to wave it, the flag should be banned on school grounds.

As high school students, we are taught about our nation’s history, and it is our responsibility to

decide how we choose to interpret it. Some who choose to stand behind and support the

confederate flag claim they believe it stands for history and not for racism. This train of thought

emerges from what some think is a proud history, a fight for state’s individual rights. In a sense,

they’re not completely wrong. According to dictionary.com, “The Confederate battle flag is a flag

that was used by the seceded Southern states or the Confederacy during the Civil War.” The flag is history, but the piece of history which it stands for was not one any United States citizen should be proud of. The Southern States were receding in fear that institutional slavery would be regulated and perhaps even banned. The South was going against the United States. They wished to no longer to be a part of it. The entire Southern mentality during the Civil War was anti-American. Yet, those who wave it claim to be the most American of all. What was wrong was the fact that, according to history.com, over 625,000 men died. That’s more than the number of Americans who died in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and both World Wars combined. We cannot stand behind a flag that represents the bloody death of 625,000 of our American brothers, as well as the death of millions of Africans. While it is impossible to know how many slaves died on the way to the Americas, the World Future Fund estimates the death toll to be anywhere between 5 – 150 million deaths in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. How can this flag not stand for racism?

Some try to argue that the Confederate Battle Flag did not stand for racism in a war fought to keep slaves, but they cannot argue that it is not used for racism now. Let’s revisit August 12, 2017. Nearly a month after the Charleston Church Shooting, a white-nationalist by the name of Jason Kessler organized a rally for the “Unite the Right” movement in response to talk of removing confederate statues after the Charleston Shooting. Many within this movement shouted racial and antisemitic slurs as well as carrying flags including those displaying the swastika and other Nazi symbols, the Valknut, Deus Vult crosses, and finally, the Confederate Battle flag. Would it not be for the use of the flag by white supremacists, one just might be able to argue the flag stands for Southern pride

and not racism. Unfortunately for those that support the flag, white nationalists ruined that piece of their argument.

How could a flag representing the above possibly be permitted to fly in a school zone? How can a place that is supposed to serve as a safe environment for its students possibly allow this? School is expected to be a safe, neutral environment in which students can learn. Students already must deal with their own adversities in their personal lives but must now face the fear of being discriminated against by their own classmates. Here in Montana, as demonstrated by the United States Census, the 14% of people of color that live in our state must face the reality and possibility of what is the awful concept of discrimination. How is the minority supposed to feel safe in a school that permits the public display or support for such radical ideas? The answer is simple; they cannot.

For the sake of the student body, ban the flag.

Sincerely,

Zyanne Cervantes