Free Speech and the Confederate Flag

To my embarrassment, my home state has been in the news recently due to a case involving the Confederate flag. Students at an East Tennessee high school sued (several years ago) that their free speech rights were violated because they were not allowed to wear clothing with the Confederate flag on them at school. The Supreme Court yesterday declined to hear the case, thereby ending the matter and leaving the school system's ban on Confederate flags intact.

I have mixed feelings over this case. On the one hand, I believe whole-heartedly in the concept of free speech. I believe this right is the backbone of a free society. I believe that as citizens we should have the right to say or wear whatever crazy or idiotic things that we wish. And I believe this right should be extended to everyone, not just to those who believe as I do.

So while I detest, with every fiber of my being, seeing the Confederate flag, people should have the right to wear it if they want. The thing about believing in free speech means that you have to defend those who spout things you believe are vile and offensive. While I hate the Klan, they have the right to spew their hatred. I also have the right to voice my opinion about their beliefs, and to do what I can to convince others they are wrong. I am not a big fan of Rush Limbaugh (his voice hurts my ears), but I do listen to him from time to time. I am glad that I live in a country that allows those I disagree with to have a voice. I feel that means that my voice cannot be taken from me, if I protect the voices of others.

To the Confederate flag issue, it saddens me that it is associated with the region that give birth to me and to which I call home. I hate that people focus on the flag and the hatred, and do not focus on how much race relations have improved over the past 40 years. I hate that things and people that should be synonymous with the South, such as Eudora Welty, Fannie Flagg, biscuits, chicken and dumplings, chess pie, iced tea, Paula Deen, kudzu and fried pies, are overlooked in favor of the flag.

I cringe when someone says they display the flag to show pride in their Southern heritage. If you truly have pride in your heritage, fly a flag with a biscuit on it. The flag is synonymous with the Confederacy, and with a war fought over basic human rights, a war on which we fought on the wrong side. Why on earth should we honor a heritage that viewed people as property, as lacking in basic human dignity based on the color of their skin. Why laud Southern honor when that honor was used to dominate not only African-Americans but women as well. I see nothing glorious about people who would go to war, risk killing the young men of their region, over the right to keep people enslaved, to deny them basic rights.

If we truly want to honor our Southern heritage, let's laud those things that have made us better, not worse. Let's not honor the things that have divided us.