Fincher: Confederate flag has been co-opted; take it down

I write this missive as a Southern-bred, diehard-conservative, gun-owning Republican. I grew up during the days of racial segregation, and there wasn’t a cotton-picking thing I could do about it. I went through 12 years of school without a single black classmate.

After high school in 1954, I joined the Army and had my first taste of racial integration at nearby Fort Jackson. I ate, slept and trained with black soldiers, and black sergeants ordered me around. I entered Clemson College in 1957 and graduated without having a single black classmate. I spent the next 30 years in the Army, serving with outstanding black and white soldiers in peace and war.

When I was 11, my great-uncle, Lane L. Bonner, the Senate reading clerk, arranged for me and my mother to have a private tour of the Relic Room, a small room inside the State House. Upon entering, Uncle Lane warned me to speak softly because it was a place of reverence. The room contained artifacts of the Confederacy, including a glass-cased Confederate battle flag. The flag was frayed but was clearly the most important item in the room.

For far too many years, the once-revered battle flag has been an object of derision, co-opted by hate groups and psychopaths. It has become an “in-your-face” symbol. That it flies on the grounds of the state capitol now brings national scorn, and jokes by late-night comedians.

I lived for nearly 27 years before the flag adorned the State House dome, and there was no public sentiment to put it there. Now approaching my 80th year, I ask why our state should continue to fly a flag that is a symbol of hatred to nearly 1.3 million of our black fellow citizens and probably more whites than that. It is simply not fair, and mocks our heritage of “Southern hospitality.” And frankly, it is not fair to more than 880,000 Confederate soldiers, of whom more than 260,000 died in battle. The great majority of these soldiers owned no slaves.

Our State House grounds have ample tributes to the Confederacy. The Confederate monument honors soldiers, the statue of Gen. Wade Hampton honors a leader, and the monument to Confederate women honors their great sacrifice during the war. Those are all well and good.

The Confederate battle flag is an important part of the history of South Carolina. As such, it should be in the State Museum, not on the State House grounds. The S.C. Heritage Act of 2000 needs to be repealed. All it takes is action by men and women of courage in our Legislature. Someday that is going to happen. Why not now?

Chapin

This story was originally published June 27, 2015 at 7:28 PM.