Monday letters: Idea of Confederacy is painful to many

I agree that secession was about states’ rights, but the question is, the right to do what? We need to cut right to the chase and read the actual explanation that South Carolina gave for seceding back in December of 1860. Not what our grandparents told us; what the people who created the Confederacy said in their own words.

The first paragraph mentions slavery; slavery is mentioned 18 times in the relatively short document. I invite anyone to read the declaration of secession to know what the intention of the Confederacy really was. Go to civilwar.org/education/history, then select “primary sources” and scroll down to “The Declaration of Causes.”

To my friends who support flying the flag in an official capacity in South Carolina, I am not accusing you of supporting slavery; there is heritage behind the flag for many. But this is an excellent moment to relieve that disgust that others feel when they see that flag, those who feel its original intentions. They don’t understand why their government would fly it.

There are two sides to this story, but one side is hurt more by the idea of the Confederacy than another.

I write this as the great-nephew of the late Harry S. Dent, the man responsible for the “Southern strategy” of promoting states’ rights in the 1960s civil rights era to influence white, Southern voters in elections. Harry later left politics and worked for Billy Graham. In 1981 he stated, “When I look back, my biggest regret now is anything that stood in the way of the rights of black people … or any people.”

Supporting the flag’s removal doesn’t mean one must cease being a Republican; it’s the party of Lincoln, after all.

It’s time to take the Confederate flag off of the State House grounds.

Orangeburg

This story was originally published June 28, 2015 at 7:10 PM.