Gordon: Let’s try tolerance and keep Confederate flag

On July 2, 1863, Pvt. James Merritt, a Confederate soldier, was blinded at the Battle of Gettysburg. He was captured by federal forces but eventually came home and, after raising 12 children, died and was buried in north Georgia. James was my great-great-grandfather.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans, a Southern heritage group, located his burial site. To honor his memory, the group decided to place a headstone on his grave.

The cemetery was at a small, poor, rural church high in the mountains. Over the years, the cemetery had become heavily overgrown. The Sons of Confederate Veterans met with the church and got permission to encamp on its property. The encampments went on for several weekends while members cleared not only the grave of James Merritt but the entire cemetery, and did other maintenance work for the church. They formed a close bond with the people of the church, attended services and even sang in the choir.

It was a brisk, sunny day when they unveiled the headstone, and my family and members of the church attended. Some of the Sons of Confederate Veterans were dressed in period uniforms, and large Confederate flags flew in the wind. The pastor gave the invocation, and the choir sang. Afterward, the family, the sons and the church members had a great time talking and eating with one another.

The point of this story is that the church was a black church. The pastor who gave the invocation, the choir members who sang and the church members who attended were all black. Yet with mutual good will, respect and a willingness by all to practice tolerance, blacks and whites were able to aid one another and celebrate together. This is at odds with the hate narrative that the Confederate flag always symbolizes racism and bigotry.

Many stereotype everyone who cherishes their Confederate heritage and reveres the Confederate flag as white supremacists and racists, but this is just as foolish and as wrong as stereotyping all blacks as criminals and all Muslims as terrorists.

The drive to remove the Confederate flag from the State House grounds in reaction to the horrible murders in Charleston is an ill-conceived and intolerant expression of hate that reasonable people of good will of whatever race or persuasion should oppose. Toleration and respect, not hatred and revenge, are the way to reconciliation.

Bluffton

This story was originally published July 4, 2015 at 7:35 PM.