User:Tie Carrington/sandbox

The Confederate Flag and the Truth of It's Continued Use

I am writing a paper for my school and it is a persuasive essay. My argument is that government should no longer fly the Confederate flag or allow Confederate monuments to stand in public areas. People who oppose this way of thinking tend to argue that it is a piece of history and it is used to commemorate the individuals that died fighting in the war. I have many arguments against that specific claim but for the most part I will focus on the fact that Confederate insignia such as the flag itself, statues, and monuments were not used to honor or commemorate anyone. They were actually used as a scare tactic and in direct rebellion of individuals who supported civil rights reform. My research shows that the use of the Confederate flag, following the Civil War, did not come back until the late 1940's. Roughly 80 years after the conclusion of the Civil War. It was brought back by the Dixiecrat party, who used the symbol as their ancestors did. Their party motto was, "Segregation Forever." To help garner support from others who opposed equality and civil rights reform, they began to utilize the Confederate flag as their official symbol. The same is true for the construction of Confederate Civil War soldiers. The vast majority of these monuments were not built directly after the Civil War. Their construction actually coincides with periods where civil rights reform was in the national spotlight. For instance the year of 1909 saw an elevated level of Confederate monument construction. This happens to be the exact same year the NAACP was founded. The same is true through the 1960's. Many more statues were constructed as the Civil Rights Act was passed. Lastly, it is of no surprise that known white Supremacist, like Dylann Roof, fly this flag proudly and use it as a symbol of racism. How can government buildings fly the same flag that known white supremacists fly? How can we continue to support the standing of Confederate soldiers when it is a known fact that they were only built to scare and intimidate those in favor of reform?