It is bizarre that the Confederate battle flag of the 11 states that fought and lost in their attempt to leave the United States in the American Civil War should have become such a powerful symbol of repression and slavery. The flag was largely forgotten in the early 1900s, but was picked up by some military units in the Second World War and then popularised as a nostalgic symbol of the old south.
But when Georgia introduced it as an element in its state flag in 1956, it was only two years after the crucial Supreme Court decision in favour of school desegregation and adopting the southern symbol was seen as a protest against the decision.
The gathering protest against racial equality gave the symbol new credibility and now the Confederate battle flag is not just a piece of 150-year-old nostalgia that the US can wink at, but is seen as an active endorsement of racism. This is why the wretched criminal who slaughtered nine black Americans in their church felt able to use this symbol along with the flags of apartheid-era South Africa and racist Rhodesia.
Anything that endorses racism or is seen as doing so is wrong. Therefore, it is right that the states in the south of the US that use the symbol should stop the practice. Assembly speakers and governors in Mississippi, South Carolina and Virginia have all called for action in their states and other states that permit the battle flag to be used on their official buildings should follow suit.
The American Civil War ended 150 years ago this month. As the US continues to wrestle with urgent issues affected by racial discrimination like poverty, bad policing and inner city gang culture, it is wrong that a symbol of a defeated south that fought for the right to preserve slavery should continue.
It is necessary for the entire US to reject racism and its symbols and focus on building the equal society that it aspires to.
