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Take Down the Confederate Flag--Now
The flag that Dylann Roof embraced, which many South Carolinians embrace, endorses the violence he committed.
Jun 19, 2015
On Wednesday night, Dylann Roof walked into a Charleston church, sat for an hour, and then killed nine people. Roof's crime cannot be divorced from the ideology of white supremacy which long animated his state nor from its potent symbol--the Confederate flag. Visitors to Charleston have long been treated to South Carolina's attempt to clean its history and depict its secession as something other than a war to guarantee the enslavement of the majority of its residents. This notion is belied by any serious interrogation of the Civil War and the primary documents of its instigators. Yet the Confederate battle flag--the flag of Dylann Roof--still flies on the Capitol grounds in Columbia.
The Confederate flag's defenders often claim it represents "heritage not hate." I agree--the heritage of White Supremacy was not so much birthed by hate as by the impulse toward plunder. Dylann Roof plundered nine different bodies last night, plundered nine different families of an original member, plundered nine different communities of a singular member. An entire people are poorer for his action. The flag that Roof embraced, which many South Carolinians embrace, does not stand in opposition to this act--it endorses it.
That the Confederate flag is the symbol of of white supremacists is evidenced by the very words of those who birthed it:
Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth...
This moral truth--"that the negro is not equal to the white man"--is exactly what animated Dylann Roof. More than any individual actor, in recent history, Roof honored his flag in exactly the manner it always demanded--with human sacrifice.
Surely the flag's defenders will proffer other, muddier, interpretations which allow them the luxury of looking away. In this way they honor their ancestors. Cowardice, too, is heritage.
Read the full article at The Atlantic.
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© 2023 The Atlantic
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Ta-Nehisi Coates is a national correspondent at The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle.
charlestoncivil rightscivil wardylan roofdylann storm roofmass shootingsslaverysouth carolinawhite supremacyconfederate flag
On Wednesday night, Dylann Roof walked into a Charleston church, sat for an hour, and then killed nine people. Roof's crime cannot be divorced from the ideology of white supremacy which long animated his state nor from its potent symbol--the Confederate flag. Visitors to Charleston have long been treated to South Carolina's attempt to clean its history and depict its secession as something other than a war to guarantee the enslavement of the majority of its residents. This notion is belied by any serious interrogation of the Civil War and the primary documents of its instigators. Yet the Confederate battle flag--the flag of Dylann Roof--still flies on the Capitol grounds in Columbia.
The Confederate flag's defenders often claim it represents "heritage not hate." I agree--the heritage of White Supremacy was not so much birthed by hate as by the impulse toward plunder. Dylann Roof plundered nine different bodies last night, plundered nine different families of an original member, plundered nine different communities of a singular member. An entire people are poorer for his action. The flag that Roof embraced, which many South Carolinians embrace, does not stand in opposition to this act--it endorses it.
That the Confederate flag is the symbol of of white supremacists is evidenced by the very words of those who birthed it:
Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth...
This moral truth--"that the negro is not equal to the white man"--is exactly what animated Dylann Roof. More than any individual actor, in recent history, Roof honored his flag in exactly the manner it always demanded--with human sacrifice.
Surely the flag's defenders will proffer other, muddier, interpretations which allow them the luxury of looking away. In this way they honor their ancestors. Cowardice, too, is heritage.
Read the full article at The Atlantic.
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Ta-Nehisi Coates is a national correspondent at The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle.
On Wednesday night, Dylann Roof walked into a Charleston church, sat for an hour, and then killed nine people. Roof's crime cannot be divorced from the ideology of white supremacy which long animated his state nor from its potent symbol--the Confederate flag. Visitors to Charleston have long been treated to South Carolina's attempt to clean its history and depict its secession as something other than a war to guarantee the enslavement of the majority of its residents. This notion is belied by any serious interrogation of the Civil War and the primary documents of its instigators. Yet the Confederate battle flag--the flag of Dylann Roof--still flies on the Capitol grounds in Columbia.
The Confederate flag's defenders often claim it represents "heritage not hate." I agree--the heritage of White Supremacy was not so much birthed by hate as by the impulse toward plunder. Dylann Roof plundered nine different bodies last night, plundered nine different families of an original member, plundered nine different communities of a singular member. An entire people are poorer for his action. The flag that Roof embraced, which many South Carolinians embrace, does not stand in opposition to this act--it endorses it.
That the Confederate flag is the symbol of of white supremacists is evidenced by the very words of those who birthed it:
Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth...
This moral truth--"that the negro is not equal to the white man"--is exactly what animated Dylann Roof. More than any individual actor, in recent history, Roof honored his flag in exactly the manner it always demanded--with human sacrifice.
Surely the flag's defenders will proffer other, muddier, interpretations which allow them the luxury of looking away. In this way they honor their ancestors. Cowardice, too, is heritage.
Read the full article at The Atlantic.
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