My commentary to the Madison County Virginia Eagle on the subject of the Battle Flag and racism
 
From: cliftonpalmermclendon@yahoo.com
 
RACISM: The assumption that psychocultural traits and capacities are determined by biological race and that races differ decisively from one another which is usually coupled with a belief in the inherent superiority of a particular race and its right to domination over others [from Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged (Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.; 1981)]
 
Many people believe that the Confederate Battle Flag is a symbol of racism because some groups — such as the Ku Kluxers and the American Nazi Party — that make no bones about their belief in the inherent superiority of the Caucasian race and its right to domination over others display that Flag.
 
Such groups also sometimes display the United States Flag. Moreover, other people display the Confederate Battle Flag for other, benign reasons. A flag, or any other symbol, has only such meaning as is assigned to it by those who use it.
 
The Confederate States of America never advocated as a national policy anything resembling a belief in the inherent superiority of a particular race and its right to domination over others. That nation spent its entire four year existence battling for its survival. Moreover, several different ethnic groups contributed to its struggle for survival.
 
While Confederate Flags were not used during the existence of the Confederate States of America to carry out actions designed to further a belief in the inherent superiority of a particular race and its right to domination over others, other flags have been so utilized over the years:
 
The one best example of a flag under which one race asserted its superiority and its right to dominate others is the flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a/k/a the Union Jack. Under this flag, the aboriginal peoples of the Americas, Australia, various islands, and large parts of Africa and Greater Asia were subjugated. Many slaves, African and otherwise, were transported by ships flying this flag or a variation thereof.
 
Under the tricolor of France, various islands and large parts of Africa were “colonized.”
 
Under the flags of India, Mexico, and Turkey, ethnic minorities within those countries’ borders were hunted down and killed.
 
Under the flag of the United States of America, a/k/a Old Glory, various leaders waged aggressive wars of conquest against various nations and peoples during the 1800s. Military commanders under this flag repeatedly encouraged murder, rapine, plunder, and other atrocities against those they attacked. Vast numbers of slaves were transported under this flag (most of them to the West Indies and South America).
 
The aboriginal peoples of no continent or island were subjugated under a Confederate flag.
 
No ethnic group was ever hunted down and killed under a Confederate flag’s  authority.
 
No slave ship ever sailed under a Confederate flag.
 
No Confederate flag ever oversaw any attempt at colonization.
 
No aggressive war of conquest was ever prosecuted under a Confederate flag.
 
No military commander serving under a Confederate flag ever encouraged atrocities against the enemy.
 
…so how can Confederate flags honestly be called symbols of racism?
 
Clifton Palmer McLendon
Gilmer, Texas