Confederate flag at old NC Capitol coming down
 
From: waynedobson51@yahoo.com
 
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/confederate-flag-old-nc-capitol-raises-ire
 
A recent Associated Press story by Michael Biesecker, detailed that a temporary display at the old North Carolina State Capitol, a Confederate battle flag, which marked the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War was taken down after civil rights leaders raised concerns. Among those "civil rights" leaders was North Carolina NAACP president Rev. William Barber, who said the flag represented a "history of racism … lynchings … death. The history of slavery. "  That is his side of it. What about mine, as a unbowed descendant of Confederate soldiers?  Do my rights, thoughts and opinions just not count in this great land of equality?   The flag was not representative of the perpetuation of slavery, or even the Confederate government. It was the banner carried by men of the South who took a stand against the tyranny of an oppressive Federal government, not unlike the one we have today. Southerners were not rebelling but rather holding the government of their time to the letter of the law – the Constitution! 
    
The article mentioned "civil rights leaders."  Does that not, at least, imply that they are seekers of equality and rights for all Americans – even me?  For more than three decades the NAACP has advanced its "vow to remove every vestige of the Confederacy from the face of the earth." Is that not, in effect, an "advancement" of their heritage or at least their agenda by the destruction of mine?  Where is the pride, decency, the nobility in that?
 
John Wayne Dobson
Macon, GA