School should teach tolerance
The Maryville Board of Education has decided to ban a symbol they say is divisive.
Sometimes I wonder if we are becoming more like the old Soviet Union. I thought they were the ones who used to rewrite history every time the political winds changed. When I was growing up, the Confederate flag was a symbol of Southern pride for most, a symbol of rebellion, or even a symbol for many sports teams. But I never knew it was a symbol of hate. When did this happen?
How does a flag that Confederate Army units flew to rally their troops become a symbol of hate? Was it because the Ku Klux Klan used the flag? They also use the American flag and the Christian flag. Are you going to ban those also?
Is it because it flew over states that supported slavery? The American flag flew over slave states, too. Or, more likely, it was because the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and its socialist friends needed something to wage war on so it could stay in business.
How does anyone think that by banning a symbol that is sacred to one group but hateful to another is going to heal anything? It will only create or deepen any bad feelings that might already exist.
Political correctness is tearing this country apart. In a truly free and diverse society, people are going to be offended by something every day. Responsible people realize that you are never going to satisfy everyone.
Didn’t Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders preach tolerance? Where is tolerance now? Instead of teaching hate for one group – Southerners – why can’t schools teach tolerance?
Think about that, school boards.
RONALD WEBB
