A common refrain in America’s south is that the region has changed, and the persistent image of racism is unfair. It is pointed out, with some justification, that race-related violence is as much a problem in divided northern cities, maybe even more so. But such claims of a change are undermined by the sight of the Confederate flag flying on the lawn outside the state capitol in Columbia, South Carolina. Some whites argue that the flag is part of the southern heritage, a reminder of a civil war that they say was as much about state rights as slavery. But for African Americans – and many whites – the flag is a symbol of racial hatred.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People began a boycott in 1999, urging tourists to avoid the state, in protest at the flag. It became an issue, too, in the Republican presidential race a year later. In the end, state legislators opted in 2000 for a cynical compromise, moving it from the roof of the capitol but only as far as a flagpost on the lawn, amid statues of politicians, many of them segregationists.
In the aftermath of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church shooting in Charleston, there are fresh calls for the removal of the flag. There were protests in Charleston and Columbia at the weekend against racism, with many whites present, buttressing the idea of a changing south. But it is a disgrace that the flag is still flying, a daily slight to African Americans who make up more than 40% of Columbia’s population. It is long past the time for it to come down.
