At a time when world events call for greater unity here at home, the divisive politics of race reared its ugly head.
With much fanfare, President Bush arrived in Mississippi this past weekend to campaign for former Republican National Committee Chair and corporate lobbyist Haley Barbour (Bush raised $1 million for Barbour at a September fundraiser). Bush heaped lavish praise on the former top Republican, but, like in his own campaign in 2000, the President was silent on a significant issue: state sponsored display of the confederate flag. (Surprising the national Democrats were fairly silent on the issue as well)
Barbour made the confederate flag a major issue in his campaign. Injecting race baiting into the campaign, Barbour's staff distributed scores of bumper stickers stating "Keep the Flag. Change the Govenor" as a slam on Democratic Govenor Ronnie Musgrove's call for a referendum on the flag's inclusion of the confederate symbol. Barbour's links to racial separatist groups like the "Council of Conservative Citizens" underscored the racial overtones to his use of the flag in his campaign materials.
Its no surprise that Bush worked for Barbour. Bush needs to win most of the South is he is to stay in power. But, he shouldn't have tacitly endorsed Barbour's divisive campaign tactics. Bush's silence was deafening, but he's not alone. Not one national Republican leader has spoke out against Barbour's use of divisive symbol. Again, no surprise, as Mississippi is the home of Trent Lott, who despite beign embarrased by racial remarks made last year, remains a top Republican leader in the Senate as Chair of the Rules Committee. (Funny how the GOP can get away with keeping a guy like that in a leadership position?) And, hardly a word was said by the leading Dem presidential candidates.
Mississippi is a great state and an important part of America. And, Mississippi is not alone in its struggle with race. But, Mississippians need to reconsider having the confederate sympbol on its flag.
As Boston University Professor Cloury wrote:
"In retrospect, we can now see that those who fought under the Confederate flag were treasonous rebels bent on the destruction of our union. And those who hoisted that flag over their state's capitol during the height of the civil-rights struggle were obstructing social justice."
Although likely for different reasons, I, like Howard Dean, find no problem with private citizens displaying or wearing the flag. My belief stems from the First Amendment - atlhough I do find slogans like "The south will rise again" to be disgusting and blatantly anti-American.
Writing on South Carolina's official use of the confederat flag, Professor Cloury sums up the distinction between private and public displays of the symbol:
"Although my African American forefathers were persecuted under the battle flag of the Confederacy, I take no offense when I see it in the back window of a pickup truck, sewn on a denim jacket, or draped across a dormitory window. However curious I might find it, I do not object to the association some wish to draw in their private lives between this symbol of Southern defiance, and the rich, morally ambiguous heritage of the American South. But as an American citizen, I am disgusted by the spectacle of civil authorities in South Carolina officially and publicly embracing a symbol of illegal rebellion against legitimate national authority."
I have only been through Mississippi once. I do not pretend to know its culture or people. But, I have been an American since birth and for the last 36 years have come to know the values of the American culture: freedom, equality under the law and equal economic opportunity for all. The Confederate Flag, historical or not, is an symbol that represents all that is antithetical to those bedrock principles that make the United States a great nation. Indeed, many Mississipians recognize this as the students, faculty, and staff of the University of Mississippi agreed to drop the Confederate flag as Ole Miss's symbol and dropped the "Colonel Reb" mascot from university sporting events. The issue is up to the people of Mississippi and I respect their right of self determination for their individual use of the flag. I understand those who genuinely claim the flag has historical value. I agree the flag has some historical value. But, history of this type belongs in a museum and not on the statehouse lawn.