My opinion on the Confederate flag is quite simple and clear. I have no problem with Southerners who consider that a part of their heritage flying it privately in their homes or [wearing it] on their shirts or jackets. Even if that’s your choice of vanity license plate, you pay a tax for your license plate in Georgia. So that’s your tax, for your license plate. I have white friends who have the Confederate flag on their license plates and I have no issue with that, if they see that as a matter of heritage. But I do not think it should ever fly over a state, city, county building, or school, for the simple reason that it represents secession from the Union. It represented a part of the country trying to become a separate country from America. That side lost, and you do not fly the flags of losers over the winners’ country. It’s just that simple. There’s no way around that.
I remember going downtown [in Atlanta] to the State Capitol and protesting [the old Georgia flag, which incorporated the Confederate flag]. It came down [in 2001] under Governor Roy Barnes, one of our last Democratic governors. It was a very heated debate for a very long time. With that said, there are tons of Confederate flags in Georgia. Many of my neighbors have them. As a Southerner, I understand how it represents our heritage and lives lost in that war. I’ll give you that at the negotiation table. But my firm stance is that any group of traitors, anyone who tried to break up this country, deserves no honor once they’ve lost.
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Dylann Roof certainly thinks [the Confederate flag] is racial, and there are people who are proponents for it because it's racial. But I don't give a damn if he wore it on his jacket. Why should I? That's his jacket. He has the right to wear the Confederate flag, the Rhodesian flag, or any other flag. What I care about is an environment where states like South Carolina will allow that flag to fly above their state building and they know that flag is used as a symbol of empowerment for white supremacy. I care that it's allowed to enforce a sick and perverse mentality by hanging atop a state building that taxpayers pay for. My primary objection to it is firmly grounded in a political argument, not an emotional one. It's less to do about me—"Hey, I'm black and it hurts my feelings, it's a symbol of slavery and oppression"—and more to do with the fact that, as an American, I will not honor a group of treacherous traitors. That's why I despise the rebel flag. Long live the South, and quickly die the Confederacy.
