Coates lays out the sick and twisted heritage of a symbol:
The Confederate flag is directly tied to the Confederate cause, and the Confederate cause was white supremacy. This claim is not the result of revisionism. It does not require reading between the lines. It is the plain meaning of the words of those who bore the Confederate flag across history. These words must never be forgotten. Over the next few months the word “heritage” will be repeatedly invoked. It would be derelict to not examine the exact contents of that heritage.
As usual, Coates does a great job looking at the changing myths surrounding Southern White Supremacy. A rebellion that explicitly started as a defense of slavery shifted to more polite alternative myths over 150 years but it’s still really about racism and human bondage. The flag needs to come down.
This mythology of manners is adopted in lieu of the mythology of the Lost Cause. But it still has the great drawback of being rooted in a lie. The Confederate flag should not come down because it is offensive to African Americans. The Confederate flag should come down because it is embarrassing to all Americans.
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