1. I don't think the primary issue here is Confederate Heritage, as important as that issue is. Rather, it is freedom of speech. 2. Shall we give up the American flag because "hate groups" use it at their rallies? The logic that the battle flag should be dropped because the Klan uses it is, in my opinion, extremely thin. The hostile media build the association between the battle flag and the Klan because they have no real or honest argument to offer. The Klan burns crosses. Shall we therefore give up crosses? They wear sheets. Shall we therefore stop sleeping on sheets? The modern Klan is a tiny, insignificant, and insane organization, made up largely (as recent newspaper reports show) of government provocateurs. Its prominence derives purely from its usefulness to the media as a stick to use to beat up any conservative cause. 3. I am not aware that African Americans are in overwhelming numbers resentful of the flying of the battle flag. The size of the majority of voters in Mississippi wishing to preserve the flag in the recent referendum clearly indicates that many African Americans in that state saw the battle flag as no direct insult to them. Such a majority, I believe, could not have been reached without a majority, or at least a large minority, of African American votes. I doubt very much that any substantial number of citizens of Mississippi, including those who voted to retain the battle flag, would desire or even countenance the restoration of slavery. Even at the time of the Civil War many, perhaps even a majority, of Southerners (prominently, Generals Lee and Claibourne) opposed slavery and sought its abolition. The majority owned no slaves, though they were freely available. My own gr-gr-grandfather, a factory owner in Mississippi, was opposed to slavery, bought slaves to free them, successfully introduced legislation in the Jackson city council granting freedom of the streets and church attendance to slaves, and did all this in the midst of the war without apparent injury to his social prominence. He fought in the war as a cavalry officer defending Atlanta and Charleston, and left no indication that he saw any "irony" in his allegiance to the Confederacy and his open, active opposition to slavery and espousal of civil rights for African Americans. 4. The attitude you recommend is not just that the battle flag should be taken down. More importantly, whether you realize it or not, you are advocating giving over control of all our actions and institutions to the media. In a message dated 1/19/03 [email protected] writes: << Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 14:59:55 EST From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Message-ID: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [MO-CW] Re: Rural Plains Post Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" In response to the message you posted and which I have copied below, let me say this. In essence I agree with you. However, at age 58, I'm a little more selective in which battles to fight. Further, as my dear mother taught me, there's more than one way to "skin a cat". There is more to Southern Heritage than a mere piece of cloth. The Confederate flag represents the modern day Ku Klux Klan and hate groups. This is fact not opinion. No amount of "education" is going to counter this. And frankly, I don't blame Afro-Americans for being upset to see it flying. Put yourselves in their shoes. Quite naturally they focus only on the slavery issue. Truth? I don't see truth involved in defending flying a flag that once represented something and today represents something else to the overwhelming majority of people in this country. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest started the Ku Klux Klan to fill a need in the 1860's.. The Ku Klux Klan has evolved into nothing but a hate group in modern times. Would any self-respecting person defend the Ku Klux Klan or belong to that organization today? Would you? I doubt it. I'm not a supporter of Dick Gephart. I believe he used this issue for his political advantage but I don't see taking down that flag as an erosion of anyone's rights. I see it more as taking it down out of consideration for what it represents to the Afro-American community and to the overwhelming majority of Americans outside of the South and Border States. Belle >>