Who doesn’t love a good rant?

I mean, you might not.  In which case you might want to get out of here.  You were warned.

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Dear South Carolina,

Just how committed are y’all to doing the absolute wrong thing?

A month later…the preliminary vote before the other vote that needs to precede the next vote before the governor can vote to TAKE DOWN THE DAMN FLAG.

Seriously?

And don’t give me this crap about Southern Pride.  What exactly are you expressing pride in?

Your commitment to treason?

Your commitment to horrific acts of dehumanizing abuse?

Your commitment to racism?

I hope this doesn’t come as a big shock to anyone, but the Confederacy lost in their bid to LEAVE THE UNITED STATES AND CONTINUE TO KEEP SLAVES.  That’s what  they wanted to do.  And they failed at it.  ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS AGO.

I know it isn’t the actual flag of the Confederate States of America (which, again, is not an actual thing.) It’s worse.  It’s the battle flag of the troops that represented the massive act of treason that was trying to leave the country.

So that they could keep human beings as property.  So that they could make more money by not having to actually pay workers since they were slaves.

It’s about NOT WANTING TO BE AMERICAN ANYMORE.

Sigh.

I’m glad they are making progress toward ultimately taking the flag down.  I was excited last week when a woman took things into her own hands and climbed the flag pole and took the flag down herself.  You go, girl.

And then they put it back.  Sigh Part II.

I’m glad that Wal*Mart and Amazon and lots and lots of other places are taking merchandise off of their shelves that glorifies that dark time in American history and continues to actively remind a big chunk of our population that there were people who were willing to die on the battlefield to keep their ancestors imprisoned and marginalized.  I’m a little sad about the Dukes of Hazzard, but I’m glad that there’s a comprehensiveness to taking action against perpetuating the glorification of that flag.

But the one in SC still flies.  Over burning churches and memorial services and rallying cries of “pride.”

I’m hopeful that it will be down soon.

And I know that won’t mean that racism and hate crimes are magically fixed.  But at least it won’t be legally protected and on display. Which is a tiny bit of progress that is way too late in coming.