This is quite a robust conversation. here's my take on the flag
we don’t need to fly the battle flag to celebrate our Southern heritage. As many here have pointed out, the battle flag is too bound up in the problems of slavery and the subsequent intolerance of Jim Crow to be flown without referencing those evils. They cannot be effectively separated and the battle flag is lost to history. Let it stay buried there.
The way you celebrate your Southern heritage, that is, what separates this region from the rest of the country, is by living out those values that make the South special. Cherish your family, spend time across generations, stay rooted in a place (I am the 7th generation of a group too foolish or proud or both to leave to Natchez, MS. My daughter represents the 8th generation of my family to be born and raised in here. We have lived in this county for 225 years, some in the same houses for over 100 years), recognize the romanticism of history but do not be fooled by it, help out your neighbor, go to church, give when you can to those who need it more than you do. I’ve said this before in a similar thread, that although the South has much to atone for, the good things of the South make it great. The good things about the South are why we are proud to be Southern. And that’s how you celebrate it, by exemplifying the good things. By being somebody your mama would be proud of. You don’t need a flag for that.
Recognize the romanticism of history but do not be fooled by it. We could all use a dose of that once in a while.
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