CONFEDERATE FLAG SINCE OBAMA | BY: BRIDGETTE KAHNY
May 11, 2020
America has established many culture symbols in its nearly 250 years of independence. These symbols often translate from a historical context and evolve to a more significant meaning throughout the years. The Confederate flag, a symbol of the Confederacy during the Civil War era, has partaken in the evolution of becoming bigger than its initial intent. In recent years the use of the Confederate flag in politics brings in more of an underlying message than just flying the flag. Just in the past decade, it has become a symbol of political protest against a President of the United States, an ideogram of a white supremacist shooter, and still for many a symbol of their southern culture. All of these contribute to a never-ending debate of the Confederate flag in politics.
In 2008, the country was entering a historical moment that would change the nation forever, the first African American President of the United States. Barack Obama was a young 47-year-old Democratic nominee campaigning for the 44th president spot against Republican John McCain. A candidate running on the premise of “Hope” and “Change for America”, was met with opposition of all sorts trying to disengage others from voting for him. A form of the discouragement of voting for the Democratic nominee was the use of the Confederate flag. A study looked into the theory of the exposure of the confederate flag in southern states as an impact to lessen the willingness to vote for Obama as proposed in a 2011 study for Political Psychology. Even though race relations have seen significant improvement in the past 50 decades, could the idea of a Black American President bring out unconscious racism? With the South being more inclined to bear the symbol of the Confederate flag, having the display of the confederate flag would seem as a political tactic that would undermine a voter to potentially vote for Obama because of his race. Based on this ideas and theories, they predicted “that individuals exposed to the Confederate flag are more likely to subsequently evaluate Black Targets more negatively than control participants not exposed to the flag”.
Historically, the Confederate flag was a symbol of the Confederacy succession of the Union over state right’s and slavery. After the Civil War ended, the period of Reconstruction established new rights of black Americans in the North but “black codes” to repress those rights in the South. Throughout the following decades radical southerners wanted to keep control of labor and freedom rights to preserve their heritage. The Confederate flag was a staple of this urge to preserve, that it later evolved into a symbol of southern culture, as well as an ideology of white supremacy through the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. So as America started to prepare for their first potential black American president, for many the exposure of the Confederate flag insinuated more than just southern pride. The study used both white and black college students and asked them questions about their ideas and though of the Confederate flag as well as showing them different candidates of race. These participants were shown to pick the white person over the black person after they were exposed to the flag and its ideologies. Although there is no direct proof of this being done during the 2008 election, it shows the effect the fag has of both white and black Americans. The overall conclusion that the use of the Confederate flag, although unintentionally, “activated greater negativity toward Blacks and, consequently, lowered willingness to vote for Black candidates including President Obama” resulting in a lower participation. Obama still went on to win the presidency but the use of the Confederate flag in opposition toward him still followed.
President Obama’s eight years in Office, many thought that race relations would see major improvements. Both of his elections saw the highest percentage of minority voters but saw a deeper divide in the political parties. His presidency also saw the Black Lives Matter movement that rose up in response to violent attacks and police brutality of the Black community which can in some way be a contribution of Obama being our nation’s first Black President. But even with his greatest accomplishments, his public outings and campaigning across the nation were sometimes protested with the use of the Confederate flag. Time Magazine writer Jacob Koffler wrote about President Obama being greeted with demonstrators waving the Confederate flag in Oklahoma City. His presidency has often created a shift in racial attitudes and at one time was quoted saying that the “Confederate flag belongs in the museum, not in the public”. That day in Oklahoma City was a response to what he said and when Koffler interviewed a few attendants they stated they didn’t believe the Confederate flag to be a symbol of racism but a part of their heritage. The unwavering constant use of the Confederate flag as a protest toward Obama’s presidency still held the effect of bigotry toward the president for his race. As Obama was the first African American president, the use of the Confederate flag can be not only seen as a protest to his presidency, but as a prejudice toward his ethnicity because of years of racial discrimination associated with the flag.
By the end of Obama’s second term, the right to display the Confederate flag went rose in the media one again after the 2015 Charleston shooting. On June 17, 2015, a young white male opened fire on an unarmed Bible study group of African Americans in Charleston, South Carolina. The white male was later discovered to be infatuated with the Confederate symbols, including the Confederate flag. A self-proclaimed white supremacist, his act of terrorism on those Americans sparked nationwide debates about the public display of flag in government areas, like statehouses. A state that sparked the most debate was South Carolina. In response to the shooting in the church, South Carolina created a bill to remove the Confederate flag from the state’s capitol grounds. This led to lots of backlash from supporters of the flag. Authors Gerald Webster and Jonathon Leib delved into this debate around the cultural attributes South Carolinians were citing along the flag. According to the Webster and Leibs article, many South Carolinians “viewed the Civil War as a war against the anti-biblical North with the South being a bastion of Christendom”5 and not as a war over state rights and slavery. In continuation of this debate, many believe that the Confederate flag falls under their freedom as a US citizen bringing in a different argument about how it is like religious freedom as well which is stated in the Bill of Rights. South Carolina responded stating that it was offensive to black South Carolinians and was a division of the state.
The Charleston church shooting brought with it a whole new political debate about the Confederate flag and raised the question “Is it a right to display the flag in public?”. As mentioned above, the Confederate flag brings the cogitation of superiority over the African American race and brings inferiority of the 14th Amendment which was enacted after the Civil War ending slavery. The heritage of the Confederate flag falls into two separate histories of both white and black Americans. That’s where author Alfred Brophy establishes the debate to really debate heritage is more important. In the same way, can there be a “better heritage” and has symbols like the Confederate flag become a use of expression blinding racism that is still cultivated throughout the country.
Overall, when looking into the ideology of the confederate flag, it’s not hard to think of the oppression of slaves in the United States and the continuing battle of racism fought in this country. The use of the flag will still stand as a signifier of using the past to verify actions of the future. Looking at the instances, such as the protest of Obama’s presidency and the terrorist act in Charleston, America going into a new election cycle for the 2020 presidency continues the question of how will we let symbols of the past shape the next political culture.