Editorial: NOW, that the [Confederate Battle] Flag has come down…Let the ‘Private Sector’ hoist it high!

EDITORIAL:

CHARLESTON, South Carolina – This morning at 10 a.m. est the Confederate States of America’s battle flag came down off the public’s pole after nearly 60 years, when, according to this report from Raw Story, nine young men from a local community college protested the flag then. In defiance. South Carolina’s Governor and State Legislature put it up on Capitol grounds where it stayed until this very day, in some way, or capacity.

Can you imagine? 60 years. 60 years that, that flag flew on public grounds.

Finally! After all of the back and forth. The political hullabaloo over all things Stars and Bars. Slowly. But surely. The flag. Came. Down.

And as Charleston proper, most of America, and no doubt the World stood and cheered that other half, that other side of the debate made a roil and a moan, but they took the flag, their flag, to the Museum and Library of Confederate History in Greenville, S.C. Where the Stars and Bars can long wave or be displayed, as it should, there.

And now, that the [Confederate Battle] Flag has come down I’d like to suggest to all my friends on the ‘Take it Down’ side of the ledger to let the ‘private sector’ hoist it high in their yards, churches, community centers, veterans organizations, and concerned/active citizens groups as much as they want. Don’t say a word. Not a peep. Because now the flag, in the Palmetto State, has gone from public to private property.

What the life preservers of ‘Southern Heritage’ do or say with it, on their own terms, places, and conditions is their own affair. Because no matter how vile, vicious, insane, benign, much maligned or down right hateful that, that flag may be to so many of us it is the right of the few to remember the many who, though a fool’s errand that it was, was their right to be a part and partial of a cause they deemed worthy. The cause of freedom and ownership of others. The right to make, in their eyes, a more perfect separate union. A place where free men could own the unfree man. Silly huh?

Let them hoist that flag as high as they may. Salute it. Pray over it. Pray to it. Hug it. Hold it. Cry over it. Clutch it until, some of them, breathe their last. That is their choice. Their right. Just as it was ours to demand government, public government, united as one, to take it down!

And government, united, and often times petulantly reluctant in the face of the Will of the People it serves, took it down pole and all today. Never. We hope and pray. To be seen or heard from, by us at least, again.

— Rhett E. Column

#SayWhatNews, #AXJ, #FreePress Approved!

Take It Down! Why the Stars & Bars Should Shine Bright At Your Church, In Your Front Yard OR Your Concerned Citizens Organization…

The Jefferson Davis Memorial Obelisk at Pembroke, KY. (photo courtesy of Wikipedia, 2015) ..

A Take It Down Meme from The Southern Poverty Law Center (photo courtesy of The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Facebook Page, 2015) …

PEMBROKE, Kentucky – As a child I used to visit The Jefferson Davis Kentucky State Memorial Park and Historic Site with my family.

My father and I were active members, once, in the Sons of the Confederate Veterans (S.C.V.) – The General Lloyd Tilghman Camp (an infamous Confederate States of America General) in Paducah, KY.

We participated in what the S.C.V. called, “encampments” at the park, along with annual birthday commemorations of Jefferson Davis, rallies and meetings, along with other camps from across the country and around the world, for years.

And in so far as I know all S.C.V. Camps and offshoots still make regular pilgrimages to the birthplace of the first, last, and only President of the Confederate States of America or the Confederacy – Jefferson Finis Davis.

And as the calls continue to go out to Take Down the Flag – per this MoveOn.org petition and others like it. (I agree!) It is past time, even in the wake of the Charleston Church Massacre, a week ago today mind you, to Take Down The Flag, removing it, not from our Sovereign Nation’s History (because those that don’t know history are doomed to repeat it), entirely from public and or municipal parks and buildings such as this one in Pembroke – where the Confederate Battle Flag STILL flies today.

And I say this because, in my opinion, THE ONLY flags that should be flying on, over or near public buildings and places that belong to the People of the United States of America should be the Flag of the United States of America and your State’s Flag. Period. But, that’s just my opinion.

And to give you an example of how I think that this opinion will work in my hometown of Paducah, Ky. there are three places of note. One is the The Metropolitan Community Church of Paducah – an inter-non-denominational church that WELCOMES all faiths, and lifestyles. The other is Hope Unlimited Family Care Center – a pro-life, pro-traditional family (values) organization. And then. There’s Kentucky Legal Aid: Paducah Office.

All three of these erstwhile and civic-minded organizations with Independent backgrounds, faiths and beliefs fly respective flags – along with the American flag and Kentucky’s State flag – on a daily basis. And neither one condemns or makes light of the others’ choice to do so. They all go along to get along, and the only flags that fly over our community’s public buildings are the American flag and the Kentucky State flag.

It is time for the Stars and Bars to Shine Bright, along with any other flag that you want, at your homes, places of worship and other concerned organizations.

— Rhett.