Flags shouldn’t reflect injustice
Mississippi’s decision to keep Confederate emblem is arrogant

By Emily E. Ward
Skiff Staff

In the field of journalism, minding what you say and how you say it is a top priority for all professionals in the domain, whether they are reporters, broadcasters, editors or whether they work in public relations. “Words have meaning,” is probably the phrase I have heard the most from my journalism professors during the past two years.

Correy Jefferson - Skiff Staff

So it is no shock that I think people in other work areas could learn this lesson from members in the media.

Communication, both verbal and non-verbal, is the glue that holds together this country. Being a nation with immense pride, the United States is clearly a place where communication through symbols such as country and state flags is considered sacred. Why a state would willingly keep a tarnished symbol as the dominant design in their flag is something far beyond my comprehension.

But last week, voters in Mississippi overwhelmingly decided to keep the Confederate emblem as the principal layout on their state flag. According to an Associated Press article, 65 percent of Mississippi voters opted to keep the state’s old flag instead of adopting one that would replace the Confederate symbol with 20 white stars on a blue background.

I have never been a big fan of tradition, but I do think some things should be left as they are if they promote something that is positive. Keeping a symbol that represents hate and discrimination in order to retain what some see as tradition and pride is nothing less than ghastly.

Why would anybody want something that carries an aura of pain and injustice to be the paramount symbol of their state?

The collective statements I read from opponents of the new flag design was that the traditional 1894 flag represents their heritage and was the flag they saluted as children. Although these arguments are valid and quite understandable, I would think they would not want to keep saluting a symbol that represented a time of hatred and injustice if it had become tarnished with ignorance and injustice. If the Texas state flag was the primary representation of racial discrimination in the south, I would be the first to say it is time for a change.

Those people from Mississippi who want to keep the old flag are usually the ones who have immense pride and love for their state. Being a Texan, I don’t think I can insult those feelings of vainglory. But I would also think that if somebody loved their state, he or she would not want to associate it with any traditions that create negative images of it. In fact, I would think somebody would be admirable if he or she gave up pride to replace the bad with the good.

One of the cases that comes to mind when I think about this situation is what happened with the Texas A&M University bonfire in 1999. The people associated with A&M have more pride than all the people in Texas combined, and yet that difficult step in cutting off tradition to commemorate those who died was made almost immediately after the accident.

And that was done for a one-time incident that 12 individuals.

Perhaps the voters in Mississippi should think about the number of people who are insulted by the Confederate symbol around the nation. Maybe they should decide which is more important: pride or humanity. Either way, there is a lot to say about arrogance in the state of Mississippi, and it can be easily seen by looking at their state flag.

Emily E. Ward is a junior math and news-editorial major from Springtown.
She can be reached at (e.e.ward@student.tcu.edu).

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