House takes action against Confederate flag, a symbol of treason

[struggle4progress]

By Joe Davidson
May 24 at 7:00 AM

... Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) offered an amendment that would ban the flying of the flags on VA cemetery flagpoles, and no one said a word against it. Yet, many did vote no. Although their silence shows that it is increasingly unpopular to be associated with Confederate symbols, 159 House members, all Republicans but one, said no to Huffman’s amendment ...

“Let’s stop pretending the Confederate flag isn’t a symbol of racism,” said Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), a sponsor of the bill. “The Confederate flag represents hate and intolerance and is a painful reminder of a terrible time in our history. VA cemeteries should be a place where we honor and pay tribute to American war heroes — not a place where we preserve the symbols of slavery and Jim Crow” ...

“The Confederate battle flag is also a symbol of treason,” said Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), another sponsor of the bill. Of Union soldiers, Ellison said, we “owe these brave Americans a solemn debt. We should ensure that the flag that their enemies carried so proudly does not fly above their graves” ...

“It is shameful that two-thirds of the House Republican Caucus voted against” the bill, Huffman said. “Why would anyone in Congress — let alone a majority of the governing party — still condone displays of this hateful symbol on our sacred national cemeteries?” ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/05/24/house-takes-action-against-confederate-flag-a-symbol-of-treason/

[CompanyFirstSergeant]

1. "the flag that their enemies carried"

He should not have used that word. Enemies.

Believe it or not, in 4 years of war, Lincoln was meticulous not to use that word.

They were states in rebellion.

[Chan790]

2. Then Ellison was right and Lincoln was wrong.

Those committing treason and warring against their own nation are enemies.

They earned their deaths and they shouldn't be afforded military honors in death either. If their kin want them to remain buried under a confederate flag, let them get together and start their own cemetery.

The Confederate battle-flag is a sign of treason and it is a deep affront that it is allowed to fly over any public land.

[CompanyFirstSergeant]

4. I have alway felt that the Confederate Battle Flag....

...was/is a symbol of treason. No doubt. I cannot stand the sight of it (except at reenactments.)

Lincoln had a very narrow road to walk - he intended all along, and awaited the day with longing... when he could declare that the Confederate soldiers 'are our countrymen again.'

He even allowed many to retain certain weaponry, horses, uniforms, etc. on their return home.

Many historians are of the opinion that Lincoln represented the best ideals that this nation had to offer - before or since.

[Igel]

5. Confederate soldiers were given government burials.

They were counted as US soldiers, but fought under a different flag.

It's right that they should lie under the flag they fought for, since it certainly wasn't the Stars and Stripes. To term their flag that of the enemy would mean that they'd be buried under the flag of *their* enemy. Even the Southern "War between the States" is more politic than that. It seems somehow disrespectful to put them under the US flag, sort of like having American soldiers buried in Europe draped with a German flag. You fight under a flag, you lie under it. (I imagine if any Soviet troops are on German territory they'd sport Soviet banners these days.)

I mean, we have great kerfuffles over whether a tombstone should bear a cross or crescent or Magen David or some other symbol. Same thing.

[CompanyFirstSergeant]

6. It's this type of detail....

...that makes history so interesting.

Thank you.

[Cosmic Dancer]

3. Because hate is what Republicans sell