Column: The flag debate continues

The Confederate flag at the state capital has been removed.

The debate that began after of the shooting in Charleston has gained national and global attention. We the people of South Carolina, through our elected officials, proved to the world that love wins.

It is a great day to be in The Palmetto State.

But now what?

After my last column, I had no intention of continuing in this discussion, at least not publicly. I was working on a piece that talked about my newest hobby and my pride and joy – smoking meat with my new Weber smoker. When it appeared that the flag was coming down, I was convinced that there was not much more to the story.

However, I made the mistake of scrolling through the absolute, horrible vitriol found in the comments of each announcement that Gov. Haley posted this past week, whether related to the flag or not. One of the more interesting reactions questioned what will be next. Do we start renaming streets? Do we remove from the history books people like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson because they were slave owners?

This morning, I listened to a radio show host talk for a half an hour about how much of a racist Woodrow Wilson was and sarcastically proposed that we remove his official portrait from the White House. The same talk show host went well out of his way to point out the political party affiliations of known racists, as if that made a difference.

Yet, these same people have accused Nikki Haley of overreacting because she removed a flag that was from one of the darkest chapters in our state’s and our nation’s history and later popularized by a man who ran for state senator on a platform of continued segregation.

I have held back tears reading about nine people who I never met. I got chills and goose bumps listening to state Sen. Jenny Horne’s emotional plea to remove the flag. I have believed with every fiber of my being that the Confederate flag had to be removed.

But it is done, and we should be done and move on with our lives. We will still see the flag flying on private homes, on bumper stickers and at NASCAR events. Let’s give those who are so passionate about keeping the Confederate flag a simple gift – indifference. Let’s move on and make the flag and the discussion surrounding it insignificant in any other context except history.

We don’t need to rename streets. We don’t need to take down monuments and we certainly don’t need to remove our Founding Fathers from our history.

In Fort Mill, we have Confederate Park, Confederate Street and we proudly display a sign noting that Jefferson Davis and his cabinet had their last meeting in Fort Mill. They are a part of our town’s past, and, as the expression goes, those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it.

We need to understand, remember and accept that the world was a much different place 150 years ago.

And while racism and hate still exist in this country, we should also acknowledge that both have existed for our entire history as a species and throughout our entire history, people have chosen to pick themselves up and overcome. No one else can do it for us.

Today our elected officials gave us a solid example to follow and because of it, I am more proud to live in South Carolina today than I have in the 36 years prior living in another state.

This story was originally published July 13, 2015 at 3:30 PM with the headline "Column: The flag debate continues."