Letter: Confederate flag historic reminder

Friday, Jan. 21, 2000 | 9:13 a.m.

As to whether or not a flag should fly or come down, it is more than just a Southern issue, it is for everyone.

First of all, the government should stop meddling into each state's affairs. But evidently a few people think protesting a flag is more important than getting bigger issues solved.

The Confederate flag should not be offensive to American-born Africans, but a symbol to all people as a reminder of something that should never be repeated again. This flag should remind all Americans not of slavery, but of an era when our states were torn apart, of all the senseless killings, and what it took to piece it back together again to make it the great country that it is.

We have a constitutional right and are free to fly what flag we want. It seems as though these protesters want to change that right, which some never fought for, and much of our history, because it's only distasteful to a few individuals.

Sometimes we must see what's distasteful so our children are reminded not to let this happen again. I don't believe Martin Luther King's words, "people of all kinds together," meant trying to change history by destroying everything that reminds us of the past.

There will never be peace if we keep fighting the system. Let the flags fly. Too many died to preserve this right.

CHARLES HAGEN

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