It’s been a banner week for angering conservatives. The
biggest story, of course, is the ruling on marriage equality. I’m not going to
talk about that here, as I’ve made my position on that abundantly clear in
previous posts (In fact, “patio furniture” is the most frequent phrase I hear
when people talk to me about my writing). Instead, I’d like to address the
uproar over the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina
State Capitol, as well as the removal of the Ten Commandments from the Oklahoma
State Capitol.
I’m going to come right out and say it: neither the
Confederate flag nor the Ten Commandments belong anywhere in, on, or about a
government facility. The base reason for both is the same. Government
facilities belong to all citizens, and should not be hostile or preferential toward
one subset of those citizens.
The Confederate flag is a powerful symbol. However, it is
the symbol of a failed ideology. Yes, failed. The South (spoiler alert) lost the
Civil War. I can't think of another example of a defeated flag carrying as much
weight or being held onto as fiercely as this. That flag still has its place,
and that place is a museum. Other than that, it’s just a symbol for slavery and
deeply-held racism for most of the rest of the country, - if not the world - despite
your “Heritage, not hate” bumper sticker.
If I wore a t-shirt with a giant swastika on the front, I
would almost certainly be confronted and called any number of names by
passers-by on the street, despite the fact that the swastika predates the Nazi
party my many thousand years. Even having the arms of the swastika bent to the
left, rather than the right, would most likely not reduce the tongue-lashing I
would undoubtedly receive. Why? Because it’s an inflammatory symbol. So is the
Confederate flag. It’s time to let it go.
Now. The Ten Commandments. Prominently displayed in, or in
front of, a government building, implies that the institution holds to those
precepts. But given the fact that the Ten Commandments comes from the books of
Exodus and Deuteronomy, only Christians and Jews are represented by the
symbolic placement. Every other religion is marginalized by this symbol. When
(depending on your preferred numbering scheme) four or five of the Commandments
dictate religious concerns, the decision to remove them from a state capitol
seems to be a no-brainer. And let’s face it – the religious commandments aren’t
even enforced by our legal system. They simply don’t belong.
If you, personally, believe in and abide by the Ten
Commandments, great! More power to you. I don’t think you should shake your
fists and throw a tantrum because not everyone agrees with you. Your religious
freedoms are not being taken away from you. The state just isn’t marginalizing
its other citizens to make you feel more in control.
I think it’s high time that we dial down the rhetoric
several hundred notches. Just as no one is implying that removing the
Confederate flag is a magic bullet to end racism once-and-for-all, no one is
saying that you can’t go to church anymore because a statue of the Ten
Commandments no longer sits on the steps of the capitol building. It’s time to
acknowledge that symbols have power and meaning, and that here in America – a
country built on the inclusion of all – we should take care not to allow our
symbols to hurt, intimidate, or marginalize our fellow Americans.
