South Carolina's Confederate Flag Quandary

Jon Stewart, in last night's excellent Daily Show monologue, told his audience that he had no jokes for them in the wake of the recent terrorist attack on the Black Church in South Carolina. I agree that it's pretty hard to find anything funny about nine people being gunned down in a place of worship by a white supremacist.

But I have to admit that there is one thing I find somewhat hilarious about all this, and that is the Catch-22 South Carolina currently finds itself in due to its long love affair with the fucking confederate flag:

After Dylann Storm Roof allegedly shot up an AME church in Charleston, S.C., killing nine people, two flags were lowered more than 100 miles away in Columbia, the state’s capital. Atop the South Carolina State House, the U.S. flag and South Carolina’s palmetto flag flew at half-staff as the manhunt for Roof ended with his capture in North Carolina and prayer vigils were planned. The show of respect would have been appropriate even if one of the state legislature’s own — state senator Clementa C. Pinckney — had not died in the attack.

But a third flag within view of the State House — the Confederate stars and bars — flew as high and as proud as ever, flapping in the breeze on a sunny day.  This looked bad.

Fucking-A it looks bad, particularly given that the shooter in question displays a confederate flag license plate on his vehicle.  But there is not a goddam thing South Carolina can do about it. The flag will have to stay right where it it, flying proudly in the racist breeze, no matter how bad it looks.  And that's what I find hilarious.

They certainly can't take it down because that would be an admission that the flag is in fact racist, something that its advocates strongly deny. Even if the governor thought it was a good idea to take it down, she couldn't do it because "only the General Assembly can do that," and it would require a 2/3rd vote by the Assembly to do so. But I doubt Gov. Haley would want to remove the flag, My understanding is that any politician who openly advocates removal pays a heavy political price.

Yes, that flag is there to stay, particularly given that there are no doubt a lot of people in South Carolina who think that now -- i.e., immediately after nine Negroes have been gunned down in cold blood -- is the best time to have that rag flying because they do indeed view the confederate flag as a symbol of white supremacy.  We know that the gunman undoubtedly feels that way, and does anyone out there really think he's the only person in that state who does?

No doubt there are a good number of South Carolinians who want the flag to remain right where it is in order to show their support for what Dylan Storm Roof did the other day. After all, the flag "was first raised over the Capitol in 1962, largely to express defiance of the civil rights movement." Killing Black Folk is certainly one way to express such defiance.

Why not compromise and fly the flag at half-mast you ask? Well, they can't do that  because it is not on a pulley system, but is "held in place by a padlock."  I have no doubt that a chain also helps secure the flag. After all, a padlock isn't much good without a chain. Perhaps it is a chain that was actually used on slaves back in "the good old days."

That wouldn't surprise me one bit.