University of Virginia Library

'Symbol Of Pride'

I would like to ask the
Editor-in-Chief of the Cavalier Daily
how he has the gall to decide that
"the Confederate flag has become a
symbol for racism." Being more
mature than I was when I first came
to this University I am not insulted
at such a declaration but feel in the
spirit of Mr. Jefferson not to "tolerate
any error so long as reason is
left free to combat it."

For anyone who has read any
history of the life of Jefferson
Davis or the Confederacy and who
loves this section of the country the
flag is, as I am sure you can
understand, a symbol of pride. You
have yielded this symbol of pride to
the people of the South to a small
minority, ("the Klan, segregationist
groups who always display the
symbol at rallies and the like").
Would you surrender the American
flag to the repressionists or those
who have urinated on it on Wall
Street In New York. Symbols are to
be protected if we value them.

I am sorry that for some blacks
this flag is a bad symbol, but this
they must understand is a misconception
on their part. With rational
thinking they will find no offense
in this symbol unless they have
found the South as a whole offensive,
in which case I hope they
would leave. Hopefully, irrational
hypersensitivity will yield to reason.