The Confederate Flag

A holdover that I have noticed since attending a school in the south is the presence of the southern pride and history through the Confederate flag. I was not exposed to the history of the South in high school, but when I went on a trip to several southern states a few years ago, I saw cars with Confederate flag bumper stickers, Confederate flags on peoples porches, and people wearing clothing displaying the Confederate flags from popular stores such as Dixie Outfitters. The mission statement on the Dixie Outfitters website states, “Dixie Outfitters is proud to be Southern and proud of our ancestors who fought and died in the War for Southern Independence.” This store is trying to educate people about the flag and is keeping this flag present in order to advertise their feelings about it. The Confederate flag still exists in many television shows and there are even people in the North who wear clothes with the Confederate flags from Dixie Outfitters. When I lived in Massachusetts I would see people wearing clothes that displayed the Confederate flags from Dixie Outfitters because they thought that they looked cool, but they did not know about the flags origin and what it stands for. The Georgia flag was changed due to its connotation with racism, discrimination and slavery, but many people in the south fight to bring back the original flag. In 2003, Georgia changed its state flag again to a flag that is very similar to the original Confederate flag. Some people believe that the Confederate flag is a sign of the southern history and the right of the people to govern themselves. Even though it is not the Georgia Flag anymore, people still display it in order to raise awareness and show that they still support their idea of what this flag stands for. People claim that this flag represents all confederates regardless of race and gender.