That flag comes down

The video above is a raw video posted by the Associated Press, showing the Confederate Battle Flag being lowered for the last time on the grounds of the South Carolina statehouse. It was history, and the image will become iconic when the story of this era is told.

Below is a video from CGP Grey on why the battle flag was never actually the flag of the Confederacy. Most of us now know that by now, but when the video was posted at the end of June, that wasn’t necessarily the case, which is why I meant to post it at the time (I didn’t get to it because the marriage equality ruling was handed down at the same time the video was posted). The video is only about the historical accuracy of the claim it was "the Confederate flag", and nothing more.



Finally, the video below has a bit more of the history of the not-Confederate flag, specifically, how it came to be a symbol of racism. That video is from MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes, posted a few days before CGP Grey’s video (though I saw it for the first time today). It also has a discussion of the use of the battle flag in the Mississippi state flag, so the talk is about why the battle flag is offensive.



Every once in a while, needed change arrives suddenly. The events in South Carolina today show that the democratic process works. People can (and will) continue to argue about why it took so long, or, on the other side, why it shouldn’t have happened at all; that’s part of democracy, too. But I think we should celebrate the fact that democracy does work, and this was an example of that.