But the truth about the colors is more complicated than its defenders let on. Since Appomattox, the battle flag was incorporated into state flags or flown at times of white resistance to black advances: the standard was often raised not in memory of the war dead but in aid of Jim Crow. It started in Mississippi. In the 1890s, the state both legalized segregation and incorporated the battle emblem into the state flag. The battle colors then largely fell from public view until 1948, when the Dixiecrats broke with the Democratic Party. As the Supreme Court handed down its integration decisions in the 1950s, the battle flags came out in force. In 1962, South Carolina raised the colors to commemorate the centennial of the Civil War, and they’ve stayed up ever since.
Will they come down? It’s up to the legislature, but the battle’s drawing some blood in the GOP presidential field. John McCain has had a tricky time with the issue, signaling that the flag could be “offensive,” then saying it was a symbol of “heritage” and finally settling on it as a “symbol of sacrifice.” George W. Bush has avoided the front lines, arguing it’s a question of states’ rights. Smart–but letting states go their own way is what started all of this in the first place.
