The Confederate Flag is reasonably construed as a symbol of racism.

Through the lens of the victor, it’s easy to understand why blame need be found: should the defeated have a moral leg to stand on, what was the point of the war? Who is 'right'? When it comes to the Civil War, that was the unanswered question with a hidden answer. In this debate, I hope to try and divorce the stigma of racism from the CSA, and instead better identify the source of derision that persists even today. Slavery. A reprehensible institution. The Founding Fathers all had their condemnation for it (strangely even while keeping their own slaves), but in appreciation that at the time the economy of their fledgling nation depended on it, it was tolerated and compromised on, and it was even written into the Constitution. As it stood, it was going to die naturally but slowly. This would afford former slave owners the ability to industrialize and emancipate at their own ability with no threat to potentially bankrupting their lively-hood. The importing of slaves was also to be outlawed as of 1808, a further attempt to starve the beast of Slavery. A reminder: Slavery doesn’t recognize inherent rights. Slavery, at its core, is to put one man beneath another, to turn Man into property. It is a means to the commoditization of people in its most literal form. Slavery doesn't see race and there were no rules regarding who could and couldn’t be a slave if the proper paperwork were followed. The colonies, in their Declaration stated “…That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles...to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”. With non-slave states joining the Union, it was a matter of time until enough public sentiment would kill off slavery rather than allowing its natural death… and that’s when the problems began. States that left the Union did so on the renegging of compromises made during the creation of the Constitution. The economic ability of those in the South were directly threatened by growing abolition sentiment (not specifically a civil rights sentiment) and took steps to remove themselves from the equation of having their livelyhood ruined. Non-slave states entering the Union could simply ratify measures to gut the profitability of the South, and by the time 1860 rolled around that tipping point was clearly at hand. That bit of history concluded: symbolism can be better found in what is ratified than what is construed. Slavery was ratified. Slavery was the issue. Slavery does not see race. To reasonably construe the CSA flag to be a symbol of racism, I would expect to see ratification and statute that denotes “Negro” as inferior or “White” as superior, rather than specific commodity as any other slave could be. Without pointing to the endemic racism that was prevalent in the North American continent (the Union, the CSA, the MidwesternTerritories, etc), this resolution is nothing but a cherry picked boogeyman, a desire for moral superiority in a bloody war that pit us against ourselves. Why are we not content to call the reason for the Civil War “slavery”, and end it there? The sad truth was that on the whole, we were a racist country at the time, not just the South. To portray the symbols of the CSA as racist ignores what and why slavery needed to linger on before finally dying out. The epithet of “racist” gives a means to casually disregard the destruction that was done; to rationalize why the way of life of so many people were immediately destroyed. If anything, calling the flag of the CSA symbolic of racism misconstrues what the views of the general populace were at the time in order to find blame in the defeated. “If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, ... What I do about slavery and the colored race I do because I believe it helps to save the Union.” “I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and the black races. There is a physical difference between the two, which, in my judgment, will probably forever forbid their living together upon the footing of perfect equality, ... I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong having the superior position” -A. Lincoln The above quotes in mind, it could be reasonably construed that the Civil War wasn't a war of emancipation, or equality amongst races. That's the ultimate reason why the CSA and her symbols are called racist; so as to excuse the fact the war was about acquisition and power. Not of people, but of land and resources for economic ends. Humans are loathe to fight for greed and known detriment to other’s well-being, which is why there is so much more to those times than simply claiming racism a century later. We, in conflicts, want to be ‘right’ for a good reason: an ideal. It’s all too easy to dismiss opposition based on their measuring up to your “side’s” ideal than admitting one’s own personal designs. There is so much more at stake than smug superiority granted by the passage of time to allow for more enlightened views. In this impassioned plea, I hope you can find it in yourself to put down the judgmental lens that has been cut from time and instead be the historian needed to regard all the facts of the era; what each motive and statute and personal stake came into the forming of and fighting with the CSA. In that task, there's no reason to exclude any faction, North or South, Western Territory, abolitionist or slave dependent farmer. In keeping of those facts in their totality, its highly unreasonable to construe the flag of the CSA as a symbol of racism.