Flag remains a symbol of slavery

To the editor:

I became a Republican in sixth grade when Ronald Reagan was elected.

I defended the Republican point of view for the next 36 years, including not voting for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

I became a Democrat four years ago when Donald Trump was running for president. I was not comfortable with how he carried himself, how he acted and how he treated others.

A peer told me, “I understand why someone who is against Trump’s policies is offended by his behavior.” I explained that I am not against all of his policies; I have never supported all of the policies of any of our elected officials, Republican or Democrat. I do applaud some of President Trump’s policies. However, I can’t get past his demeanor and behavior — how rudely he treats others, how he acts in such an un-presidential, uncivil manner.

I was later told, “But he has to act that way in order to get things done.” My peer even admitted that some of President Trump’s behaviors were offensive and inappropriate, possibly even unethical, but insisted the behaviors were necessary.

Was he saying that Trump had to abandon his principles and manners in order to get policies passed?

Yes, but I think he was wrong.

I think that we can agree that the behaviors displayed by President Trump are his nature. Are we the type of nation comfortable with that type of behavior from the office of the president? How comfortable would you be with that type of behavior from your child’s teachers, your co-workers, your doctor, your religious leader?

Here is the topper for me — President Trump said (and it’s not fake news), “It depends on who you’re talking about, when you’re talking about. When people proudly have their Confederate flags, they’re not talking about racism. They love their flag. It represents the South. They like the South. People right now like the South. I say it’s freedom of many things, but it’s freedom of speech.” President Trump won’t take a stand against this racist symbol. That flag (and monuments glorifying the leaders of the Confederacy) represents those who shot and killed U.S. service members in the name of the Confederacy. They shot and killed Americans. They were traitors. That is the ultimate disrespect to our country and its service members.

(If he is saying it is an example of freedom of speech, then why does he lambast those who kneel during the National Anthem? That’s freedom of speech, too. Those who kneel cannot be connected to a cause that resulted in the deaths of 700,000 Americans, unlike the Confederate States of America.)

If those serving under that Confederate battle flag had won the war, I might still be a slave. That’s right. My ancestors were slaves in Virginia.

Some people tell me, “But Craig, slavery would have been ended by now.” You can’t know that. By 2020, you wouldn’t think that a sheriff in Arkansas would use the “n-word” seven times while chastising the mother of his children for talking to a black man in a grocery store. You wouldn’t think that someone would tell me, “But Craig, you minorities have it better than ever.” But those things happened. So yes, slavery might still exist today.

“But Craig, that was a long time ago, can’t you get over it?”

You’re right, it was a long time ago. But why do I have to get over it?

Instead, why don’t we ask the modern day supporters of the “Lost Cause” to get over it, to move on?

So I ask, why can’t President Trump renounce the Confederate flag? Why can’t he say, “I recognize the Constitutional right of individuals to fly the Confederate flag, but that flag and its traitorous cause have no place in American society today.” Because until he can do that, until he can admit that the Confederate Flag supports racism, I can’t support him.

He is my president, but I cannot respect or support him. After all, he won’t disavow a cause that would have me as a slave.

Much obliged,

Craig Ragland

Portland