The Confederate Flag Is Dead -- Time For A Better Emblem Of Southern Heritage?
Craig Silver
Forbes Staff
The kid on the bus seat next to me was scratchily drawing on his binder with one of those new Bic pens made of clear plastic. Like a lot of us, he was probably the son of a World War II veteran. What was he drawing? Big swastikas. I, on the other, hand, liked to draw sailing ships that flew the Jolly Roger, i.e., the skull-and-crossbones emblem of pirates. A couple of girls in my grade liked to draw pretty horses. Girls.
The girls doubtless really liked horses. But for young guys like myself to draw symbols of evil didn’t mean we really endorsed what those symbols represented. It was our way of being naughty, to be a little bad and rebellious.
I think that for many that has been part of the appeal of the Confederate battle flag: as a symbol of defiance against the powers that be, the establishment. But as an oft-thumped book says, there comes a time to put away childish things. And that time is obviously now, as the controversial swath of cloth is being removed from South Carolina’s capitol grounds and in other public places in states across the South, and dropped by retailers across the country ...
However, the idea of flying a banner to express pride isn’t inherently bad. What is needed for the South is one that’s not freighted with the idea of violent oppression. As I’ve written here before, I suggest that a new flag be designed to represent the rich heritage of the South. And I’ve created a prototype (see above) of what I would like to see it contain. To me the great tradition of the South will always be more Elvis, Otis Redding, Mark Twain and Flannery O’Connor than Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis. Thus the primary symbols of my proposed new banner are a guitar crossed with a fountain pen. As a decorative element, there are magnolia blossoms arrayed on the flag’s borders ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/craigsilver/2015/07/13/the-confederate-flag-is-dead-time-for-a-better-emblem-of-southern-heritage/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Put this sucker on a flag:
... because a good ol' southern barbeque could unite us all. 
I'd be very proud to fly that sucker on the back of my truck!
Talk about missing the point of what is and isn't offensive.
