CORRESPONDENCErnLetter FromrnSouth Carolinarnby Clyde WilsonrnThe State That Didn’t ForgetrnThe Confederate battle flag still flies everyrnday over the capitol building of SouthrnCarolina. Readers may remember that Irnhave several times reported in these pagesrnon the attempts to remove this lonely anti-rnimperial symbol from public view.rnOne discussion a few years ago evenrnelicited a complaint to Chronicles fromrnthen-Covernor David Beasley. Mr.rnBeasley, alas, is no longer governor, havingrnto console himself with a part-timernposition at a Harvard think tank. Havingrnpromised not to mess with our flag, hernturned around and mobilized the entirernRepublican establishment to take itrndown in order to catapult himself into thernnational limelight, claiming to have receivedrninstructions from the Almighty’.rnHe thus did the only thing that a Republicanrncould do to ensure that he wouldn’trnbe reelected. A fourth of the Republicanrnvoters defected and elected a lacklusterrnDemocrat who also promised not to messrnwith our flag. His sincerit)’, of course, isrnalready in question. (I sadly must tellrnfolks that they are mistaken if they believernthat Republicans in South Carolina arcrnrock-ribbed conservatives. The Republicanrnestablishment is merely a pork-barrelrnmachine, though manned by folks whornare instinctually more conservative thanrntheir compatriots in Connecticut or Illinois,rnwhich is why none of our federalrnjudges has interfered in this matter. 1 hernlegendary Strom Thmmond long agorntraded the role of Dixiecrat for that of thernWorld’s Createst Patronage Artist.)rnThe battle has been joined again, withrnthe NAACP declaring a boycott of thernstate until the flag is removed. So far, thisrnhas had litde effect, hi some quarters,rnthere have been expressions of satisfaction:rn”Does this mean Myrtle Beachrnwon’t get to host Freaknik?” But the socialrnforces that ha’e so far defeated an anti-rnflag campaign backed by Big Polihcs,rnBig Business, Big Civil Rights, Big Religion,rnand Big Media are worth some attention.rnTo begin with, members of the legislature,rnwhich has the deciding say in thernmatter, have to listen to real voters ratherrnthan to banks and newspapers—at leastrnpart of the time. And pace Samuel Francis,rnthe Council of Conservative Citizensrnwas not responsible for saving our flag. Itsrnefforts, including rallies by tattooed motorcyclernthugs and David Duke followers,rnhave been resoundingly counterproductivern— just what the media wanted.rnRather, the battle has been won becausernwe are still a people, nearly uniquernamong turn-of-thc-millennium Americans,rnwith a real historical memor}’. A lotrnof us know how great-grandfather diedrnwith the colors at Gettysburg or wasrnstarved and frozen to death by the Yankeesrnat Elmira. Or how great-grandmotherrnwas burned out of house andrnhome and had the jewelry’ ripped fromrnher ears by liberators in blue.rnWe also know that we made a bargainrnat the end of Reconstruction: As long asrnwe served the United States loyally, ourrnhistor)’ would be a respected part of thernAmerican story. We have done ourrnshare—or perhaps more — in every one ofrnthe wars since. The other side, as usual,rnhas failed to keep its part of the bargain.rnThere is now a concerted effort to expungernus. Several U.S. military directivesrnhave banned “the Confederate flag,rnthe Nazi swastika, and curse words” fromrnthe empire’s property. In neighboringrnNorth Carolina, civilian employees ofrnthe Coast Cuard were threatened withrnsecurity’ investigations for having Sons ofrnConfederate Veterans stickers on theirrnprivate vehicles. Isn’t this the way ethnicrncleansing starts?rnRecently, a Catholic academy inrnGreenville fired its best teacher becausernhe refused to remove a small Confederaternflag that hung in his classroom alongrnwith a number of oflier historical Americanrnflags. The demand for removal resultedrnfrom a complaint by a prospectivernparent, a recent arrival from Jamaica,rnwho also complained about the crosses.rnAnd St. Michael’s Episcopal Church,rnone of the two most historic churches inrnhistoric Charleston, has, because of thernflag, refused to permit the Sons of ConfederaternVeterans to hold a memorial servicernfor the heroic crew of the CSA submarinernHunle’. (This is the secondrncrew, not the one the movie was madernabout. They are still at the bottom of thernbay.) Not only does St. Michael’s yardrncontain the bones of numerous Southernrnheroes, but its steeple was used as arnrangefinder by the Unionists during thernbrutal 1863-65 siege of the city. ThernEpiscopal hierarchy continues its apparentlyrnirreversible slide into communismrnand sodomy.rnThe Confederate battle flag, someonernshould tell the authorities at St.rnMichael’s Church, is only one of two nationalrnflags in the Western Hemispherernthat is based on a Chrishan, rather than arnJacobin, design. The other flies in Quebec.rnWe begin to see a pattern here, andrnone we don’t like. We are not goingrndown that slippery slope if we can help it.rnSo our flag on the capitol has become anrnissue transcending a merely prudentialrnmatter. The main argument for removalrnhas been that the flag offends black citizens.rn(Opponents also claim it is bad forrnbusiness, which is patently untrue.) Butrnit is not at all clear that black citizens, asrndistinct from their self-appointed spokespersons,rnfeel this way. And interestingly,rnaccording to polls, a good half of thernthousands of Rust Belt refugees who havernsettled among iis in recent times are proflag.rnIndeed, I would think even admirersrnof Old Abe and Billy Sherman wouldrntake alarm at the anti-Confederate hatredrnthat is in full CT)’ these days.rnThe real impulse behind the well-financedrnanh-flag campaign is imperialism.rnColumbia, South Carolina, is not tornbe permitted to differ from Columbus,rnOhio, except in cutesy ways that will attractrnoutsiders who will graciously cmployrnour people to change their sheetsrnand fix their toilets. Our newspapers,rnwhich used to be local, are now ownedrnby chains and manned by lowbrow creaturesrnfrom Detroit. The Columbia paperrnis Exhibit A. Founded by a family that includedrna Confederate cavalry generalrnand an heroic Cuban revolutionary (pre-rn1898), it is now the property’ of Knight-rnRidder. The paper recenfly invited an articidaternlocal cihzen to write a pro-flagrnop-cd. They changed his language tornmean the opposite of what he had said inrnorder to make it sound “racist.”rnYours Truly has been interviewed numerousrntimes by journalists, several ofrnwhom have told me that everything re-rn34/CHRONICLESrnrnrn