On 5 June 2020, MARADMIN 331/20 went into effect, giving Marine Corps commanders the responsibility to remove the Confederate battle flag from all workspaces and public areas on Marine Corps installations. On 9 June, Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Michael Gilday announced on Twitter the direction for his staff to begin drafting a similar order prohibiting the flag’s display on all Navy installations, ships, aircraft, and submarines. In some instances, removing the flag may be easier said than done, especially for service members who have been exposed to or even encouraged to celebrate this symbol throughout their lives. I believe that education is crucial for commanders charged with this task. The purpose of this article is to explain the flag’s history as a symbol of terror and division, and why the diverse U.S. force will benefit from the flag’s furling.
The “Confederate Flag” as is is known today is a derivation from the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia’s battle flag. This flag features a diagonal blue cross containing thirteen white stars, imposed on a red background. Its advocates often champion the phrase “heritage, not hate,” which argues that display of the flag embodies regional Southern pride and honor for the fallen Confederate soldiers and should not be associated with racism. Such sentiment is fairly widespread, particularly in the South. For example, 350 rallies in defense of the Confederate flag were held in the 6 months after its 2015 removal from the South Carolina state grounds in response to the Charleston church shooting.
The problem with this argument is that the Confederate states were not merely “associated” with racism and slavery, but founded upon them. South Carolina, the first state to secede from the United States, declared the Constitution null and void due to “an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery.” Alexander Hamilton Stephens, vice president of the Confederacy, gave the “Cornerstone Speech” on 21 March 1861, which explicitly stated that this new government’s “corner-stone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery—subordination to the superior race—is his natural and normal condition.”
As U.S. service members, we know that we act as both direct representatives and guardians of the ideals espoused by the Constitution. Why, then, should we assume that Confederate soldiers were not similar representatives of their own government? The Confederacy’s intent to preserve and expand slavery was both well documented and publicly announced. The battle flag stands for the military apparatus of that intent—an apparatus that was willing to kill for it. Unfortunately, the flag’s history did not stop at the war’s conclusion in 1865.
The flag’s continued postwar use is fundamentally rooted in hate. The first group to associate with it was the anti-black Carolina Rifle Club, established in 1869 by Confederate veterans. This group, essentially a Charleston-based white militia posing as a shooting club, proclaimed that it had “the honor of being the first military body of white men which paraded the streets of the city or the State, bearing arms and the first to march under the Confederate Banner, since the struggles of the War had ceased.” However, use of the flag was fairly uncommon until the late 1940s. In 1946, Life magazine first displayed images of secret KKK rituals which featured salutes to both the American flag and the Confederate battle flag. From this point onward, the flag was inseparable from modern white supremacy. The segregationist “Dixiecrat” party adopted the flag as its official banner in 1948, followed by networks of White Citizens’ Councils. In the words of historian Gordon Rhea, there was “no accident” for this adoption by white supremacist groups: “it was the flag of a nation dedicated to their ideals, i.e. ‘that the negro is not equal to the white man.’”
The racial tensions caused by this flag are of direct concern to the U.S. military. For black soldiers in Vietnam, use of the Confederate flag by troops was a slap in the face in the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement. Reportedly, white soldiers “burned crosses at Cam Ranh Bay and flew Confederate flags over bases at Da Nang” following the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. There is, however, evidence that some commanders tried to limit the flag’s use in Vietnam. One Maine newspaper ran an article depicting the “outrage” of Southern congressmen towards the Pentagon upon hearing that a Marine from Georgia had been ordered to take down the state flag (which contains a Confederate battle flag) from above his bunk. Overall, the flag’s presence in Vietnam was another grim reminder for the black serviceman who was not granted the same civil rights as his white comrades.
Advocates of the battle flag remain today, for reasons ranging from “historical preservation” to open white supremacy. To the military leader, however, an individual sailor’s or marine’s reason for displaying the flag should be irrelevant. At best, such display reflects a severe lack of judgement and knowledge about the flag’s painful past. At worst, it signifies genuine racism. To the non-white service member, the flag can conjure thoughts of lynching, segregation, and systemic oppression. How does this source of tension have any place in a line of work that depends so much on trust, respect, and dedication to our Constitutional values?
It does not. It’s time to furl the flag for good.
