Its a shame that ignorant uneducated people with thin skin and no backbone have to ruin history. Yes the Civil War happened and it was a terrible war pitting brother against brother, father against son, but you cant change the future without knowing the past. The Confederate Flag was not a symbol of hatred it was originally a battle flag (such as the modern day guidons of todays militaries which sets apart different units) it was later adopted as the Southern states flag during the Civil War because the south wanted to be a separate country so to speak and have its own government, thus electing Jefferson Davis as the president of the southern states. The Confederate flag was incorporated into many state flags of the south until someone's feelings got hurt and political correctness came along and made them change their flags and take out the stars and bars. Now people want to tear down monuments commemorating the battles and leaders of the south such as Robert E Lee. This is history this is why we are the great country we are because we learn from our mistakes, you cant just erase history and act like it never happened, wrong or right those men and women deserve to be Honored. Was the Revolutionary war wrong because we wanted to be free and not live under the rule of a King, should we take down our monuments honoring Washington? NO. Was WW1 and WW2 wrong? NO it saved us from a physco that wanted to rule the world and get rid of the Jewish people. A lot of people didn't agree with the Korean war should we take down their memorials? NO. what about Vietnam? should we take down the wall that honors those brave men and women that died for an unpopular war for your freedom. NO, and then there's Afghanistan and Iraq which my wife and I are proud Veterans of. We both earned Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts for heroic actions and wounds we received for your freedom so you can walk outside without fear of being killed by a terrorist because they don't like our freedoms. If your gonna let a flag upset you then maybe you need to live in a cave and isolate yourself from the real world. I'm sure the United States Flag offends some people, but we aren't gonna change it for you or anyone else and I'm sure every Veteran on here will make sure of that

It is not a question of erasing history, it is a matter of whether or not people can choose what they want to celebrate and honor.

If you want to protect history, fight to protect the battlefields. If you want to honor the sacrifices of the men, visit the battlefields. If you want to learn the history, read.

Monuments celebrating the cause of human slavery are an affront, and the cause of the Confederacy was the protection and perpetuation of slavery - according to the men who founded the Confederacy and every other observer at the time.

Its a shame that ignorant uneducated people with thin skin and no backbone have to ruin history. Yes the Civil War happened and it was a terrible war pitting brother against brother, father against son, but you cant change the future without knowing the past. The Confederate Flag was not a symbol of hatred it was originally a battle flag (such as the modern day guidons of todays militaries which sets apart different units) it was later adopted as the Southern states flag during the Civil War because the south wanted to be a separate country so to speak and have its own government, thus electing Jefferson Davis as the president of the southern states. The Confederate flag was incorporated into many state flags of the south until someone's feelings got hurt and political correctness came along and made them change their flags and take out the stars and bars. Now people want to tear down monuments commemorating the battles and leaders of the south such as Robert E Lee. This is history this is why we are the great country we are because we learn from our mistakes, you cant just erase history and act like it never happened, wrong or right those men and women deserve to be Honored. Was the Revolutionary war wrong because we wanted to be free and not live under the rule of a King, should we take down our monuments honoring Washington? NO. Was WW1 and WW2 wrong? NO it saved us from a physco that wanted to rule the world and get rid of the Jewish people. A lot of people didn't agree with the Korean war should we take down their memorials? NO. what about Vietnam? should we take down the wall that honors those brave men and women that died for an unpopular war for your freedom. NO, and then there's Afghanistan and Iraq which my wife and I are proud Veterans of. We both earned Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts for heroic actions and wounds we received for your freedom so you can walk outside without fear of being killed by a terrorist because they don't like our freedoms. If your gonna let a flag upset you then maybe you need to live in a cave and isolate yourself from the real world. I'm sure the United States Flag offends some people, but we aren't gonna change it for you or anyone else and I'm sure every Veteran on here will make sure of that

I feel that I have to add to my previous brief reply to this post in order to somewhat validate it. I once had the opportunity to transfer my job with a significant promotion and increase in salary to a new plant in NC. The promotion and increase in salary would have just about doubled my income. I had made several trips to the new planned facility and had worked with a number of local people in the process of planning the new operation. However I found the local people that I was dealing with had deep prejudices against blacks. This was not because they individually were bad people but just the result of the culture in which they had grown up and which they believed in. I personally had grown up in a similar society but not in the deep south. There had been no slavery in PA where I grew up. I attended school in a company owned town coal town where every thing was built and owned by the coal company so I had some experience with living in a society that was not slavery but was very much out of individual control.

Getting back to the subject at hand. Tremendous pressure was put on me to take the new job and transfer and I was repeatedly and tacitly reminded that I would be out of a job if I did not accept the transfer.
Ultimately I decided that I did not want my children to grow up with those kinds of beliefs and refused the transfer and did indeed become unemployed. I do not want to imply that I did not have some preconceived racial attitudes myself but I did realize that they were not a good way to live. My decision resulted in many difficulties for me and my family. In spite of the resulting difficulties in our life I do not regret the decision. So anyone reading this should be able to realize that my initial unconsidered response has some validity.