My experiences with Confederate imagery are few and impersonal.
The most meaningful thoughts I can contribute to this conversation come not from one or two anecdotes, but from a life as a perpetual fence-sitter on all things contentious. Whether you want to call it empathy or an inexplicable spite of any true conviction, this absurd level of devil’s advocacy sometimes does shed meaningful light on tricky subjects.
In this case, it leads me to implore each side to ponder just one little word: history.
Those seven letters arranged in that order represent our origins as a civilization. They document our progress and dog-ear the pages of our failures. They are not to be taken lightly.
Just to further complicate things, let’s now make this all-important word plural. Facts we take for granted are often debated by historians. Much like reporting current events, recording history allows room for bias at the most fundamental level. Just as newspapers of the same day look different from one another, historians can produce different “histories” from the same data.
So, do not rely on politicians or advocates to read your history for you. Give each book filed under non-fiction the skepticism you would The Daily Mississippian and the fervor you would The New York Times. Explore the different narratives of our existence and consider that they are still being written. There should be more to this debate than “the flag is right” or “the flag is wrong.”
As much as I wish it were, this resolution is not a popularly decided matter.
Your Associated Student Body representatives will vote Tuesday whether to endorse or challenge the state flag’s place on this campus. If ASB passes the resolution, Interim Chancellor Morris Stocks will have the final say. Let them hear your voices.
But first, reflect.
Imbue your arguments with consideration for not just history, but one another.
Respect those who disagree with you enough to entertain their view. Respect yourself enough to contemplate the consequences of your stance.
No outcome of Tuesday’s vote, nor any number of homework assignments, will resolve all disagreement on Mississippi’s state flag. But I believe if we challenge ourselves and each other, we can take the discussion well beyond hate and exchange more nuanced views on how best to handle our history. I see some of this happening already, and my goal in writing this column is to stoke those flames.
Students, it’s time we take it seriously.
