The Confederate Flag and the Swastika image, both are offensive and should be banned. It always perplexes me when this debate arises because the Confederate Flag was used as a symbol of hate before and during the Civil War. So how can Americans on one hand consider it an indignity and injustice the murdering of Jewish people in Nazi Germany but can’t understand the offensiveness of the Confederate Flag still being waved around today in many southern states?

The “Confederacy” or “Confederate States of America” (1861-1865) was an unrecognized state set up by eleven southern slave states. Slavery is defined as people being the property of others, obtained by force, kidnapping or entrapment and held without rights to leave or refuse work. When these states formed the Confederacy and created a flag to represent their fundamental rights as slave owners you can no longer call that group open-minded. In America today the Confederate Flag is still being waved around capital buildings in the southern states and within judicial courtrooms that adhere to the laws of our constitution. No one has a problem with people being proud of their heritage but if your heritage stood for the enslavery of others then shame on you for backing it in present day.

The Swastika first began as a religious symbol used by Buddhists and was mainly found in India. But to the Western world this symbol will always be remembered for chaos, death and exile of Jewish people in Nazi Germany. The Holocaust of European Jews where an estimated 6 million were murdered by the Nazis during World War II lasted for 6 years from 1939-1945. That was 65 years ago and the Swastika symbol re-created by the Nazis is considered to be very offensive and not tolerated by people throughout the world.

By 1860 the Census estimated 4 million Africans were slaves living in the United States but the slave trade in America can be traced back through four centuries! The “Transatlantic Slave Trade” consisted of African slaves being shipped to North and South America from the 16th century through the 19th century. There is no verified death toll count available like the Holocaust but the magnitude of both events has tainted our history books in europe and america.

So for the Confederate Flag to be created by slave owners and still have a flagpole to be flown on is an injustice to the freedom of all people. The Civil War was fought to not only free slaves but to unite a country that was fragmented and vying for individuality within a uniformed nation. The injustice that this flag represents should no longer be tolerated in the 21st century where our youth are finally gaining a naivety to the racism and discrimination set forth by slave owners centuries ago. What our youth are seeing is the first Black President running a nation that used to own slaves and any traces of bigotry should not be tolerated. Take down those flags!