THE MEANINGS CHANGE WHILE THE COLORS REMAIN

NOTE: This is a "poem" inspired by the recent Confederate flag controversy.





THE MEANINGS CHANGE WHILE THE COLORS REMAIN
by matt burns

The colors remain. But the meanings change.

The Confederate flag was once a symbol of freedom. So wasn't the Union flag. But Confederate States denied freedom to blacks so it really symbolized freedom...with exceptions. While the Union flag symbolized freedom with absolutely no exceptions.

Today, the Confederate flag has been demonized. There's a witch hunt for anybody who flies this flag. The South Carolina State House has been forced to take their flag down. Walmart has stopped selling these flags. TV stations are shelving their reruns of the "Dukes of Hazard" show. As absurd as it may sound, people have even suggested that we lock the classic film Gone with the Wind inside a vault, never to be shown again. Same with Griffith's Birth of a Nation.

People who like the flag and still want to fly it have been persecuted. Pressured. Even forced to take it down. Regardless of any 1st amendment rights. 

And therein lies the irony.

Today's American flag (formerly the Union flag) and the Confederate flag have traded symbolic meanings. The Confederate flag has become a symbol of pure, unadulterated freedom, a true champion for the 1st amendment. While the "Union flag" has become a symbol of freedom...with exceptions.

Over time, a flag can come to symbolize many different things. After all, it's just cloth with colors.

The colors remain. But the meanings change.