I have changed my mind about the Confederate flag .

I used to think that the continued display of the Confederate flag was entirely inappropriate, given the fact that the Confederacy lost the Civil War, after all, fighting for an indefensible cause.

Then I thought, wait a minute. After the Civil War, there was Reconstruction, in which some progress towards racial equality was actually achieved. After a couple decades, Reconstruction began to lose its potency, and the racist Democrats came back into power. It was around this time that the most active variant of the KKK appeared and started catching tigers by the toe and hanging them by their necks. In Texas, “sundown towns” started popping up. These had billboards at the city limits reading “Nigger, don’t let the sun set on you here!” It’s no longer so extreme, of course, but racism – the nasty, active kind as well as the ignorant passive side – persists and thrives. There are “United Daughters of the Confederacy” monuments in states that were not in the Confederacy, and, indeed, in states that were not states at that time. It kinda seems like the South rose again, doesn’t it? And now, they’re patriots!

So, why shouldn’t Mississippi celebrate its racist heritage? Sure, racism is a festering hemmorhoid on the anus of society, but who says our state flags have to be prescriptive? It’s a true part of their history. And maybe they’ll look at that flag and it’ll make them think about racism – what it is, what it means, how it makes them feel.

I mean, look what it did for the Duke boys. No truer heroes ever joyrode through Hazzard County.