If someone flew a Nazi flag in the face of a young man of Jewish descent, and that young man ripped that flag out of the hands of that person – we would all understand his passion.
We saw the Live 5 News footage – and yes, we laughed our asses off. In our hearts, we were all giving a proverbial high-five and chest bump to Charleston’s own Muhiyidin d’Baha, the leader of Black Lives Matter Charleston. In order to understand the ‘leap seen around the world’, you also have to know some of the battles being fought daily, in the heart of the city of Charleston.
This has been quite an interesting week in Charleston, S.C. From several shootings/ murders of our young men, to bond hearings of high school children arrested the previous week, to drug raid press conferences, and the random displays of the ominous confederate flag – it’s not even summer yet! We are merely 2 full months into 2017, and our city has been drama filled.
There are tons of matters to discuss when it comes to Charleston, SC, but this ongoing issue regarding the confederate flag continues to cause controversy. In the summer of 2015, weeks after the terrorist act committed against the Emanuel Nine at Mother Emanuel Church, the flag was permanently removed from the Capital Building in Columbia, S.C. Despite what many considered a victory, there are plenty southerners who are refusing to put the flag down; they claim it is a part of their history.
Fast forward to the week Bree Newsome was scheduled to arrive in our city to speak at the College of Charleston; her talk was entitled, “Tearing Hatred From The Sky”. Bree, the young lady seen in the photo below, scaled a pole in 2015 in order to personally bring the defeated battle flag down from in front of the S.C. State House.
In response to Bree’s visit, the S.C. Secessionist Party (supporters of the Confederate Flag) asked the college to cancel Bree’s event and threatened to stage their flag protest closer to the college if they refused to cancel. When the college failed to adhere to their request, the SC Secessionists mounted confederate flags on top of five buildings around downtown Charleston Sunday, February 19th.
It’s amazing that the same people that tell us to move on and forget about the damning affects of slavery, are the same people who continue to flaunt this failure of a flag in our face.
As a southerner, a Charlestonian, and an African American – we know and understand that this flag is a symbol of hate and continues to be a relic which symbolizes the death of many who have come before us. What may be history to a segment of one culture, is most definitely hate to another culture. If someone flew a Nazi flag (which may be their history) in the face of a young man of Jewish descent (which symbolizes a history of hate), and that young man ripped that flag out of the hands of that person – we would all understand his passion. Then it should not be difficult to understand why Muhiyidin d’Baha felt compelled to do what needed to be done.
Amidst the fight for the children locked up from a school bus quarrel, to the blatant and continuous taunting from this failed battle flag – it has gotten to the point where trying to talk and have civil discussions with people have fallen on the deaf ears of those who could care less how we feel. So, what else are we left to do? In the words of Malcolm X,“Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man, you take it.”
Syllabus Magazine, the Carolina’s source for Music, Culture and Fashion
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