Symbols from the Nazi-era, such as the swastika or the “Heil Hitler” salute are illegal in Germany. Since the end of WWII, the country has been making a concerted effort to distance itself from the crimes of its past, and it tries to prevent future catastrophes like the Third Reich.

In the United States, in the age of Trump, both the swastika and the Confederate flag have resurged in yards, on the backs of pickup trucks and at rallies and other political events and demonstrations.

I have never been able to understand how the Confederate flag in the United States of the 21st century can have such a strong foothold. It has become a symbol of power for some people, of course. Arguments are that the Confederate flag represents people’s heritage and should therefore be honored and cherished.

I challenge that view. If a family can trace its lineage back to an individual that fought in the Civil War under the Confederate flag, and died for it, yes, I acknowledge that there is family tradition and honor involved. But I believe that 99.99% of the time, the person brandishing the flag cannot identify such lineage. Most people can’t identify the names even of their great-great-grandparents. I certainly can’t. That would bring me back to about 1880 or so. 1865, not a chance.

So, unless a person served in the Civil War under General Lee and died, the Confederate flag has no direct meaning with respect to a family’s heritage.

For the vast majority of people in the United States, the flag is a symbol of slavery, and the misery and oppression it brought to millions of people for many decades. It is a symbol of continued oppression for another 100 or so years until the major civil rights activities of the 1960s. It is a symbol of hate against minorities in the most recent decades.

And it is a symbol of treason of the southern states against the union.

I do not understand how our society accepts the Confederate flag as it does, being that it stands for oppression, hate and treason.

The only justifiable purpose I see is the expression of free speech, a right bestowed upon us by the First Amendment to the Constitution.

You have a right to fly the flag, but you must know that the vast majority of us view it as a symbol of oppression, hate and treason.

Or is it the vast majority of us?