In light of the recent Dylan Roof shooting, the debate of whether or not the confederate flag should be banned has come back into the national spotlight. On June 17th, Dylan Roof walked into a Charleston, South Carolina church and proceeded to shoot and kill nine people. After sitting silently in a church for an hour, Roof stood up and makes a claim black men are raping white women and that black people are taking over America and must be stopped. After this, he carries out this tragic deed. Roofs reasoning for doing this was based on the ideologies of the Confederacy and Rhodesian government, which was an apartheid state that controlled East Africa. The two governments are similar in the sense that they used unequal practices and racism to control people of color.
             As a result of this, the questioned poised now is what to do about the displaying and representing of the flag today when it is deeply rooted in hate. Proponents of the Confederate flag say that it represents their heritage and that it is a violation of their first amendment rights while those against the Confederate flag are advocating for it to be taken down as a result of its racial undertones. The reality is no matter how racist or hateful something can be; it is still protected from government censorship.
             Incarcerating Dylan Roof in the hereditary for hundreds of years will not take away the pain of his atrocious act of violence against this predominantly black church. Action needs to be taken for the removal of the flag so that another deranged young man doesn't find inspiration in the ideals of the Confederacy. Governments across the South should not allow the nine members of this church to die in vain. The best way to honor them, and to ignite change, is by taking it down so that another church won't be susceptible to this act of terrorism.
             According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a Confederate is an accomplice in a mischievous or criminal...