Confederate Memorial

[OC Richard]

The true significance of the CS Battle Flag was allowed to be corrupted by supremacist groups...

Yes it sure happens sometimes: a group with a political agenda will highjack a long-established symbol, and it becomes impossible for people to see back in time past the current political meaning.

There's a building in Redlands California that has a huge swastika moulded into the plaster at the top of the front of the building. This has been hidden by putting a sign over it. The swastika is original to the building, which was built c1890. Of course this swastika has absolutely nothing to do with Nazism but is an ancient Native American symbol and was often used on rugs etc.

Hawai'i was the "rainbow state" and used the rainbow as a state symbol long before it aquired its current political meaning. The rainbow was used on Hawai'ian car licence plates, on shirts, etc etc. A gay coworker of mine returned once from a vacation in Hawai'i. He was showing us his vacation snapshots, one of which was him and his partner posing in front of a helicopter which was painted in rainbow hues and had the words "Rainbow Tours" painted on it. He said something like "it was so cool, a gay helicopter!"

The answer to the Confedate Battle Flag problem is to use the Stars and Bars instead! It was the original flag anyway, and nobody associates it with anything.