by Raymond Nolan Scott, Jun 2015
What is widely known as the Confederate flag is a flag that was designed by William Porcher Miles (July 4, 1822 – May 11, 1899) who was the chairman of the Flag and Seal committee and among the ardent States' Rights advocates, supporters of slavery, and Southern secessionists who came to be known as the "Fire-Eaters."
It was rejected as the national flag in 1861. It was instead adopted as a battle flag by the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee.
Despite never having historically represented the CSA as a country nor officially recognized as one of the national flags, it is commonly referred to as "the Confederate Flag" and has become a widely recognized symbol of the American south. It is also known as the rebel flag, Dixie flag, and Southern cross and is often incorrectly referred to as the "Stars and Bars."
After Civil War ended, the Confederate flag became a source of Southern pride and heritage as well as a remembrance of Confederate soldiers who died in battle.
It became an emblem of the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacist groups. It was also the symbol of the States' Rights Democratic Party, or "Dixiecrats," that formed in 1948 to oppose civil-rights platforms of the Democratic Party. Then-South Carolina Gov. Strom Thurmond was the splinter group's nominee for president that same year; he won 39 electoral votes.
Now, the flag is a frequent emblem of modern white supremacist groups.
Racist symbol or not, the designer of the Confederate Flag , William Porcher Miles was indeed a white supremacist and supported slavery. Miles was one of the leading secessionists in South Carolina. He believed that slavery was a Divine institution. Miles rejected any compromise on slavery and supported Calhoun in opposition to the Compromise of 1850. Miles was selected for both the provisional and regular Confederate Congress. He was chairman of the House Military Affairs Committee while also serving as an aide-de-camp for General P. G. T. Beauregard at both Charleston.
In 1852 Miles delivered an address to the Alumni Society of the College of Charleston. Miles denied the concept of inalienable rights and maintained that liberty was an "Acquired Privilege." He argued that "Men are born neither Free nor Equal" and some men were born with the innate ability to earn liberty while others were not. Government should not attempt to either "make a Statesman of him who God intended should be a Ploughman" or "bind down forever to the plough him to whom God has given a mind capable of shaping the destinies of a People." Miles rejected the political legitimacy of abolitionists and free-soilers and responded to any attempts to restrict slavery with a call for secession.
I have no doubt that Miles designed that flag with the spirit of somebody who wanted to maintain white supremacy and slavery which were reasons for him to want South Carolina to secede. In my opinion, anybody who supports the Confederate Flag takes on Miles' spirit of those issues and probably partake in his karma. After reading about this dude, I believe that the flag belongs only in history musems. It doesn't belong hanging on flag poles at government buildings of any kind. I was born in California, and so I wasn't born in the South. My African American father was born in Louisiana, and he was born in the South. I have paternal relatives that live in Texas after moving there because of Hurricane Katrina. They used to live in New Orleans which was their birthplace. It was also my father's. As the descendants of African American slaves, we are definitely not crazy about the Confederate flag.
any way...that's my two cents on the issue. I won't type any more about it.
Thank you, Raymond
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