As everybody in the universe must know by now, the Confederate battle-flag which has flown in front of the South Carolina statehouse for more than half-a-century has been lowered — possibly for the last time.
Watch the video and notice the unseemly pomp, and the careful folding once lowered, on behalf of a symbol that warrants only disdain from decent adults.
My idea was better: It should have remained right where it was, and the memorial should have been retrofitted to an observance of a shameful episode in the state’s history, as has been done with the now-abandoned Nazi concentration camps throughout Europe. Merely removing the flag from public view does nothing to change the underlying culture; that requires frank, unambiguous moral condemnation from bona fide leaders — and this isn’t it. This is a half-measure, a band-aid on gangrene.