The Confederate flag makes Saints tight end Benjamin Watson uncomfortable. It also makes millions of others people, specifically African-Americans, uncomfortable. So in light of what took place last week in Charleston, S.C., there is a push for the state of South Carolina to remove the Confederate flag from the statehouse. There is also a push for the entire South to stop waving the Confederate flag over government buildings.
Watson—who grew up in South Carolina—just wrote a very long Facebook post about the issue, though, and in it, he urged states like South Carolina not to take down the Confederate flag simply to make a political statement. Rather, he said that the state should take it down for the right reasons and also shared a story about the time that one of his best friends in high school took the Confederate flag down from his room because of how it made Watson feel. Here's a small portion of Watson's Facebook post:
If we remove the Confederate flag from the State Capitol for any reason other than a change in the hearts of South Carolinians, we may as well leave it be. This is not the time for political statements and worrying about national perception. But if we, like my friend Frank, finally listen to the cries and concerns of those we say we care about, soften our hearts, and choose to lay our liberties aside to assuage the pain of our brothers, the only suitable option would be a unanimous decision to remove the flag from the public grounds at the Palmetto State Capitol. The past and it's people, as acclaimed or afflicted as they may be, should always be remembered. But it is difficult to completely "move forward" if painful, divisive icons continue to stand unchallenged.
Regardless of where you stand on the issue of the Confederate flag being removed from the South Carolina statehouse, Watson's post is worth a read. He says what a lot of people are thinking right now.
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[via Deadspin]
