This year marks the 150th anniversary of the onset of the Civil War.  Ideally, this meaningful anniversary could serve as a time of reflection about the current state of the South.  In many quarters, including sections of Vanderbilt itself, the South’s role in this war is viewed as heroic.  Large segments of the population view the South’s secession from a federal government as completely justified because they believe that government violated their states’ rights.  As the Sons of Confederate Veterans put it this year, “All we wanted was to be left alone to govern ourselves.”

It is wrong for Southerners to glorify our past, though, because there is absolutely nothing glorious about it.  The reality is that the most significant state’s right being usurped from the South was the right to own slaves.  The first line of the Declaration of Secession by Mississippi states, “Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery– the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth.”  All other Southern states that wrote declarations of secession identified slavery as the principle inducement for secession as well.

Admittedly, the South was not only concerned about maintaining slavery.  It also cared about the states’ rights to suppress freedom of speech, such as that of abolitionists, the right to violate the sovereignty of non-slave states by abducting runaway slaves with the use of lethal force, and the right to secede after elections they found unfavorable.  Many southerners to this day still believe in secession after elections they disagree with.  Shortly after Obama took office, an anti-tax rally was held in Texas, during which protestors chanted, “Secede!”.  Afterwards, Governor of Texas Rick Perry suggested that, while he does not endorse the idea of secession, Texas could secede if it wanted to.

Why, then, do millions of Americans still treat the Confederate flag with such reverence?  Whatever their reasons are, it is unlikely they are positive.  The South has dragged its feet on every single civil rights issue this country has faced.  Its citizens were (and are) more opposed to women’s right to vote, desegregation, and the decriminalization of sodomy than any other region of the country.  The South currently has higher rates of violent crime (despite its use of the death penalty with its purported deterrence effect), higher rates of obesity, and lower educational attainment on average than other states.  It also has the highest rates of teenage pregnancy, divorce (despite its religiosity), and wealth inequality.  In fact, the term “culture of honor” is regularly used to describe how southerners respond to slights with more physical aggression than other Americans.

What is there to be proud of?  What, in all of American history, has the South ever done that has separated it from the rest of the country in a positive light?  Even if the South had positively distinguished itself from the rest of the U.S., which it hasn’t, why would that reflect well on the people who just happen to be born there?  There is absolutely no reason to honor the South on the anniversary of a war it fought in order to maintain the right to own human beings.  Even the more thoughtful individuals I encounter still honor confederate soldiers’ bravery as they do all soldiers who died in the Civil War, but what is bravery for the cause of injustice?  We Southerners should be embarrassed by, not proud of, our ancestors who volunteered to fight and die for the Confederacy.  There is nothing intrinsically praiseworthy about sacrificing your life, and there is nothing laudable about taking a position that was indefensible 150 years ago and attempting to defend it now.