Confederate Flag

Gov. Jim Hodges of South Carolina proposes lowering the Confederate flag from over the statehouse and raising it over a monument to Confederate Army Gen. Wade Hampton, which sits on the statehouse grounds. This “compromise” allows the flag, which most Americans (including many South Carolinians) liken to the German swastika flag, to remain flying on official territory.

Hampton, who said, “We will secure every citizen, black as well as white, full and equal protection of all rights under the Constitution,” did exactly the opposite, leading the charge to dismantle, both as governor and as senator, the advances made in civil rights during the Reconstruction era, thus dooming such efforts for nearly a century. Perhaps it is fitting that the flag of slavery should fly over his monument as a reminder of what he really stood for.

DOUGLAS CAMPBELL

Culver City