William T. Thomson, designer of the Confederate Flag, said, “As a people we are fighting to maintain the heaven-ordained supremacy of the white race over the inferior colored race. As a national emblem, the Confederate flag is significant of that higher cause, the cause of a superior race.”

It was not until 1961, when desegregation was knocking on the door of the South, that the Confederate flag was returned to fly over the state houses in the South. It was the South’s reaction to black empowerment.

The South lost the Civil War, and the supporters of the Confederate flag need to get over it. If the supporters of that flag had won, I, along with my black brothers and sisters, would still be slaves; denied the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” and robbed of the protections of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

The Southern states became “solid” behind the Democratic party immediately after the Civil War. When Reconstruction ended in 1877, the South attempted to reverse black empowerment, and restore white supremacy.

To suggest that the Confederate flag is about preserving the honor and heritage of the South is, at best, untrue and a dishonest claim.

Former President Jimmy Carter said, “the Confederate flag was a symbol of white supremacy and an inclination for people to believe that slavery would have been OK.”

It has always represented racial superiority, oppression, hatred, bigotry, and a way of life which dishonored slaves, and their sons and daughters.

Those who fought to preserve the “Southern Way of Life,” which was to keep millions in human slavery, fought to preserve that bondage and we must never forget it.

If the South had prevailed, I would not have the friendly associations that I enjoy with my white brothers and sisters in Valdosta, or associate with them as freely, or have the business relationships that I have with them. Instead of a brother-brother relationship, it would be a master-slave relationship; something which denies the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood o man.

When I was growing up, there was not a single white politician, south of the Mason-Dixon line that was not a Democrat. Now it is hard to find one that is not a Republican. It was after desegregation came, that the solid South moved from Democrat to Republican. Since I moved to Valdosta in 1995, I have seen elected Democrats suddenly become Republicans, especially at the state level.

Congressman John Lewis was right. “We all live in this American house,” he said.

And in this house there is no room for symbols of superiority, hate, oppression, division, segregation, or exclusion of any kind based on race, religion, creed, or color. This is either the Home of the Brave and Land of the Free for all of us, or none of us.

Remembering our past is important, but our past must not define our future. We are not what we used to be. Whites are not slave masters, and blacks are not slaves. The Confederate flag and other pre-civil rights relics should be placed in museums, not on public land subject to taxes by either the sons and daughters of slaves or sons and daughters of slave masters.

The Rev. Floyd Rose is senior servant of Serenity Church.