Groups Call For Removal Of American Flag In Wake Of Confederate Flag Debate

Groups are now calling for the American flag to come down as the debate about the Confederate flag rages. So far, the Confederate flag has been removed from numerous retail stores and at least one political venue, but is the American flag controversial?

Apparently to a few groups, it is — very much so.

The initial suggestion came on Facebook from a group called Traditionalist Youth Network (incidentally, a group the Southern Poverty Law Center identifies as a hate group), and it has received more support than you’d imagine.

The group shared a photo of an American flag with the words “take it down” superimposed in all caps. The caption decried calls for the removal of the Confederate flag and described this action as an alternative.

“Why don’t we take down the flag of the Federal tyrants that attacked and burned the South, that now promote the murder of the unborn, make homosexuality “normal” and attack our Churches’ right to hold to Biblical doctrine?

“Keep the battle flag up, take the occupiers’ flag down.”

If the federal government is just “occupying” the Southern states and the Confederacy is still strong, as this group (and some others) seems to think, it’s been quite an occupation.

Of course, anyone can put anything on Facebook — that doesn’t mean it’s taken seriously. Surely the notion of removing the American flag because the American government is illegally occupying Southern lands isn’t an idea that anyone really supports, right?

Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case. This “Take Down The America Flag” post has been shared by pages celebrating Confederate heritage, like this one.

The call to remove the American flag been shared by numerous other pages relating to Southern heritage, white supremacy, and end-times prophecy, too, including Defenders of the Confederate Cross, Careolina Productions (a group for promotion of small businesses and charitable efforts in South Carolina), Deceptions of the Centuries (a conspiracy and prophecy page), and Occidental Offensive.

In some groups, participants have expressed that there can be loyalty to only one flag, either the American one or the Confederate one — and hinted that the Confederate flag is the one deserving of loyalty.

How serious is this movement to remove the American flag? It looks like it’s more bluster and rage than actual effort — but the very fact that the same groups angry over the removal of the Confederate flag are expressing it suggest that to some, at least, the Confederate flag isn’t history and heritage, but an attitude and belief system that’s still current. Demands to keep the Confederate flag while removing the American flag suggest that to some Americans, there are still two countries at war here.

[Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images]