Race-baiters and slick politicians with support from liberal news reporters and other celebrities have successfully convinced the public that the Confederate battle flag represents racism throughout the South in the wake of the heinous act committed by a single individual who was seen in a photograph standing beside such a flag.

The square flag in question did not represent the government of the Confederate states, it was merely a distinctive military flag that generations in Dixie have embraced as a sad reminder of the many Southerners who perished in the Civil War.

Does the battle flag represent and condone mistreatment of blacks? Only to those evil people who wish to ignite warfare between races and promote anarchy and chaos. (Ironically, wasn’t that the goal of Dylann Roof?)

Many naive public schoolchildren are taught that the Civil War was about slavery. The truth is that the primary cause of the Civil War was state’s rights. Slavery had long been a way of life at that time in history both in the South and in the North.

The reason Southern states took up arms against the North was because the federal government imposed new laws that were very unfavorable to the South.

When efforts to overturn the oppressive laws were unsuccessful, the Southern states then tried and were denied the right to peacefully secede from the union so as to better manage their own affairs as allowed by the U.S. Constitution. The Civil War could have been avoided had politicians on both sides negotiated fairly. Freeing the slaves was a consequence of the Civil War, not the cause of it.

I have never lived in the South. The reason I even bring this controversial subject up is because of all the hysteria surrounding the issue of the Confederate battle flag and the damage the caustic vitriol is causing.

Not content to see this symbol of Southern pride and remembrance removed from public parks and buildings, the flames of hatred against Southerners have spread to where there are calls for the banning of one of the greatest motion pictures of all time: “Gone With the Wind,” because the Confederate flag is visible in some of the battle scenes as are scenes depicting slavery.

That was then and this is now. How selfish it would be to deprive future generations the opportunity to view this outstanding historical drama.

It would also be unfortunate if Hattie McDaniel, who played “Mammy” in the movie, would also fade into obscurity. She was the first African American to receive an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.  But then again the politically correct police have already succeeded in banning other outstanding movies such as “Song of the South” and “Porgy and Bess.”

I went to the Amazon website and, sure enough, Confederate battle flags are not available for purchase. But I can choose flags from Communist China, Cuba or the former Soviet Union — countries with a history of oppressing and slaughtering massive numbers of their own citizens.

I can purchase flags and T-shirts with the image of the murdering military leader Che Guevara or Chairman Mao and I can purchase Japanese battle flags such as were painted on the aircraft that attacked America at Pearl Harbor.

I saw where a man recently purchased an ISIS flag cake at Walmart after failing to purchase one with a Confederate flag. There are even Nazi memorabilia available for purchase on Amazon but no Confederate battle flags.

Should all flags, cakes, shirts and historical memorabilia associated with individuals or regimes responsible for genocide be forbidden, even though such prohibitions are in violation of the First Amendment?

Banishing one flag, book, cake or movie deemed offensive by one group of individuals sets a precedent and opens the door to the outlawing of other flags, then all flags (including “Old Glory”), and ultimately ends with a total ban on free speech.

Don’t be fooled into thinking this is only about a Confederate battle flag.

Merlette writes from Bigfork.