A Confederate Flag in Michigan?

I pass your home every day as I go and return from work and always think: You’re flying a Confederate flag in Michigan. Really?

While I respect your right to free speech, and I presume flying this flag is a form of free speech, I wonder at your purpose.

Are you trying to say you are a rebel at heart? Perhaps you are proclaiming your Southern roots, which have been relocated north? Are you voicing a determination for states’ rights? Or perhaps you are proclaiming your racial beliefs?

You do know you are in Michigan, right? A Union state. A state that sent seven regiments of soldiers to fight under the red, white, and blue as represented in the stars and stripes of our National Flag. So many soldiers that Lincoln is claimed to have said, “Thank God for Michigan.” Between 14 and 15 thousand of those soldiers died of battle wounds or disease and never returned home. That’s about one out of every six who went; so, many Michiganders died fighting the crossbars of the Confederate flag you fly.

Since then, many more men and women from Michigan have served the stars and stripes. They fought for you to keep the right of free speech and expression, even for you to fly the flag that would have denied the same rights to so many of our citizens. Maybe you're trying to say their efforts were, and continue to be, in vain? They weren't and aren't. You're flying the losers flag. May we not subvert the flag that represents our Constitution, the flag that represents our rights, the flag of the United States of America. Let us hope it continues to represent all citizens' rights for millennia to come.