I wish to speak against the display of the Confederate flag. More specifically, I mean the Confederate battle flag also known as the "Stars and Bars" as is commonly displayed as a symbol of Southern American heritage, usually in the American South but sometimes seen outside the South as well. My reasons are twofold.
The first reason is that the Confederate flag is highly offensive to most black people in America, whether this is right or wrong. The flag is used by people who are overt racists, and by people who have backward racist attitudes, enough that is has become associated with racism. The Klan would wave this flag on their marches, for example. I know this based on original research, i.e. talking to black people, and from growing up in the South. Displaying the Confederate flag is not a friendly or welcoming thing. You can say that it is your heritage, but is it worth it to incite fear and bad feelings?
The second reason is that the Confederacy really did arise due to the increasing incompatibility between a free North and slaveholding South. The Southern states did not take their decision to secede lightly, and published Declarations of Causes of Secession. You can read these at the link, and you can also read about the myth of the idea that the Civil War was not about slavery. From the latter link, here is a pertinent historical quote:
"The Confederacy, by contrast, is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race is his natural and moral condition." -- Alexander Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States of America
Or you can read my renditon of the declarations of Causes of Secession, translated by me into modern internet speech:
Declaration of Causes of Secession (Abridged and Translated into Modern Internet Speech) If you're reading this, you've probably heard that we voted to secede from the United States. We realize that this is a big deal, and we owe you an explanation. We joined this union with you about 70 years ago, knowing full well that you were uncomfortable with the idea of slavery. By the same token, you knew full well that we practiced slavery down here. It's legal down here and it always has been, and you guys knew it when you formed a nation with us. We need slaves to work our plantations. We can't do it just with free whites. For one thing, white people can't handle those conditions. For another, the economics don't work. But again, and this is important, slavery is fucking legal down here, and that has always been the rule. Increasingly, we can't help but notice that your policies up North are hostile to us continuing to allow slavery. Our slaves can run away or be stolen and taken up north, and your law enforcement and courts increasingly refuse to do anything about it. You all agreed that slaves escaping into non-slave states would be returned. It's in the Constitution, but now you all ignore it. You agreed to it 70 years ago same as we did, but now you don't want to follow it. And now you have elected a President who says that we can't remain a half-slave half-free country. So I guess that means that we can't have slavery anymore. Well fuck that. We're keeping slavery. We're out of here, and back to being our own country. Oh, and fuck your tariffs too.