This picture is not AI generated. This picture is not from the 1950s. This picture is from Washington, D.C., today, on America’s 250th anniversary, while masked white nationalists marched through the capital carrying Confederate flags.
Look at her face. That young girl appears to be sitting on public transportation, surrounded by men in masks carrying the symbols of hate, intimidation, and white nationalism. Tell me again how racism is over. Tell me again how this is not about race.
Because here is the ugly truth. Had she screamed, cried, pushed back, or said one word too loudly, there would be people ready to call her the aggressor. There would be headlines asking what she did, how she reacted, whether she escalated the moment, instead of asking why masked men celebrating Confederate symbolism were allowed to surround ordinary people on public transportation in the first place.
This is horrific. Not uncomfortable. Not political theater. Not just “different opinions.” This is racism standing in public, wearing a mask, waving a flag, and daring the rest of us to pretend we do not see it.
People can say whatever they want, but the Confederate flag is not some innocent tribute to family history. The Confederacy fought to preserve slavery. That flag does not represent freedom for all Americans. It represents the people who fought to keep other human beings in chains.
Germany does not allow Nazi flags to fly proudly through its streets as heritage. They understand that some symbols are not just history. Some symbols are threats. Some symbols are warnings. Some symbols are reminders of evil that should never be polished, protected, or normalized.
The Confederate flag is not a beautiful mark of American history. It is not patriotism. It is not nostalgia. It is evil at its worst, and today it may be at its most effective because too many people have become numb to the news cycle and blind to what is happening right in front of them.
This happened today. On the 250th anniversary of America. In Washington, D.C. While this country was supposed to be celebrating independence, white nationalists were celebrating the Confederacy. That is not American. That is racism.
This is exactly what I write about in The Bogeyman Was Built. The bogeyman is not born in a vacuum. The bogeyman is manufactured through fear, symbols, silence, permission, propaganda, and people pretending the monster is not standing right in front of them.
I love America. That is exactly why I refuse to lie about America. I understand its history, and I still believe in its possibilities. Loving this country does not mean pretending hate is harmless. Loving this country means having the courage to say we are not going backward.
We are not going back to silence. We are not going back to fear. We are not going back to pretending a Confederate flag is just a flag. We are not going back in history, and we should not let hate dress itself up as patriotism while the rest of us look away.
The Bogeyman Was Built: How America Manufactured a Monster, and the People Who Refused to Become It is available now on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H6HBMWXK
Thanks for reading,
William Rochelle, but you can call me Bill.
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