Wow, that was quick.  Less than a week ago, members of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd were giving an interview on CNN in which lead guitarist Gary Rossington explained that the band had disassociated itself from the image with which it’s long been known – the Confederate battle flag.  Just a few days later?  Rossington, the last remaining member of the original band, all of a sudden got his Confederate memory back and told fans on the band’s website “The Confederate flag means something more to us, Heritage not Hate.” He needed to do something, because the band’s fans threatened to secede from Lynyrd Skynyrd nation and take their dollars with them.

Actually, he was right the first time when he told CNN that the image had “became such an issue, about race and stuff.”  Yea, race and stuff.

That stuff, as he initially pointed out, was that groups like the KKK, skinheads, and let’s go ahead and say segregationists (please) had, in his words, “kidnapped the Dixie or rebel flag from the Southern tradition and the heritage of the soldiers.”  Well, yes, but it’s more complicated than that.

THAT flag, as we know, is one of many Confederate flags, but it’s the one that draws the  most ire.  Yes, it was used by southern soldiers as they headed into battle, but let’s be clear:  by 1863 the war was over the institution of slavery and the Confederate army was there to protect it.  States’ rights?  Yes, a state’s right to maintain slavery.  There’s no getting around it.

So, let’s say you buy the idea that this was simply about southern soldiers and therefore the “Heritage, Not Hate” slogan works for you, because you don’t want to be thought of as a racist.  Then what can you say about the heritage of that symbol since the Civil War?  The war lasted 4 years, but the battle flag has often been used over the last 150 years as a symbol of racial hatred.  What about THAT heritage?

Lynyrd Skynyrd is free to do what is best for its fan base and especially its bottom dollar, but as the saying goes “don’t get it twisted”–in this case, the history.  Gary Rossington was right the first time when he said that the negative connotations of the flag had to do with “race and stuff.”  The vitriol with which the fans have responded over the band’s initial decision to quit using the flag is proof enough that race is still at issue.

And just because you say it’s about “heritage, not hate,” doesn’t make it so.