GOP Rep: Confederate Flag Isn’t Racist Symbol, Just “Misused”

FILE - In this June 18, 2013, file photo, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., attends a hearing in Washington, on Capitol Hill. CIA officers who testified privately to Congress about the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic... FILE - In this June 18, 2013, file photo, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., attends a hearing in Washington, on Capitol Hill. CIA officers who testified privately to Congress about the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, revealed a disagreement about how quickly they could help the besieged U.S. ambassador and others. That’s according to Westmreland and others who heard or were briefed on the testimony. The CIA officers also revealed a standing order to avoid violent encounters. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File) MORE LESS
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GOP House leaders are scrambling to quell the backlash to a failed attempt to reverse limits on Confederate flags in national parks. But at least one Republican is willing to defend the efforts to protect the Confederate flag.

“I don’t think it’s a racist symbol, I think people have misused it,” Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) told reporters Thursday. “I haven’t given it much thought because it’s something in the South you kind of grow up being around, just seeing it at different venues or whatever. But I have never thought of it as a racist flag.”

Late Wednesday night, Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) introduced an amendment which would have reversed a previously passed amendment to an Interior appropriations bill banning the flag in federal cemeteries. The Calvert amendment, as well as the underlying bill, was scheduled for a vote Thursday until the GOP leadership pulled entire legislation package from the floor to sort out the Confederate flag issue.

Westmoreland said he would have voted for the Calvert amendment, and defended the use of Confederate flags in federal cemeteries.

“When you’re putting it on somebody’s grave, to me it’s a little different than being racist, its more of a memorial is what it is,” Westmorland said. “You can’t make an excuse for the things that happened. But a majority of people that actually died in the Civil War on the Confederate side did not own slaves. These were people who were fighting for their states. I don’t think they even had thoughts about slavery.”

He noted that some states have Confederate memorial holidays which some people celebrate by bringing Confederate flags to cemeteries.

“If somebody wants to go honor their descendent with a flag on a Confederate memorial day, I don’t see that being a problem,” Westmoreland said.

Westmoreland also responded to the criticisms made by Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) that the flag was a racist symbol.

“The question is does he understand where I’m coming from?” Westmoreland said, when a reporter asked if he understood where Lewis was coming from. “If I believe it comes from heritage, does he understand why, where I’m coming from?”

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  1. Au contraire, Mr. Westmoreland. Representative Lewis and everybody else knows exactly where you’re coming from.

  2. “Those red and blue scarves aren’t hate symbols,” said the representative from Compton. “They’re just being misused.”

    The head of the Bloods agreed. “Gee golly, Officer Krumpke, you gotta understand, it’s just our bringing up-kee that’s got us out of hand,” he said. Added the head of the Crips in another interview, “Juvenile delinquency is really a social disease. Hey, I gotta social disease!”

  3. As I’ve noted in other venues, some of my relatives were Austrians who fought for Nazi Germany. I’m sure they were very brave and probably had redeeming qualities, but I’m not going to fly the flag of Nazi Germany to honor them.

  4. “[A] majority of people that actually died in the Civil War on the Confederate side did not own slaves.”

    And, yet, every last one of them did commit treason.

  5. But a majority of people that actually died in the Civil War on the Confederate side did not own slaves. These were people who were fighting for their states.

    Against the lawful, democratically elected government of this country resulting in the deaths of some 300,000 United States soldiers.

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