Democrat Jim Webb: Don’t tear the Confederate flag down, history not just hate

“This is an emotional time and we all need to think through these issues with a care that recognizes the need for change but also respects the complicated history of the Civil War,” he said in a note posted to Facebook.

While other Democrats are calling for the flag to be pulled down and mentions of it put into historical dustbins, Webb, a former Virginia senator, is reminding Americans that racism was alive and well on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line and that a number of northern slaveholders fought under Old Glory and many non-slaveholders fought for the Stars and Bars and rebel battle flag.

Nobody has suggested tearing down the U.S. flag because slaveholders and slavemasters fought for President Lincoln.

While it’s been used for racist purposes, Webb conceded, it should not be used “as a political symbol that divides us,” he said.

His full note:

This is an emotional time and we all need to think through these issues with a care that recognizes the need for change but also respects the complicated history of the Civil War. The Confederate Battle Flag has wrongly been used for racist and other purposes in recent decades. It should not be used in any way as a political symbol that divides us.

But we should also remember that honorable Americans fought on both sides in the Civil War, including slaveholders in the Union Army from states such as Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware, and that many non-slave holders fought for the South. It was in recognition of the character of soldiers on both sides that the federal government authorized the construction of the Confederate Memorial 100 years ago, on the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery.

This is a time for us to come together, and to recognize once more that our complex multicultural society is founded on the principle of mutual respect.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].