Taking Down the Confederate Flag Isn't Enough: We Must Remove All Public Ties To The Confederacy, Everywhere

When I first heard that the Confederate flag was still flying high on the grounds of the South Carolina state Capitol I was shocked.

I may be a "Yankee liberal" from the North, but I figured that, surely, in the year 2015, a symbol of unabashed racial hatred would have been taken down decades ago. How could it possibly still be hung in a public space of a modern society, in a state capitol no less? 

I've never spent much time in the South, but I know the Confederate flag is still popular. Even in my home state of Massachusetts, a liberal bastion of progressive ideals, I still pass by trucks with Confederate flag stickers or license plates. I know the flag is kept alive by individual citizens who choose to wave it, but I thought for sure statehouses all across the country outlawed it.

Sadly, I was wrong.

If a silver lining exists in the wake of the horrific Charleston attack, in which a self-proclaimed white supremacist killed 9 African American churchgoers, it's the fact that millions of Americans all across the country have rose up in unison to demand that the Confederate flag be removed from the South Carolina capitol grounds. 

But that's not enough. We must remove all public ties to the Confederacy, everywhere.

SURROUNDED BY INJUSTICE

Imagine, for a second, that you are the great-great grandson or great-great granddaughter of a slave.

Everyday, you are forced to walk down "Jefferson Davis Boulevard."

Everyday, you pass by your state capitol building and see a Confederate flag waving high and proud.

Everyday, you drive by the same monument that honors the people who fought to keep your family enslaved.

Everyday, you go to school to try to escape the Confederate ghosts that chase you, but how can you concentrate or learn when your school is named after Stonewall Jackson?

Maybe you leave school and seek solace in a park. But how can you enjoy any peace or tranquility when it's named after Robert E. Lee?

With nowhere to go, you decide to just get in your car and drive. You aren't going anywhere in particular, but you know you want to get as far away from this place as you can. But even then, you realize you are driving on "Jefferson Davis Highway."

No matter where you turn, you are surrounded by reminders of a torturous, totalitarian regime that kept your ancestors in chains.

Even if you have no ancestral link to slavery, this is a gross injustice that must end, once and for all.

NOT MY HERITAGE

Many defenders of the Confederate flag say it deserves to live on forever because it "honors Southern heritage." They always seem to ignore the fact that is dishonors the heritage of African Americans.

In the case of South Carolina, it's important to note that the flag has not been flying high for 150+ years. It was first hung in 1961 to protest against the Civil Rights Movement. Honoring Southern "heritage" had nothing to do with it.

The Confederate flag is a symbol of hate. It is an emblem of a murderous, treasonous regime that tortured, raped, enslaved and systematically oppressed innocent Africans, stealing them from their homeland and robbing them of their identities forever.

Taking down the Confederate flag is a necessary first step we must take on the long journey of making amends with the sins of our past.

But we can't stop there. We must remove all ties to the Confederacy in public places. 

We must take down all Confederate monuments and statues. We must re-name Confederate streets, schools, parks and highways. We must take a stand against all public relics that honor, memorialize or pay homage to the most evil institution in American history.

However, to erase them entirely would be a mistake. Instead, we should place the flags, monuments and statues in museums, much like how Germany turned Auschwitz into a museum. They must stand forever as a reminder of how oppressive, immoral and horrifying slavery was.

If you want to hang a Confederate flag on your porch or in your back yard, go for it. I vehemently disagree and think it's incredibly offensive, but the beauty of America is that we give you the right to express yourself freely. Freedom of speech allows you the freedom to be ignorant and divisive.

Getting rid of the Confederate flag won't cure racism. Neither will removing statues or re-naming high schools. But it's the right thing to do. It is the best way to honor the lives of those killed not only in Charleston, but all across our country over the past 400 years.

As long as a young African American is forced to walk down Robert E. Lee Road or attend Jefferson Davis High School, the stain of centuries of injustice will remain.

Take it down.

Take it all down.

It's Time to Embrace, Arm and Support the Kurds

The Middle East is a complex and dangerous place where alliances are confusing and violence seemingly never ends, at least in the eyes of many Americans like myself who try to make sense of it from afar.

On the surface, religion plays a major role in fanning the flames of bloodshed. Despite being brothers of Islam, the Sunnis hate the Shias and the Shias hate the Sunnis. It may be a naive generalization, but most all conflicts in the Middle East stem from this sectarian divide, whether we are willing to admit it or not.

However, religion isn't the only factor at play. Behind the veil of the Sunni/Shia divide, two hegemonic powers- Saudi Arabia and Iran- battle for influence and control. Both countries fund and support various groups, using them as vehicles in a massive proxy-war to re-shape the region in their image.

But beyond religious hatreds and warring spheres of influence, it starts to get confusing when you look at who's fighting who on the ground.

In their mythic quest to establish a caliphate, ISIS is fighting everyone, killing both Sunnis and Shias, as well as Yazidis, Christians and any other religious sect that stands in their way.

Iranian Shiite militias and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah are fighting ISIS in Iraq and defending Assad in Syria.

Assad is fighting the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the Al-Qaeda aligned Jabhat al-Nusra (JAN).

The Army of Conquest, a massive new rebel coalition supported by Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, is fighting ISIS and hopes to topple Assad.

Thousands of miles away, the United States focuses like a laser beam on ISIS, grappling with how to proceed in the war against the barbaric terrorists. Sure, we are bombing dozens of ISIS targets each day (and we have been for nearly a year). And yes, every now and again we carry out SEAL-team raids on ISIS leaders in Syria.

But despite spending millions and now billions of dollars launching non-stop airstrikes, ISIS continues to gain ground. Just recently they took the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra as well as Ramadi, one of the biggest cities in Iraq's Anbar district.

Obama's plan has succeeded only in the fact that he has spared the lives of countless American troops by not ordering a massive ground war. But in terms of actually "degrading and destroying" ISIS, Obama's plan is not working.

It's time to change course and take a new approach. It's time to embrace, arm and support the Kurds.


AN OASIS OF HOPE

For the US, finding reliable allies on the ground to fight ISIS is extremely difficult.

The Iraqi army, which we've spent over a decade training and billions of dollars supporting, can no longer be counted on. Despite outnumbering their ISIS opponents, the Iraqi army has cut and run on multiple occasions when faced with an ISIS attack, famously tossing aside their arms last year in Mosul and again recently in Ramadi. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter summed it up best when he said that the Iraqi army "lacks the will to fight."

So if we can't rely on the Iraqi army, who can we rely on?

We can't partner with Jabhat al-Nusra. Sure, they are one of the leading rebel groups trying to topple Assad, who we can't stand, but they are also a designated Al-Qaeda terrorist group.

We can't ally with Shiite militias because it will fan sectarian flames and give the impression that we are acting as Iran's air force, which will only alienate moderate Sunnis, driving them further into ISIS's hands.

We can't possibly partner with Assad, the brutal Syrian butcher who has ruthlessly killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians with barrel bombs and chemical weapons. While Assad may represent a "lesser of two evils" when compared to ISIS, the US position remains that Assad "must go."

Our best (and maybe our only) option is to partner with the Kurds and make them our new, number one ally in the region.

EMBRACING THE KURDS

An oasis amidst a sea of never-ending despair, the Kurds are a perfect prospective ally for the US.

First off, they are one of the only forces on the ground with the courage to fight ISIS (the Peshmerga, the name of the Kurdish military, roughly translates to "one who confronts death"). They never cut and run, as evidenced by their successful defense of Kobane despite a massive, months-long ISIS onslaught.

But they're not just brave warriors who we can rely on in battle, they also have great character.

The Kurds have similar values as us Americans. They aren't run by a radical religious dogma. They believe in democracy. They are largely secular. In a region where women are oppressed in all directions, the Kurds treat their women as equals. They don't wear burkas. They aren't confined to the house. They aren't banned from driving cars or getting an education. They are valued members of society. They even fight in the military, risking their lives on the front lines just like their male counterparts.

For the Kurds, gender is not a dividing concept. All that matters in that they are Kurdish. The collective pride and honor they have for their shared heritage and traditions provides them with unshakeable courage. They are fiercely loyal to their history and their land. This gives them the will to fight when others wouldn't. They are defending not only their territory, but their way of life.

They also honor their dead with spectacular respect, even if the dead isn't their own. Just look at how they reacted to the death of Keith Broomfield, an American who, after seeing ISIS rampage across the Middle East, decided to move to Syria to fight with the Kurds.

The Kurds welcomed him with open arms. They respected his sacrifice to a cause that was not his own. When Broomfield was killed recently, the entire town of Kobane took to the streets and held a massive funeral for Broomfield. They draped his coffin in a Kurdish flag. Young Kurdish children held pictures of Broomfield as they marched.

To the Kurds, Broomfield wasn't an American "infidel" or "crusader." He was one of their own. He was a martyr and a hero- and they treated him as such.

In the history books of our coming generations our children will learn of the brave foreign warriors who came to Rojava to fight for a land that was not theirs. They came to fight for freedom and democracy, for humanity and liberty. They will never be forgotten. -The Lions of Rojava

This connection is proof that the Kurds and Americans aren't so different after all. We have the capacity to work together, to respect and sympathize with each other, despite coming from opposite ends of the Earth.

A NEW LONG-TERM ALLIANCE

The US would be wise to align itself with the Kurds. Not only are they the only force in the region with the courage to fight ISIS, but they also happen to embrace democracy. They share a lot of the same values we do: love of country, love of freedom and liberty, respect for women, equal rights, education. They are also compassionate, honorable and have great dignity.

We must fund the Kurds and give them all the support, equipment and training they need. We must shift our resources from Baghdad- a dysfunctional capital where nothing seems to get done- and move it to Kurdistan. Kobane should become the new home base of US efforts against ISIS. This is key because it would allow us to stop taking sides in the Sunni-Shia conflict and align ourselves with a democratic people who share the same values we do.

Also, with Iran and Saudi Arabia engaged in a heavyweight battle to win the Middle East and the future of Syria undecided, having a strong, prosperous Kurdistan aligned with the US would be a huge victory for America. Kurdistan could be the new buffer between the two warring hegemonic powers. It also gives the US options, leverage and a reliable partner on the ground to fight ISIS or other jihadist groups should they emerge victorious when the dust settles in Syria.

In the end, Iraq as we know it no longer exists. The borders drawn by Sykes-Picot, which carved up the Middle East into new nation states after the fall of the Ottoman Empire during WWI, are being washed away through brute force and bloodshed. The warring factions on the ground are drawing the new map. And in this new Middle East, allegiances are not based upon nationalism, or love of country, but instead by religious affiliation.

The US needs to stop being so reactionary in the Middle East. We must stop holding onto the past and instead anticipate the future, which is normally difficult but in this case it's obvious.

Joe Biden's prophetic vision- once lampooned- has been proven true: the only way to solve the Iraq problem is to allow the country to split into three autonomous regions: Sunni Iraq, Shia Iraq and Kurd Iraq.

Helping the Kurds achieve official statehood, something they've dreamed of for decades and proven they are deserving of, isn't just the right thing to do, it's strategically smart.

The old, Western-drawn borders mean nothing anymore. And when the new borders are decided, the US will be left out completely if we don't align ourselves with a worthy partner that can survive the redistricting of the region.

Now, more than ever, the US needs a reliable ally it can count on in the Middle East.

That ally is the Kurds.