Black student calls Confederate battle flag a symbol of pride, not bigotry

Via The Southern Nationalist Network

For Byron Thomas, the Confederate battle flag isn't about race.

The flag that the black 19-year-old University of South Carolina Beaufort student hung from his dorm room window is about Southern pride -- pride that even a black Southerner can feel, he said.

Thomas, who grew up in North Augusta, said the South has been good to him. It's a land of church, football and "good eats," he said.

Thomas researched the history of the flag for a class project. That research convinced him the banner was about states' rights rather than slavery.

"That's all people want to see is racism. They want to see the KKK. They think of slavery. But that flag is a battle flag used for communication (during the fighting)," Thomas said.

When he hung it from his window, he knew it might offend some people, he said, but he thought it was time to start reclaiming a symbol that earlier generations consider racist.

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