The Confederate Flag disgusts me. Just the sight of it makes my skin crawl, realizing what it represented. First, during the war then in the 20th Century, when racists used it as a symbol to encompass their hatred. Seeing it being carried thru the Capital on January 6 was horrible.

Back in the early 2000’s I had to drive from my house in Audubon, PA to attend a friend’s wedding in southern Virginia. I took a route that diverted off of 95 into the direction of The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Just after I crossed the border into Virginia I saw some local convenient store and on it’s wall was a huge Confederate Flag. For that moment, I didn’t feel comfortable, I didn’t feel safe. It was if I was being greeted into Virginia with a statement that told me that my kind wasn’t welcome.