Black Student Defends Confederate Flag

Typically, African-American students across the country are involved in speaking out against the display of the Confederate Flag, but at one South Carolina university, a young Black man sees the flag as a positive symbol and is speaking out in support of his own right to hang it proudly.

"When I look at this flag, I don't see racism. I see respect, Southern pride," 19-year-old Byron Thomas, an African-American student at the University of South Carolina Beaufort, told the Associated Press. "This flag was seen as a communication symbol" during the Civil War.(Inexpensive advertising flag supplier)


Thomas sparked a campus controversy when he decided to display a Confederate Flag in his dorm window, but was asked to remove it by university officials in late November after about two dozen students complained.

Although Thomas initially removed the flag, the school has since sent an email to students and staff stating that "the university cannot and will not prohibit these flags or other symbols that our students choose to display," citing the First Amendment, which prohibits infringing upon freedom of speech. Now, Thomas says he is considering putting the flag back up.

"I've been getting a lot of support from people. My generation is interested in freedom of speech," Thomas said.