Mary Williams: Southern heritage

Regarding the two Point of View articles July 8 “Suppressing our Southern symbols is a slippery slope” and “A cover for and expression of racism” on Confederate flags:

As a white native whose ancestors have been in North Carolina since the 1600s, I do not expect that blacks or non-Southerners will understand that I see the Confederate flag as a symbol of Southern heritage, a South that includes whites and blacks.

I was born in 1959. For me, the flag represents the region of the country we live in, the manners we were taught as children, the accent some of us still speak with and, for the most part, that we are church-going people. This holds true for the whites and blacks I grew up with in North Carolina.

I can understand that many blacks view the Confederate flag as a symbol of hate. I do know my history, but as J. Daniel Bolick wrote, “what is sorely needed today is mutual respect and toleration.”

I don’t like rap music, but I can tolerate it when I have to, like when a car beside me at a stoplight blares it loud enough for an entire city block to hear.

Maybe we all just need to agree to disagree on the Confederate flag.

This story was originally published July 25, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Mary Williams: Southern heritage."