While there is much discussion about whether or not the government of South Carolina should remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of its state capitol or not, less attention has been paid to laws currently on the books in the former states of the Confederacy that expressly prohibit the burning of, or in some cases the mere insulting of, the flag representing those states during the Civil War. The five states with laws carrying statues prohibiting the desecration of the confederate flag are as follows:
- South Carolina – As the state that was the first to formerly secede from the Union in defense of slavery and white supremacy, South Carolina has a law making it illegal to “jeer at, trample upon or cast contempt, either by word or act, upon any such flag, standard, color or ensign.”
- Mississippi – In the still unreconstructed state of Mississippi, which only recently decided to ratify the amendment to the constitution outlawing slavery, it is prohibited by law to “cast contempt, either by word or act, upon any such flag, standard, color or ensign”.
- Louisiana
- Florida
- Georgia
As reported by Philly.com, however, all such laws are unconstitutional as affirmed time and again by the Supreme Court of the United States. The Supreme Court ruled in 1989 and again in 1990 that laws prohibiting the burning of the official flag of the United States are unconstitutional. The Court ruled that the burning of the American flag is protected free speech under the First Amendment, and that state governments “may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.” This undoubtedly applies to all attempts to ban the desecration of the confederate flag as well.
United States Hypocrisy 
Here’s hoping I never have any reason to visit South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana or Florida.
The only logical reason you would ever have to visit Louisiana is if you were stopping in to visit me lol
In Germany today you can’t fly The Swastika… Here we have people on their cars…
They fly it knowing full well the symbolism of it and then have the nerve to say, “it just represents our heritage”. True enough. A heritage of hatred and being the architects of oppression.
Reblogged this on Failure to Listen.
Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
Information I didn’t know …. Florida is one of the states!
In fact the only former confederate state which doesn’t have one of these statues appears to be Alabama. That’s a surprise to me.
I live in FL. I didn’t know … seems some are bringing it to light now. There were 2 articles in the paper today.
The confederate flag represents the subjugation of a once free people. Jeepers, what’s not to celebrate…
I’m not a big fan of either the U.S. flag or the confederate flag, but at least I can sort of understand why people fly the U.S. flag being in the U.S. and all. But I sure as hell cant understand why people still fly a flag for the lost cause of slavery, other than racism of course.
Agreed. I have the old red, white, and blue but I don’t fly anymore and haven’t for quite a while now. I’m just not feeling it…
I remember when I was young and I was in the 7th grade I think and after 9/11 we did some kind of parade where we marched with the U.S. flag and the kids would be all like, “Don’t let the flag touch the ground omg!” Amazing how fascistic many of our traditions are when it comes to symbols of American power.