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A new CNN/ORC international poll taken after the shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church shows a startling cultural split, specifically about beliefs about what the Confederate Flag represents. This split is not only observed in the poll between whites and blacks (as one might expect), it can also be seen between those with and without a Bachelor's level education.
A top-line view of the poll indicates that 57% of the U.S. see the Confederate Flag as a symbol of Southern pride rather than a symbol or racism. This number remains largely unchanged from the year 2000 when that number was 59%. You can see a cultural split when you look at specific differences across racial and educational lines.
Across racial lines they look like this:
By Racial Lines
[column type="1/3"]Flag as Symbol of:[/column]
[column type="1/3"]Racism[/column]
[column type="1/3" last="true"]Southern Pride[/column]
[column type="1/3"]Blacks (U.S.)[/column]
[column type="1/3"]72%[/column]
[column type="1/3" last="true"]23%[/column]
[column type="1/3"]Whites (U.S.)[/column]
[column type="1/3"]25%[/column]
[column type="1/3" last="true"]68%[/column]
[column type="1/3"]Whites (Southern)[/column]
[column type="1/3"]15%[/column]
[column type="1/3" last="true"]75%[/column]
Across educational lines among whites, they look like this:
By Educational Lines (Whites)
[column type="1/3"]Flag as Symbol of:[/column]
[column type="1/3"]Racism[/column]
[column type="1/3" last="true"]Southern Pride[/column]
[column type="1/3"]College educated[/column]
[column type="1/3"]41%[/column]
[column type="1/3" last="true"]51%[/column]
[column type="1/3"]No College[/column]
[column type="1/3"]18%[/column]
[column type="1/3" last="true"]73%[/column]
As you might expect, removing the Confederate Flag from government property (not museums) also shows a culture split by race and education. The poll results look like this:
By Race and Education
[column type="1/3"]Remove Flag[/column]
[column type="1/3"]Yes[/column]
[column type="1/3" last="true"]No[/column]
[column type="1/3"]U.S. (white & black)[/column]
[column type="1/3"]73%[/column]
[column type="1/3" last="true"]17%[/column]
[column type="1/3"]Whites (no college)[/column]
[column type="1/3"]68%[/column]
[column type="1/3" last="true"]18%[/column]
[column type="1/3"]Whites (Southern)[/column]
[column type="1/3"]42%[/column]
[column type="1/3" last="true"]75%[/column]
I have long believed that education is the great equalizer. Regardless of where we begin our lives (i.e., socioeconomically, ethnically, racially), education trains our brains not only how to hold onto and access information, but how to process that information. It is a strong predictor of where we end up in our lives, regardless of where we begin.
I would suggest that the poll data above illustrate how education also offers us the opportunity to connect and empathize with others who are different than ourselves. In Culture Trumps Everything, I discuss that two primary human drives are to connect (to build relationships with) and to belong (to belong to something larger than ourselves). Based on the numbers above, it would appear that a college education allows some whites to connect with others in a way that non-college educated whites do not. It would appear that college-educated whites are able to understand and empathize with the long racial history that blacks in the U.S. have had to endure. It would also appear that non-college educated whites want to hold on to (not remove, belong to) a symbol (i.e., the Confederate Flag) regardless of what that symbol means to so many others around them. Maybe it is because for them the Confederate Flag is a symbol of independence or a symbol of rebellion? Both these may be true.
At the same time, it is inescapable that the Confederate Flag is also seen as a symbol of oppression. It is a symbol of a period of time in this country when whites owned other human beings: blacks. It is also a symbol that motivates violent behavior against blacks, as we saw at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. It is a symbol that continues to pour salt in a longstanding racial wound that began with the Civil War and continues in our culture today. These facts cannot be separated from the symbol that is the Confederate Flag. These facts must be taught and understood, throughout our culture and society, so that all those that would try to belong to the Confederate Flag as a symbol or independence or rebellion can see that it also carries with it meaning of oppression and racism that can no longer be separated from it.
As an interesting comparison: The swastika used by the Nazi Party in World War II is a symbol that dates back 10,000 BC in an area of Mezine, Ukraine. It is often seen in ancient texts and artwork from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism as a symbol of auspiciousness or showing that future success is likely. While it carried the meaning of something auspicious for millennia, because of how it was used in WWII, it now has a very different meaning in our culture.