A dialogue is underway about the Confederate flag’s place in American society, and it comes as the nation struggles to come to grips with last week’s racially-motivated shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. Nine people were killed at a historic black church. Officials say the shooter, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, embraced the Confederate flag as a symbol of his white supremacist ideology.
Across the American south, people are raising questions about Confederate symbols in their communities, and Central Florida is no exception.
Orlando Sentinel columnist and editorial writer Darryl Owens says Confederate symbols belong in a museum. He examines their meaning, past and present, starting with the controversy brewing over one now standing in downtown Orlando.