How long before all the “troubling” history has been expunged from the record?

Long overdue, the Confederate battle flag no longer flies over South Carolina’s capitol grounds thanks to the state’s Republican leadership. While undeniably part of America’s historical record, the stars and bars has no place on government buildings.

Not content to celebrate this victory with the rest of rational America, the politically correct mob pushed the issue of the battle flag into ridiculous territory. But now that social justice warriors have eradicated racism from the free-market Jesus paradise South by exiling the confederate battle flag from public consciousness, they must have another object with which to be outraged.

Progressives in Louisiana may have found the next historical atrocity to expunge from the record, the fleur de lis.

Citing instances where runaway slaves were branded with fleur de lis’, New Orleans local news explored the icon’s “troubled history.”

The fleur de lis is a symbol that is deeply ingrained in Louisiana’s history. Seen in architecture, the state flag and on the helmets of the Saints, it’s everywhere. But while it is now seen as the mark of our great state, it was once used to mark slaves. “Code noir, those words are French and mean black code,” said slave historian Dr. Ibrahima Seck. The black code was a set of regulations adopted in Louisiana in 1724 from other French colonies around the world, meant to govern the state’s slave population. Seck said those rules included branding slaves with the fleur de lis as punishment for running away. “He would be taken before a court and the sentence would be being branded on one shoulder and with the fleur de lis, and then they would crop their ears,” Seck said. Seck said if that slave ran away a second time, he or she would be branded again, but with another brutality added. Their hamstrings would be cut. To him, this symbol only brings sad thoughts. “As an African I find it painful, and I think people whose ancestors were enslaved here may feel it even harder than I do as an African,” Seck said. Tulane history professor Terence Fitzmorris said the fleur de lis has roots in the French the revolution and, similar to other symbols, was used as a mark of supremacy. “It was a brutal way of scarring someone and also identifying someone as a particular troublemaker,” Fitzmorris said.

How long before all the “troubling” history has been removed from the books? As we’ve discussed before:

History is mean, evil, grotesque, and riddled with human imperfections. Recognizing mankind’s failings doesn’t expunge them from the record. If anything, we must ensure future generations deeply understand our strides to expand the blessings of liberty so they may continue that fight. You don’t teach history by erasing the icky bits. Banishing an image and believing that’s some sort of benchmark for equality? Trouncing the first amendment rights of others? Neither of these are productive endeavors. Neither maximizes equality nor liberty nor freedom. But both are painfully ignorant.

Thankfully, in this instance both historians agree there must be an end to the madness. “Where do you stop? Do you get rid of all symbols?” asked Fitzmorris.

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Post has been updated. Previous version incorrectly stated “North Carolina” removed the flag.



