A boarder at the Sigma Nu fraternity house has caused quite a flap by flying a modified Confederate battle flag from his second-storey balcony door. The Confederate flag has historically been used by white supremacists and anti-civil rights protestors.
According to incoming Sigma Nu president Wojciech Pianka, what a boarder does with their room is up to them. “We don’t really say ‘yeah, you can’t do that,'” said Pianka, adding that he did not notice the flag until it was pointed out to him by The Varsity. Pianka noted that the boarder, who has South Carolina roots, claimed the flag was the official state flag. The actual South Carolina state flag features a crescent moon and a Palmetto palm tree. “I can honestly say that if it is up there, it is in no way meant to be offensive,” said Pianka.
For black U of T students, the flag couldn’t be more offensive. “It’s a mockery of what this institution and university stands for,” said Rocco Kusi-Achampong, last year’s SAC president. For Kusi-Achampong, the flag represents the “widespread torture” of blacks, and by not forcing the boarder to take it down, he worries that “it could spell tacit acceptance” on Sigma Nu’s part. “Since they are the landlord, they should tell him to remove it,” added Kusi-Achampong. Ironically, the Sigma Nu fraternity was founded by a Confederate soldier attending the Virginia Military Institute in 1869. U of T’s chapter was founded in 1949.
The Confederate flag, also known as the “Southern Cross,” was originally flown during the American Civil War by the Southern Confederate states, who fought to keep the enslavement of African-Americans legal in order to prop up the lucrative cotton industry.
The Confederation was of course defeated, and slavery was abolished, but the flag did not die there. During the civil rights movement of the 1950’s and 60’s, Southern states such as Georgia and South Carolina resurrected the flag as a sign of protest against black rights. In fact, South Carolina still flew the flag above their state house until 2000, when it was moved to a flag pole (see box).
According to Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama, “the Confederate battle flag has been used by the [Ku Klux] Klan and Neo-Nazi groups,” and “is inextricable linked to white supremacy.” He adds that the flag has become “a central symbol in a cultural battle” down South. Web Sites selling flags similar to the one at Sigma Nu also sell Confederate flags featuring the slogans “The South Will Rise Again” and “I Ain’t Coming Down.” Pianka said that that’s exactly how the boarder responded when he asked him about removing the flag; “he’s not willing to take it down.”
