Tamra Callahan

Simone Suddreth
English 1010
July 12, 2015

Rhetorical Analysis Essay: Confederate Flag

Nick Bromell is a white American Studies Professor who is well versed in the history and
studies of race and the South. In his formal political article published in Salon on July 10, 2015,
in the same week that the confederate flag was taken down in South Carolina, he states a strong
view that The Confederate flag is a symbol of nothing but pure hatred. It is high time that we
treat it that way. This is an undertone of a bigger picture under the umbrella of racism in
America. Bromell is clearly not attempting to build a bridge between opposing views. He is
clearly speaking to those who see the worst in Confederate imagery.
The authors appeal is that the act of taking down the confederate is only one step of
many towards a bigger picture of what needs to happen with regards to racism in America.
Bromell appeals to matters of the heart by going right to the readers jugular by comparing the
Confederate flag to the German swastika.

He argues that the Confederate Flag should not be

treated as a harmless American symbol, but as a hate crime. He states Lets make the
Confederate flag a hate crime: It is the American swastika and we should recoil from it in
horror.

Bromell supports his claims in many ways, one of which by quoting Frederick Douglass
on numerous occasions to make the point warning America that racism would continue in a more
subversive way even after slavery was abolished. As Douglass put it this last form of the
rebellion covert, insidious, secret, striking in the darkness of night, while assuming spotless
robes of loyalty in the day is far more difficult to deal with than an open foe.
The author preemptively responds to the other views arguments which is to say that the
Confederate flag has nothing to do with racism by stating Americans who refuse to
acknowledge the connection between the Confederate flag and the horrors of slavery and white
supremacy are still in the grip of a malignant spirit handed down from generation to generation
from 1865 to this day.
Bromell articulates a very specific definition of what the Confederate flag means to black
Americans, which is, in his opinion You dont belong here. By being here, you are in danger.
This nation is not for you.
The author is strongly suggesting that the issue of the Confederate flag and its
inappropriateness be taken quite seriously as a symbol of hatred and racism in America. Bromell
encourages the reader to look at the bigger issue of what this represents to black Americans and
what message we are sending to future generations by accepting this symbol of our nations
history of slavery.