Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I don’t hate anyone. Not a person (although truthfully, there are some I do not like) nor any group of people.

I am a Southerner, a Virginian, a Confederate. Contrary to misconceptions about Southerners, I agree that slavery was and continues to be a disgusting evil in this world. I have no problem with the removal of what is mistakenly called the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State Capitol because it is not the Confederate flag and because it is the State Capitol (I don’t feel that it is appropriate for the actual Confederate flag to be flown there, either).

I want to cry, though, because of the hate-mongers condemning any white person who is proud to be Southern. I hate that this long overdue flag removal is being done in ignorance. I hate that the evil man who murdered nine innocent people has succeeded in causing a race war. I hate that other evil people, those in the KKK, have stolen a symbol of my past and have made it foul befor...