Dismantling a hateful past

The enduring power of symbolism and the different ways in which society deals with it.

One of the evasions often indulged is that there can be several legitimate versions of the past. There may be many interpretations but clinging to a particular, one-eyed perspective leads to bad history and dishonest politics. Versions of history friendly to a single cause are, like Kellyanne Conway’s alternative facts, usually bunkum offered as reality.

In July 2015, following the murder of nine churchgoers in Charleston by a white supremacist, South Carolina voted to remove the deeply symbolic Confederate flag from statehouse grounds.