Dear George,

Don't see why Howard Dean apologized for his Confederate flag decal remark when he is quite right about the need for the Democratic Party to get the votes of motorists who display those decals.

My impression is that the individuals in question are more rebels than racists. If you stopped them and asked them, "do you hate Blacks?" they would tell you "Hell, no," not that I have ever asked any of them that question. That response is just a surmise on my part. But if you asked them about whether the Confederate flag represents a spirit of rebellion against authority to them, I think you'd get an enthusiastic response.

Personally, I oppose the display of the Confederate flag because, as history reminds us, the rebel South treated Blacks with scorn and hatred. When General Robert E. Lee, the soul of Southern chivalry, was asked by his generals if they could execute any captured Black prisoners, he responded in the affirmative. And so Black soldiers for the union went to their deaths when captured. Lee's not my kind of hero. But the Black fighting men who gave their lives remain heroes to me.

From my experience in the civil rights movement, particularly in Mississippi in 1966, I came to know whites who hated Blacks. They were, in my view, the neediest people in terms of gaining an understanding of how racism reduced their lives, humanity, and economic chances. Millions of them still exist, North and South, and they are bearing a disproportionate burden on the casualty lists of the Iraq war because of their worldview.

Times, though, are changing. In Virginia, I have found the first truly integrated communities in which I have ever lived in my adult life. Living in Charlottesville is a living vision of the future of what civilization might look like if humanity can only put the stupidity of racism behind it. Howard Dean, I believe, has a vision for this kind of world for humankind. He is looking better every day as the next President of this country.

Sherwood Ross (electronic mail, November 9, 2003)