the chief of police in atlanta says he considers placing rebel flags near the ebenezer baptist church a hate crime. people are terribly confused. that is no kind of crime whatever. if you don't believe me go read the first amendment. 'placing flags' is not at all like assaulting someone.
what the control-the-symbols approach to racial healing has accomplished here is more or less what it always accomplishes: it transforms the repressed symbol into a supernatural weapon. people really do think that you could assault people at a distance, perhaps hundreds of people at once, just by waving some rag around. that is, you've given your enemies super-powers.
