On July 10th, as an adult living on Long Island, I was reading and watching TV news about the Confederate flag coming down in South Carolina when I heard about a Confederate flag that had been raised in my home town of Port Washington.

According to a July 9th article in a local online newspaper, the Port Washington Patch, a Confederate flag was seen flying on July 4th at the home of a long-time Port Washington police officer. This story was also reported on a July 10th FiOS News television program.

The Confederate flag is not just a hateful flag in South Carolina. It is also a hateful flag on Long Island in New York.

It is often stated that the Confederate armies and navy fought to protect the "southern way of life," a way of life that was deeply rooted in and supported by the institution of slavery, sometimes euphemistically referred to as the "peculiar institution." No doubt, many of the front-line soldiers were poor, landless and uneducated and their views on the purpose of the war may have varied.

For the Confederate leaders and the plantation owners, however, there was no confusion about the purpose of the war. Their way of life—financially, culturally and psychologically—depended upon the enslavement of human beings who were either purchased in Africa, or who were the descendants of enslaved Africans. They were slaves for life until they successfully escaped, were freed, or died. The institution of slavery was the ubiquitous reminder of the rule of white racial supremacy. This was the "southern way of life", which the Confederate flag symbolized and for which Confederate soldiers committed treason against the United States.

In 1948, Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina incorporated the Confederate flag into his segregationist presidential campaign and, over the years, the flag became synonymous with resistance to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. To this day, the Confederate flag symbolizes the enslavement and dehumanization of millions of African-Americans and evokes feelings of terror for many African Americans, the descendants of slaves. For those Americans who value freedom and equality for all, regardless of racial or ethnic background, the Confederate flag represents racism and hate.

As President/CEO of ERASE Racism, a civil rights organization, I respect the free exercise of speech as protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. However, I am concerned when the speaker is a police officer, who carries the responsibility to serve and protect all people, irrespective of race, and who frequently has the power over life and death while doing his or her job.

It appears that this is not the first time this particular police officer has flown a flag of hate. A photograph posted as a comment on the Port Washington Patch's Facebook page indicates that on at least one other occasion, a flag appearing to be a white Celtic cross on a black background, a symbol commonly used by Neo-Nazis, was displayed at his home.

While many in the U.S. are reeling from the killings of unarmed black boys and men by police officers, this act is particularly disturbing. Unfortunately, this spectacle of hate is more likely to make people of color feel unsafe with and distrustful of police in Port Washington and, perhaps, wonder if there are other police officers on Long Island who share his views.

I would hope that no one would long for institutional slavery or the legalized racial segregation of old. I would also hope that no one would support ongoing racial segregation, prejudicial actions and a host of structural impediments to fairness, inclusion and equal access to opportunity for all Americans. While I recognize that hate will not be eliminated by the removal of the Confederate flag, flying it is clearly a statement of hate that should repulse all Americans.

For someone who is armed and charged with the protection of the public-at-large, displaying the Confederate flag is worrisome and totally inappropriate. He was displaying a flag that has been associated with the silencing and terrorizing of African Americans.

While that particular flag has since been removed, we all must recognize our fundamental obligation to continue the fight to end racism wherever it exists, whether in South Carolina or on Long Island.

Warm regards,

V. Elaine Gross

President