The following is a guest post.

Three Crosses
By Larry Arnold

Back in the day the swastika was just another artistic graphic. Native Americans had used versions of it, so Boy Scouts beaded it into costumes. It was common in architectural embellishment, particularly for decorative borders.

Then the National Socialist Party adopted it as one of their symbols, started the most costly war in world history, and flew it over Auschwitz and Dachau.

After Germany’s defeat the Allies blew up, tore down, painted over, and plowed under the cross with bent arms because it had been used as a symbol of hatred and holocaust. The swastika was so evil it was necessary to ban it from ever appearing again.

Unfortunately, as history has repeatedly shown, banned symbols don’t fade away. Hating them simply adds hate, and instead, they gain power. Today, over a half-century after victory in Europe, anyone who hates Jews and wants to shatter the peace of a community can do so in five seconds, by spray painting on the synagogue door that same swastika.

On the other hand, when Jesus was alive the crucifix was a real symbol of Roman world domination and bloody repression, as well as a physical device for agonizing capital punishment of Rome’s enemies. After Christ’s execution, however, his followers embraced the symbol instead of purging it. Quite possibly they did so because, unlike the Allies, they lacked the political power to attempt banishment, but whatever the reason it made a lasting difference.

In the centuries since Rome fell the crucifix and the empty cross have been sewn into flags, cast into jewelry, made into furniture, sculpted on holy vessels, carved on tombstones, and set on top of houses of worship as a symbol of resurrection. In secular versions, the red cross is known around the world as a symbol of physical healing and disaster relief, and the green cross stands for safety. The one-time symbol of evil is now so filled with the karma of good that mythology gives a cross the power to destroy vampires and other creatures of infamy.

Today, we must consider the southern cross. Those who recall the evil of slavery want to blow it up, tear it down, paint it over, and plow it under. They see the Confederate battle flag as so evil that it must be banned, never to be seen again.

Unfortunately, as history has repeatedly shown, banned symbols don’t fade away. Hating them simply adds hate, and instead, they gain power. A half-century down the road any racist who wants to shatter the peace of a community will be able to do so in five seconds, by spray painting on the church door a rectangle with an X inside.

This time, can we choose the other path? Some members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church have forgiven the murderer. Is it so much more difficult to forgive a symbol of a war no one alive remembers?

And what if forgiveness could go further? What if, as Americans, we could embrace the “stars and bars” flag? What if we resurrected it to fly as a symbol of the progress we as a nation have made since the Civil War ended slavery a century and a half ago?

Yes, we have made progress. I remember a time of separate water fountains and restrooms, and today for almost all of us that just seems stupid.

Is racism finished? No, the equality glass is but half-full. But better that, than clenching our fist around a glass that’s half-empty. Regardless of the possibilities, let’s forego anger and hatred. Let’s not hand another cross to the spray-cans of evil.