This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to the LSU vs. Florida game in Gainesvillle, Florida. After a long 9 hour drive my roommate and I stopped on the campus on the way to Ocala on Friday afternoon to look around. The campus was similar to LSU, maybe not with the exact architecture, but the concept of the buildings looking the same is how both schools are set up. Their union/bookstore made LSU look archaic and outdated with big screen televisions and a beautiful eating area. Sorry about the last few statements but I just wanted to give you a run-down of the look of the campus yet this is not the main point.

On Saturday, I arrived on campus three or four hours before the game just to see how the tailgating compared to LSU. Honestly, there was no competition between LSU and Florida in the tailgating category. Hands down LSU has better tailgating; the campus always seems to be buzzing on game days in Baton Rouge. There was something I noticed on campus that spoke louder than the cheers of the fans; the fact there were no blue and orange confederate flags flying around. I have been an LSU fan my whole life so I had become accustomed to seeing these flags, but this was an enormous issue faced by the university last year. African-American students were fed up with the flying of the flag by tailgaters and asked the university to take a stand. The university seemed to handle the situation poorly at first but eventually took the position of not chastising but not supporting the tailgaters.

I understand the role Louisiana played in the civil war even though I am not a history major. I also understand when a human is doing something offensive or hurtful to another human; they should either be punished or stopped. Both sides have been stated: yes the flag means heritage and some say “victory” or “pride” (the South lost the Civil War if I am not mistaken), but it also means slavery and oppression. Since when has the losing party flown its flag after a game or war for that matter? Florida may not have played a significant or maybe a role at all in the Civil War but it is a part of the South so shouldn’t they have the confederate flags also?

This argument can continue forever with both sides disagreeing. The point I am trying to make is that the Florida fans seemed to be a little classier than SOME LSU fans. Not all LSU fans fly the flag I know for sure, but the ones who fly it do not understand the bigger picture. If it were your heritage held captive in the past and the symbols of those days resurface wouldn’t you want those symbols to be restricted? Apathy is the word here that is important. The African-American students cannot make other students understand what they went through during that flag situation, but they can only ask for the others to put themselves in their shoes. The final question I will ask is: How would you feel if it were you?