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---
title: Cartoon of Rainbow Flag Replacing Confederate One Is Dangerous
description: It's possible to celebrate a victory for one marginalized group without trampling all over another.
canonical: https://time.com/3941779/cartoon-rainbow-flag-confederate-flag/
author: Darlena Cunha
article:opinion: true
article:content_tier: free
article:published_time: 2015-06-30T18:40:05.000Z
article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:45.120Z
article:section: Ideas
og:title: That Cartoon of the Rainbow Flag Replacing the Confederate One Is Dangerous
og:description: It's possible to celebrate a victory for one marginalized group without trampling all over another.
og:url: https://time.com/3941779/cartoon-rainbow-flag-confederate-flag/
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twitter:title: That Cartoon of the Rainbow Flag Replacing the Confederate One Is Dangerous
twitter:description: It's possible to celebrate a victory for one marginalized group without trampling all over another.
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# That Cartoon of the Rainbow Flag Replacing the Confederate One Is Dangerous

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bnTiT5cr.m3u8" -->
## Video: This is The History of the Rainbow Flag

[Watch (HLS stream): This is The History of the Rainbow Flag](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bnTiT5cr.m3u8) (1:31)

![This is The History of the Rainbow Flag](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/bnTiT5cr/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2015-06-24. How the rainbow flag became an icon of LGBT rights_


by 

[Darlena Cunha](https://time.com/author/darlena-cunha/)


## Darlena Cunha


Jun 30, 2015 6:40 PM UTC

by 

[Darlena Cunha](https://time.com/author/darlena-cunha/)


## Darlena Cunha


Jun 30, 2015 6:40 PM UTC

June marked a string of historic changes nearly unprecedented in minority communities in the U.S. The [Supreme Court ruled](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/27/us/supreme-court-same-sex-marriage.html?%5Fr=0) that same-sex marriage was legal, resulting in more than [26 million Facebook users](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/06/29/more-than-26-million-people-have-changed-their-facebook-picture-to-a-rainbow-flag-heres-why-that-matters/) changing their profile pictures, the [White House](http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/26/politics/white-house-rainbow-marriage/index.html) lighting up in rainbow colors, and many around the country [excitedly saying “I do”](http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2015/jun/29/same-sex-couples-tie-knot-during-mass-wedding-cere/?sports) for the first time. Meanwhile, after a shooting in Charleston, S.C., a raging debate over whether or not the Confederate flag should be taken down continues amid [violence and protests](http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/06/29/things-just-got-violent-dueling-confederate-flag-protests-outside-s-c-statehouse-nearly-plunge-area-into-chaos/).

Right there for the taking, it seemed, was [a beautiful, poignant comparison](http://boingboing.net/2015/06/26/this-cartoon-nails-today-so-pe.html)—one that Mother Jones called “[iconic](http://www.motherjones.com/contributor/2015/06/the-gays-won-the-civil-war).” A cartoon in five panels, side-by-side, shows a Confederate flag lowered as a rainbow flag is raised. On the surface, the image appears to capture the intense battles oppressed groups have overcome in recent days, marking a celebratory victory for all. In reality, that is far from the case.

By making one snapshot of two very different battles, we are implying a correlation that does not exist, and, further, we are assuming a victory of race where there is none. The URL for the Mother Jones piece—”[the-gays-won-the-civil-war](http://www.motherjones.com/contributor/2015/06/the-gays-won-the-civil-war)” —instead of being cutesy and funny is a travesty. It’s an act of ignorant privilege that this joke can even exist. Those who have not had to live through this, those whose ancestors never experienced the institution of slavery, are glibly conflated one cause with another.


Don’t forget: The Confederate flag [still flies](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/confederate-flag-debate-sparks-heated-confrontation-south-carolina/) over South Carolina’s statehouse. And a [black woman](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/06/29/why-bree-newsome-took-down-the-confederate-flag-in-s-c-i-refuse-to-be-ruled-by-fear/) was jailed for physically climbing the pole and taking it down. While it is an incredible victory that Confederate flag merchandise is [being stripped](http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/22/politics/confederate-flag-walmart-south-carolina/) from store shelves, and some people are choosing to cover up their [Confederate tattoos](http://www.khou.com/story/news/local/texas/2015/06/25/austin-man-inspired-to-cover-confederate-flag-tattoo/29263789/), we must not forget that the cause for such action was the brutal killing of nine black Americans who were studying the Bible.

A human-rights win for the LGBT community based on a court ruling cannot be compared to a tremor of anti-racist solidarity stemming from a [mass murder](http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2015/06/18/charleston-police-chief-suspect-still-large/28911315/). Let us not forget [the black churches](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/29/six-predominately-black-southern-churches-burn-within-a-week-with-arson-suspected-in-at-least-three/) still burning in the South, a clear indicator that this rift has not magically healed itself, and racism is not suddenly over.

These two issues cannot be placed side by side because they share very little common ground other than the most superficial tenets of the notion of justice. In showing the replacement of a flag that still flies over South Carolina, we are, perhaps accidentally, erasing a painful piece of black history, co-opting it in the name of peace and justice. We cannot pave over the still-bleeding wounds of those in the trenches of one war because we want a nice, tidy, social-justice box of peace.


It also dangerously allows viewers to ingest that image and subconsciously assume the work has been done, and the fight has been won. To rewrite current events in this way will only make it harder for activists fighting against racism.

Symbolism is an important guide for cultural thought, and false comparisons are dangerous in any venue. It’s possible to celebrate a victory for one marginalized group without trampling all over another. Being sensitive to the plight of one group of people amid the joyous, rightful, and hard-won victory of another allows us to be better allies to both.


## Transcript

[00:00] [ MUSIC ]
[00:04] The rainbow flag is a worldwide symbol of the LGBT
[00:08] community, but it's birthplace is in San Francisco and
[00:12] it's creation is thanks to a man named Gilbert Baker.
[00:15] Baker moved to San Francisco as an Army draftee in
[00:18] 1970. It was there that he became acquainted with
[00:21] Harvey Milk and they gay rights movement. Gay rights
[00:23] now.
[00:26] After sewing many banners for gay events and
[00:29] marches, the San Francisco Gay and **** Pride Parade
[00:32] commissioned him to design a symbol that could be
[00:34] used for years to come. And this is what Baker came
[00:37] up with the original rainbow flag. The rainbow is a
[00:41] beautiful part of nature. All of the colors and even the
[00:44] colors you can't see. So that really fit us as a people
[00:48] because we are all of the colors. Our sexuality is all of
[00:50] the colors, where all the genders, races and ages.
[00:54] Each color represents something different Pink for sex,
[00:59] red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight,
[01:04] green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for
[01:08] harmony, and violet for the human spirit. The flag
[01:12] later evolved to have six stripes. Turquoise was
[01:15] swapped for blue and pink and indigo were taken out.
[01:19] And decades later, the flag can still be seen linked
[01:22] proudly from nearly every pride parade and march
[01:25] around the world.

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