It’s no secret that things are changing in America. Recently, the Supreme Court ruled that all 50 states must recognize same sex marriage. Race riots are happening all across the country, and people are debating on whether or not to remove the confederate flag from society. It’s been a little over a week since Dylan Roof walked into the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where he shot and killed nine people, eight of whom died at the scene, and the other was later pronounced dead at the hospital. South Carolina, amongst other states, is in uproar. The debate continues on whether or not to remove the Confederate flag from the state capitol, ever since a photo surfaced of Roof blatantly embracing the flag to represent white supremacy, but for one woman, things weren’t moving fast enough.

An activist, commonly referred to as Bree, went to the state capital on Saturday morning around 6:30 a.m., climbed the flag pole, and removed the flag herself. Videos of the incident surfaced later on Saturday morning, where several onlookers can be seen watching. Soon after the flag's removal, Bree was arrested, had the flag taken away from her, and was charged with defacing the monument, and the flag was later replaced.

The removal of the flag was more than just an upset woman doing what she thought was right. It was a sign that even after 150 years, lives are still affected by the acts of people that lived during the Civil War era. Those who support the flag say that it shouldn’t be removed or limited for sale to the public because it is a part of the culture and impinge on their first amendment rights. Those who say the flag should be removed say that it’s offensive and represents inequality that so many people have worked hard to overcome.

Some can say that what Bree did was noble, but was it really worth it?

Sure, for some, the flag may hold a special meaning to their "culture", and for others, it may represent the inequality that oppresses them every day, but will taking down the flag from the state capitol or removing it from shelves and online stores bring back the nine people that were killed? What about all the people who lived their lives enslaved in the Civil War era and never knew a day of freedom? What about Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks? Would they be happy knowing that society is more focused on creating a bill to remove a piece of fabric from a pole rather than brainstorming new ideas on how to control the police brutality acted out upon African Americans that’s been rampant all across the country?

It seems that the nation is too focused on materialistic things, like removing a flag more than fixing the actual problem at hand. The fact of the matter is that racism still exists in America today, and the real problem with removing the confederate flag is that by doing so, we’re only sweeping the dirt under the rug.