It has been nothing less than a "roller coaster" for America the past couple weeks. We started with the tragedy in Charleston, as nine innocent lives were taken from us by a monster that was hell-bent on race warfare. With that, touchy subjects like gun control and background checks were brought back to public conversation. Two great victories happened for President Obama this week as the Affordable Care Act survived its second legal "ring of fire" in the supreme court and the victory in the Senate for the trade deal known as "Fast-Track". But there are two events that seem to have struck the most publicity and controversy.

There is the retirement of the Confederate Flag in front of the capital buildings of numerous south-eastern states, as well as the sales of any confederate apparel or flags by big name retailors like Wal-Mart, Sears, and Amazon. The second is the supreme court's ruling on gay marriage as gay marriage is now legal nationwide in the U.S. These two happenings have caused celebration, as well as disgust. What these two events have caused more than anything though are comments showing our country's ignorance and lack of understanding of different cultures and belief systems. I do not mean to dish this to one side of the aisle either. The amount of bigotry has been well represented on both left and right. Our "so-called" leaders in government have been making comments and using their influence to cause our country more division, more dichotomies, and more polarization. I do wish however to write about the bigotry of the left, since I feel that is not as widely publicized as the bigotry of the right.

Hillary Clinton spoke at a church just outside of Ferguson, MO on the South Carolina debate on the removal of the Confederate Flag. She said, "It shouldn't fly there. It shouldn't fly anywhere." I am speaking as one who is for the removal of the Confederate Flag in front of the South Carolina capital building. I am also one for freedom of speech and freedom of heritage pride. Hillary Clinton could have stated that she thinks the flag should be removed from all government property and explained why, but instead she has taken it to the extreme like any other big time politician by saying the flag shouldn't fly anywhere. In a country as big as the United States, there is bound to be different cultures in different regions of this nation. And with that I understand it is hard for someone from New York, with no affiliation of the southeastern part of the country to understand what people are saying when they say; "It's a symbol of southern heritage" or "It is a symbol of our ancestor's sacrifice." But to many people from states like Alabama and South Carolina, this is very true statement. My father's side of the family originates from Alabama and we still have a large portion of our extended family that live there today. With that is much pride in our ancestors who came from the Heart of Dixie; a pride that doesn't seem to exist for any other regions in the U.S. For that reason, my dad has a confederate flag hanging up in his garage. No, my dad is not racist. Yes, we have friends that are African-American. No, they have never been emotionally hurt or offended when they saw the confederate flag hanging up in our garage.

Of course, I understand that the confederate flag has been used by hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan and so it should be removed from public display on public grounds for those people who see it as a symbol of pain and oppression. But why is the leading candidate for the democrat nomination worried about going to the extreme to take that proud symbol away from all people of southern heritage. Why doesn't she talk about how to fix the high incarceration rates of minorities or the high poverty rates that exist in the south-east, for both black and white folks? I think these issues are problems all of us would like to solve. In order for citizens to work together; in order for congress to work together, we need to put down our arms and call it troops.

And out of the wake of the tragedy in Charleston, I have actually gained hope that this may come true. What I saw at the funeral in Charleston was not just pain and sorrow; even though that was certainly prevalent. What I saw more than anything was restoration and forgiveness. Forgiveness for Dylann Roof and forgiveness for the hatred of African-Americans that has existed in the country for hundreds of years came from the mourners of those nine victims that were killed in cold blood that sunny day in Charleston. For this reason I have hope that Charleston is a preview for the restoration that will come to our country in our politics, justice system, and humanity.