Last month roughly 20 students from Christiansburg High School, located in West Virginia, were suspended for rallying against a new policy in their school banning the Confederate flag.

The policy was implemented to help maintain a safe and equal environment, without any racial tension.

While school officials found it to be the right decision, many of the Christiansburg students find the new policy tasteless and senseless.

Some students in the Kearsley district, like senior Mikayla Stevens, also think this new policy is unfair.

“I think that the Confederate flag does not have anything to do with racism,” Stevens said. “It just has something to do with heritage and the Civil War.”

Personally, I agree with the school’s decision to ban the Confederate flag symbol from students’ vehicles and clothing on school grounds.

The school district had been having racial-based problems between students, so administration thought that banning the flag may help ease some tension.

In my opinion, even if it ends up not changing anything, at least the school board attempted to soothe the issue.

I believe that the Confederate flag, or more accurately known as the Battle Flag of Northern Virginia, is a symbol of hate.

Many people may find it to be a symbol of southern pride and patriotism, yet the thought is so ironic.

Merriam-Webster’s definition of patriotism is “love for or devotion to one’s country.”

Yet the Confederate flag was made to be a symbol for the Confederacy when they were trying to succeed from the Union.

How is that patriotic? They wanted to break away from the United States.

According to a poll by CNN, 72 percent of blacks view the Confederate flag as a symbol of racism, while only 18 percent of southern whites also view it as a hate symbol.

But there is a sharp divide in data when the education of those being surveyed comes into play.

Those with a formal education are more likely to see the flag as offensive, while those with less education are not.

Among whites with a college degree, 51 percent say it is simply a southern symbol of pride, while 41 percent believe it is a symbol of racism.

That data is almost tripled when surveying individuals with a higher education.

You may find this information on the CNN and Huffington Post websites.

As an emblem with a bad reputation, companies like Walmart, eBay, and Amazon have quickly banned its sale since the shooting of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, S.C., in June.

The first flag was made in 1861, and roughly 120 were sewn during the Civil War to be flown during battle.

After the end of the war, the flag’s use dispersed. It was used mainly in the process of those mourning for their loved ones lost in the Confederacy.

But years later it resurfaced in serious cases, such as in 1948, when Strom Thurmond adopted the flag as a symbol for his presidential campaign against President Harry Truman’s moves to end discrimination.

Thurmond was rallying against civil rights being pushed into the South.

Then, in 1956, a version of the flag was adopted by Georgia to protest the Supreme Court’s ruling against segregated schools in Brown v. Board of Education.

You may find more information about these events on THE WEEK website.

These are only a few of the many cases in which the flag was used negatively.

Senior Brianna Finley thinks that the flag could be used in both negative and positive ways.

“In my opinion, some people use it in a really racist way, but others just use it to show off their southern pride,” Finley said.

Many people use excuses in order to fly the flag, saying that it is just their heritage.

Yet heritage is not exempt from history.

Not to mention, those who died in the war have been dead for over 150 years now. There is no excuse to fly a flag in honor of your dead ancestor anymore.

If you want to show off your “southern pride,” wear a cowboy hat.

First Amendment rights protect people’s freedom to wear the flag, but is it really worth wearing?

Senior Zack McBride believes there is nothing wrong with students supporting the Confederate flag, and is “all for it.”

“I fly it because it represents me,” McBride said. “It shows that I don’t care what people think. I have southern heritage.”

Imagine if someone posted an unflattering photograph of you on social media, that you really did not like.

Wouldn’t you ask for them to delete it?

The photograph may not be offensive to the one who posted it, but it may be to the person in the photo.

That is how many people feel about the Confederate flag, especially blacks.

People who fly the flag may not look at it as offensive, but those who have had to deal with racism may feel that it is.