Recently, Geraldo Rivera and Juan Williams suggested that Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina was a racist for supporting the Confederate flag and being a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

The SCV is a heritage group that honors the sacrifice of soldiers who fought and died defending the South. Lincoln did not invade the South to free the slaves; he invaded to force the Southern states back into the Union. The SCV is a descendant of the Americans who resisted this.

The Confederate battle flag was adopted by the soldiers themselves and was not the official flag of the Confederacy. It has come to symbolize racism because of its misrepresentation by such groups as the KKK and neo-Nazi groups. This misrepresentation has been continuously protested by the SCV.

I could understand Rivera's and Williams' comments if they were talking about a white advocacy group called "The Race." But then again, they, along with this paper, were outraged when someone called Sonia Sotomayor a racist for belonging to a group of that name advocating Latino rights.

In this country, if you defend the rights of your ethnic group, you are called a civil rights activist. If you are white, you are called a racist.

During the presidential campaign, Obama proudly displayed on his Web site the fact that he was endorsed by the new Black Panther Party. Every watchdog group in the country has labeled it a racist hate group.

Without explanation, Attorney General Holder recently dismissed convictions of several Black Panthers for intimidating white voters at a Philadelphia polling place during the last election. He then announced that he was starting an investigation into racism in this country. Maybe he and Obama should start by peering into the bathroom mirror.

Thomas B. Mattocks

Pinebluff