To the editor:

I am a native of Louisiana. Born in New Orleans, I spent the first years of my life in New Iberia Parish. My family and I are Creole, so our skin complexions go from dark to light.

I came to Suffolk in the 1960s. The “Wilroys” of Wilroy Road are my kinfolks on my mother’s side of the family. I am not sure of the exact relationship, but I am a Wilroy also — my middle name is Wilroy.

We are from the Southern states, and that is our heritage. I do very much understand the hurt and pain that racism causes, and, as I have stated, I have been on both sides of the fence because of my family’s background.

However, I must say that the Confederate flag, the flag of our heritage, did not go into that church in Charleston, S.C. — or any other church, business or neighborhood — and hurt anyone or take anyone’s life. A person did that.

Our flag has been the scapegoat for many years and for many crimes. It is easy to point a finger at an object or to blame violence on a person or ethnic group that reveres a flag. Of course, the flag cannot defend itself.

When a hate crime takes place above the Mason-Dixon Line, people do not blame the American flag, even though people from the Union claimed that flag for their heritage. Nobody rallies to pull down that flag.

People should hold responsible the individual who commits a crime, not the flag under which he lives, the flag he cherishes and claims as representing his heritage. Many individuals in our area have ancestors that fought for the Confederate States of America and think of the Confederate flag as a standard of their heritage.

Taking the flag down or removing it from license plates is not the answer. If anyone believes doing so will stop any particular crime, then they are misled.

Flags don’t kill people; people kill people.

Bruce Cecil-Wilroy Bailey

Western Tidewater Regional Jail