It's about us: Taking down a flag solves nothing. Seeing each other as people does.

Removing a flag isn't going to do it.

It might make some people feel better for          a while -- and it might even be a symbolic       gesture that becomes a milestone marker for     a shift in the way people think.

It might even get people talking about race in modern America.

It might even be a "first step."

But it is not going to effect change. No way.  No piece of cloth can do that. No action with the piece of cloth can either.

Removing the Confederate flag from the capitol in Charleston is going to make the news and become a political soundbite for a little while. Some politicians will use it as a tool to attract attention and to prove that they are "doing something."

But banning the flag is not going to change history, and it won't stop some people from perpetuating hate.

There will be other crazies who will find a reason to shoot, to kill, to harm others.

What will change the world -- and how blacks and whites feel about each other -- is really much more simple of a solution than that.

It's us.

If you read today's story about the Confederate flag, you read a lot about history, purpose and a time that was very different than the world we live in today.

You also read something about feelings and how a symbol can send a message that can be damaging -- even if it is not its intent.

But if you read closely, you also found a gem -- a truth that would be much better than any political grandstanding.

Jimmie Ford -- a smart man with lots of life and government experience -- made a really profound observation.

It is not the discussion about pulling the flag down that warmed his heart this week. It was watching blacks and whites holding hands, worshipping together and sharing tears, grief and hope.

And he is absolutely 100 percent right. That was the good that came out of that horrible tragedy in Charleston.

This nation will heal when we stop seeing our differences and find our common ground.

It will come when we work together and talk about all perspectives and do so with respect.

No, taking down a flag won't fix anything. Because if the truth were told, the bottom line is some other symbol can easily take its place as a battle cry for evil.

But opening our hearts and minds will.

And we don't need politicians to make that happen. We can start that change all by ourselves -- one mind and heart at a time.

Published in Editorials on June 27, 2015 11:30 PM