If you want to know what a symbol means, you can learn a lot from who fights for it.

Secessionists defending the Mississippi state flag.Students today called for taking down the Mississippi state flag from the center of campus at the University of Mississippi. In counter-protest, members of the League of the South came to defend the flag, with the emblem of the Confederate Battle Flag in its canton. The League of the South has been labelled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Six of the protesters also wore shirts with the logo of the International Keystone Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

The silver lining of this protest is the fact that members of the campus community can see what is at stake and what priorities most strongly motivate defenders of the flag.

The saddest part to me today was the presence of their young children.