ALABAMA: Flag Continues to Fly at Talladega
It’s not hard to find the Confederate battle flag at Talladega Superspeedway.
Even on Wednesday – before the campgrounds filled with thousands of race fans for this weekend’s NASCAR action – the flag could be seen flying, flapping in the wind outside motorhomes and prominently displayed by nearby vendors who also stocked plenty of Confederate-themed merchandise.
While the flag continues to stir controversy as a symbol of hatred, AL.com talked to race fans flying the flag, and virtually all of them said they don’t consider it a symbol of hatred or racial divisiveness.
“Southern heritage,” replied Robert Ogletree, from Shreveport, La., when asked why he’s flying a Confederate battle flag. “It’s a part of our history. Our history is the Civil War. End of story.”
Mark Smith, Ogletree’s friend from New Jersey, said he planted the Confederate battle flags as the campsite and said he flies them to honor Southern friends, whom he considers family. He insisted flying the flags is not intended as a hateful gesture.
“I don’t hate nobody,” Smith said.
The Confederate battle flag has been used by the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups.
Flag supporters – including many in the Talladega campgrounds – say it represents the South’s heritage and culture and serves as a memorial to Civil War soldiers who died in battle.
In July 2015, NASCAR released a statement concerning the Confederate battle flag and asked fans “to refrain from displaying the Confederate Flag at our facilities and NASCAR events. We are committed to providing a welcoming atmosphere free of offensive symbols.”
Visit Talladega this week and it’s clear the battle flag remains near and dear for many NASCAR fans.
Larry Estes, a longtime Talladega fan from Martinsville, Virginia, said he sees the Confederate battle flag prominently displayed when he attends NASCAR Sprint Cup events in Bristol (Tenn.), Martinsville (Va.) and Richmond (Va.). Talladega isn’t an outlier, he said, when it comes to NASCAR fans embracing the Confederate battle flag.
Track response
Talladega Superspeedway has not banned the flag, although it and other tracks were listed as signatories on NASCAR’s statement in July 2015.
“We understand the flag means different things to different people, so we can’t say put it up and don’t say put it down,” Talladega Superspeedway President Grant Lynch said. “We welcome everybody at Talladega.”
Lynch stressed that the track has worked for more than 20 years to increase minority attendance at the track’s two NASCAR events each year. He said the number of minority fans is “not large, but has grown.”
“For the majority of fans I’ve met, it’s not a hate symbol, and they’re not showing in a hateful way,” Lynch said. “They see it as a sign of respect for their heritage. That’s why they’re flying it.”
The questions
An AL.com reporter walked around the speedway’s campground Wednesday and talked to fans and vendors displaying the Confederate battle flag and asked three basic questions:
1) Why do you fly the flag or are you are trying to send a particular message by flying it?
Most said the flag represented no specific message, although Henry Case, of Tarpon Springs, Florida, said he’s “not politically correct.”
“I have the freedom to express what I want to express,” he said. “We’re not shoving it down anyone’s throat. That’s crossing the line.”
Chuck Fiske, of Caledonia, Mississippi, had a Confederate battle flag with a motorcycle emblazoned on it. He said he bought it “because I like the motorcycle.”
“I understand some of the opposition to it,” he said, “and I understand not the opposition to it.”
2) Has anyone ever expressed to you that the Confederate battle flag is offensive or asked you to take it down?
None of the fans who spoke to AL.com said anyone had ever expressed opposition to the flag or asked them to refrain from displaying it.
“It ain’t going to happen in Talladega,” said Sidney Arabie, a fan from New Orleans.
Some said the flag is celebrated at Talladega.
“They’re hooting and hollering. They’re all happy,” said April Gard, sitting next to Case.
Flag removed from Alabama state capitol grounds
After the battle flag – which is at the center of the controversy – was gone, workers began removing three other Civil War era flags.
3) Does it bother you that the Klan and other hate groups use the Confederate battle flag as a symbol?
“I don’t know if they use it as a symbol,” said Chuck Chandler, from Union City, Tennessee,
Chandler also disagreed with the notion that the Confederate battle flag is considered racially divisive.
“It’s not a racial issue. I don’t know anyone who considers it a racial issue unless you listen to the liberal media,” he said. “The idea to make it into a racial issue or to slavery is nonsense.”
Chandler’s friend, Russell Bardin, agreed.
“It serves no purpose as a racial statement,” Bardin said.
Buy your flag
Vendor Tom Jones, from Gautier, Miss., said Confederate-themed merchandise is his best seller. Vendor Tracy Johnson, from Ardmore, Alabama, said Confederate-themed items sell well, but that Trump flags are likely his top seller now.
“It’s just part of our Southern heritage,” Johnson said.
Jonathan Kirk – an African-Americans from Oklahoma – paused at the track’s sign along Speedway Boulevard while his brother, John, snapped a photo taken. They said they do not plan to attend the race, but were delivering a car to a Pell City car dealership for a Thursday event featuring NASCAR team owner Jack Roush.
Both said they noticed the Confederate battle flags flying, but said it was not cause for concern.
“It seems more like a tradition than anything else,” Johnathan Kirk said. “You can take offense, but it won’t get you nowhere.”
–al.com
MISSISSIPPI: Confederate Flag Banned at Natchez Cemetery
NATCHEZ, Miss. — A new policy regarding Confederate battle flags at the Natchez City Cemetery has drawn criticism from the local Sons of Confederate Veterans’ chapter.
The Natchez City Cemetery Association recently adopted a new policy regarding the posting of Confederate flags on the graves of Confederate soldiers.
Confederate flags at Natchez Cemetery before the ban.
The policy is the same as the Department of Veterans Affairs and other government agencies, Natchez City Cemetery Association President Cyndy Stevens said.
The policy allows descendants of Confederate veterans to place small Confederate flags on their ancestors’ graves on Confederate Memorial Day, observed the last Monday in April in Mississippi, and on Memorial Day.
The policy allows a sponsoring organization — such as the Sons of Confederate Veterans — to place small flags on the graves of Confederate veterans who are buried in the two large, Confederate burial plots in the cemetery on the Confederate Memorial Day and Memorial Day.
The Sons of the Confederate Veterans or any other organization can no longer place Confederate flags on the graves of individuals buried in private family plots.
Stevens said the change in policy followed complaints the cemetery association received that the Confederate flags were up for an extended period of time, as well as placed on private plots of families that did not want Confederate flags there.
Stevens said the original flag policy of the cemetery association permitted the placement of Confederate flags for one week in April, usually around Confederate Memorial Day. Gradually, Stevens said, the flags stayed up longer and longer until the time period became a month.
Stevens said the time the flags were up likely gradually extended because the flag policy was not consistently enforced.
“We started getting complaints … and we began investigating and looking at what exactly our policy should be,” Stevens said.
Complaints about the extended time the flags were up, as well as concerns from families who have private plots were considered in evaluating a new policy, Stevens said.
Local attorney Stratton Bull said he wrote the cemetery association a few times to voice concerns about Confederate flags being placed on the graves of his ancestors who were Confederate veterans.
Bull said he thinks the cemetery association does an “absolutely wonderful” job with operating the cemetery, but he had concerns about the message
“Regardless of what you think about the Civil War … who was right or wrong … and the pride in that flag, and rightfully so, (the flag) has been coopted by bad people,” Bull said.
Bull cited the national attention received by Dylann Roof, who is accused of the racially motivated killing of nine black parishioners last year at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. Multiple photographs have circulated of Roof holding Confederate flags.
Jason Blaney is the commander of the local Sons of Confederate Veterans camp, the Maj. Gen. William T. Martin Camp No. 590. Blaney said it is unfortunate that hate groups fly the Confederate flag in support of their cause.
“But that is not what our group is about,” he said. “We are honoring the veterans that fought in that war and honoring their courage to do so. The Sons of Confederate Veterans does not condone (any) hate groups (or) the misuse of our Confederate ancestors’ good name and symbols.
“It is very unfortunate that some groups use that flag as a hate symbol, but you have to remember that some of those same groups use a cross or a Christian flag. So picking and choosing goes against our very first freedom of expression and speech.”
Blaney said the Sons of Confederate Veterans disagrees with the cemetery’s policy. Blaney has been commander of Camp No. 590 for 12 years and said the group has been placing flags on graves for the month of April for as long as he has served as commander.
As far as placing flags on private plots, Blaney said the organization respects the wishes of families and has in the past asked the cemetery association to let the group know which families do not wish to have flags placed on their plots.
“We understand that, and we have told the cemetery if they get a complaint … let us know, and we would scratch them off our list,” Blaney said. “We want to be respectful of the family’s request as well.”
Because the Natchez City Cemetery is not a national cemetery, Blaney said he does not think adopting the VA’s policy regarding flags is appropriate.
While national cemeteries have uniform headstones, the city cemetery has a mix of various headstones and is not strictly a veterans’ cemetery.
“So you can’t go by those rules when this is a totally unique cemetery.”
Limiting the flags to two days puts a strain on getting the flags up and down in a timely manner, Blaney said. In years past, Blaney said, placing the flags has taken multiple days.
Blaney said the Sons of Confederate Veterans hopes to talk to the cemetery association about the policy.
“We are on friendly terms with the cemetery association,” he said. “They have asked us to come be in Angels on the Bluff, which we have done … in the past and will do again this year. We hope to continue to be friendly with them, and we’re hoping to discuss this policy later and see if we can work something out.”
–natchezdemocrat.com
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