FLORIDA: Residents Request Removal of Flag
DeFuniak Springs, Fla. – Renewed controversy in one Panhandle town, surrounding the removal of Confederate flags, monuments and statues. News 13’s Peyton LoCicero reports that a group of locals want one particular flag flying in Walton County to come down.
For years this Confederate monument has stood outside of the DeFuniak Springs Courthouse, and right next to it flies the battle flag of Virginia and Tennessee.
“It is a symbol of separatism, of racism and it’s at the county courthouse where we are all have to go to vote, where we go to pay our taxes,” said Margie Jordan, Walton County Democratic Executive Committee.
A sensitive subject to many. Some see it as history and heritage, while others see it as a symbol of hatred and racism.
This isn’t the first time citizens have gone to battle with the commissioners. Back in 2015, a similar request was made for the original confederate flag to be removed.
“(Walton County Commissioner) made the decision to just swap the flag, rather than take it down. So, it still flies there on our public property today,” explained Jordan.
April of 1964, Walton County began flying the original Confederate flag outside the courthouse.
“Which is 99 years after the Civil War and it happens to be the same year that the Civil Rights Act became law,” said Jordan.
Some residents say it’s time for it to be removed once and for all.
“Nothing should be on that flag pole except for the Florida state flag and the American flag. That is all that belongs on any public property, not a confederate flag,” said Jordan.
To Holocaust survivor, George Frankfurter, he says the Confederate Flag is just like the Nazis’s flying the Swastika symbol.
“One of the things that is easy to take care of is, not supporting hatred. On the contrary, it is not a perfect world but, it makes it a little better,” said Dr. George Frankfurter, Walton County Resident.
–mypanhandle.com
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NORTH CAROLINA: A Changing City Battles Over Flag
Alderman Ralph Hamlett wants symbols of hate and racism to be banned from parades in his town of Canton, North Carolina.
At recent town meetings in Canton, NC, most residents who spoke expressed opposition to a proposed policy that would ban Confederate flags from town parades. (Pictured Southern Heritage Confederate Flag Rally demonstrators in Washington, DC.)
The idea stemmed from complaints he received about the presence of Confederate flags at Canton’s Labor Day Parade earlier this year.
And at this week’s Christmas parade, the Confederate flag was once again flying high as part of two floats, and flyers from a white supremacist group were stapled to wooden utility poles along the parade route. At recent town meetings, most residents who spoke expressed support for allowing Confederate flags in parades.
Smoky Mountain News Staff Writer Cory Vaillancourt talks with host Frank Stasio about how the debate speaks to the changing makeup of the town.
–wunc.org
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