{"id":2314,"date":"2008-06-03T13:12:58","date_gmt":"2008-06-03T17:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wordpress\/2008\/06\/giant_confedera\/"},"modified":"2008-06-03T13:12:58","modified_gmt":"2008-06-03T17:12:58","slug":"giant_confedera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/2008\/06\/giant_confedera\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant Confederate Flag"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s a story on a group’s intention to erect a giant Confederate flag<\/a> near the intersection of Interstates 75 and 4:<\/p>\n

The Sons of Confederate Veterans wants drivers in the Tampa area to see the massive flag — 30 feet high and 50 feet long — atop a 139-foot pole, the highest the Federal Aviation Authority would allow. It would be lit at night.
\nWith the pole already in the ground and building permits in hand, the group is on its way to having what it calls the “world’s largest” Confederate flag in place by mid 2009. The group just needs about $30,000 more, said Douglas Dawson, Florida division commander.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

John W. Adams, a spokesperson for the group wishing to fly the flag, says this project is all about remembrance:<\/p>\n

“It’s about honoring our ancestors and about celebrating our heritage,” he said. “It’s a historical thing to us.”
\nHe hopes people who are offended by the flag will drive to the memorial and view the plaques honoring Confederate soldiers. They plan to have one dedicated to black Confederate veterans, he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The second paragraph gets at the real intent. If your objective is simply to honor your ancestors, you build a nice monument. But if your objective is to make a public statement and rile people up, you erect a giant flag.
\nThis revives the long-standing flag debate: Is the Confederate flag merely a historical relic representing Southern heritage? Or is a darker symbol of racial division and suppression?
\nObviously, many people who have rallied for the stars and bars–both today and in the 1860s–do not necessarily believe that the black race should be suppressed or enslaved. But the fact is that the Confederate States of America were fundamentally intertwined with the institution of slavery. Southern apologists can make arguments about “states rights” until they are blue in the face. But they can’t escape the fact that without slavery, there would have been no Civil War.
\nAnd so to the extent that the Confederate flag represents that era in the South, African Americans are justified in being upset when it’s used in this kind of a in-your-face-type display. Being of a libertarian\/First Amendment bent, I’m somewhat conflicted over whether or not the government should step in and stop this flag. But clearly it doesn’t advance the interests of society.
\nUPDATE: A segment on this controversy was broadcast on “Fox and Friends” on June 5<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a story on a group’s intention to erect a giant Confederate flag near the intersection of Interstates 75 and 4: The Sons of Confederate Veterans wants drivers in the Tampa area to see the massive flag — 30 feet high and 50 feet long — atop a 139-foot pole, the highest the Federal Aviation […]<\/p>\n<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2314","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"h-entry","8":"hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2314\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}