Free Republic

Today H.K. Edgerton, a black man from Asheville, N.C., will walk into Maryville with a Confederate flag and a hope for ``dialogue.'' He'll stop at the Blount County Courthouse, at about 1 p.m., to get his message out, one that he hopes will bring blacks and whites together, rather than divide people. He walked this week from Johnson City and has experienced both affection and anger from people he's met on the road. ``This is not about a longevity trip, not like it was when I walked to Texas. This is more about coming to Maryville to try to change...

Tony Horwitz writes in his review of John Coski's The Confederate Battle Flag: America's Most Embattled Emblem that "few emblems in American history have provoked stronger passions than the battle flag of the vanquished Confederacy. To some it symbolizes honor and independence; to others, hatred and slavery." How can a flag that was never officially recognized as the flag of a country, a flag that never flew over a government building or other facility, become one of America's most divisive symbols. It is the purpose of this brief article to look at the history of the Confederate flag, not to...

Maryville bans Rebel flag at events 2005-06-14 by Bonny C. Millard of The Daily Times Staff The Rebel flag will no longer be allowed at any Maryville school system events. The Maryville Board of Education voted on first reading to ban flags, noisemakers, sirens, whistles, laser-pointers and hand-held signs Monday night during its monthly meeting. ``This would prohibit bringing in any kind of flags,'' Director of Schools Mike Dalton said. The exemption to this policy will be equipment, approved by the principal and Dalton, used by groups such as cheerleaders and the flag team. The no-flag policy eliminates the use...

Ban on Rebel flag items is overruled JUDGE SIDES WITH STUDENT IN W.VA. CASE By Brian Farkas ASSOCIATED PRESS CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A federal judge has ruled a high school dress code that banned items bearing the "Rebel flag" is overly broad and violates students' rights to free speech. But U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. warned students if they use the Confederate battle flag as a symbol to violate the rights of others, "the very ban struck down today might be entirely appropriate." Copenhaver's ruling came in a lawsuit filed by Hurricane (W.Va.) High School senior Franklin Bragg,...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A federal judge has ruled a high school dress code that banned items bearing the "Rebel flag" is overly broad and violates students' rights to free speech. But U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. warned students if they use the Confederate battle flag as a symbol to violate the rights of others, "the very ban struck down today might be entirely appropriate." Copenhaver's ruling came in a lawsuit filed by Hurricane (W.Va.) High School senior Franklin Bragg, who was ordered to serve two in-house detentions last November for wearing the T-shirt with the flag's image. The...

The defining moment of my visit to New Orleans a year ago occurred in a gift shop. I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit this, but at least it wasn't the kind that sells feather boas and t-shirts with jazz-playing lobsters. I wasn't a sorority girl nursing my hangover at Café Du Monde during Mardi Gras; I was a tourist visiting what used to be a sprawling, stately slave plantation. I was busy mulling over that subtly troubling experience, browsing through the gift shop's bookshelves, when I came to a curious array of volumes. The title The South Was Right! jumped out...

Just saw this on Fox. Dean was in NH to submit his $1000 filing fee for the NH primary. There were protestors there waving confederate flags, wearing sheets (that you Dr. Raoul?), and holding "Dean McGovern" signs.

Three MAJOR civil war cinema epics are due in 2003. 1) Robert Duvall plays Robert E. Lee in Gods & Generals, out Feb. 21; 2) Jude Law portrays a jaded confederate in Cold Mountain, due Dec. 25, 2003; and 3) Tom Cruise plays a Civil War veteran who witnesses the end of a Japanese culture in The Last Samurai, due Dec. 12, 2003. Gods & Generals is replete with special effects, although director Maxwell still used more than 10,000 extras to re-create battle scenes.

Confederate-heritage boosters say they would win a flag referendum in Georgia, despite potential boycotts. The defeat of Governor Barnes was among several recent indications of voter support for Southern Independence symbols: 1) South Carolina Gov. David Beasley was defeated in 1998, two years after he pushed a measure to remove the Confederate banner from atop the Statehouse in Columbia. 2) In April 2001, Mississippi held a referendum in which 66 percent voted to retain that state's Confederate-themed flag. 3) On Tuesday, 58 percent of voters in Harrison County, Miss., elected to keep a Confederate flag display at the beach in...