Posted on 12/01/2008 11:13:21 AM PST by fella
Motel's choice of flag upsetting to some
by Kyle Mooty Madison County Record Editor
The owners of a Huntsville motel insist their decision to replace the United States flag with a Confederate flag following Barack Obama's victory last week in the Presidential election had nothing to do with race.
In a written statement to The Record, the owners of the Faubus Motel did say that the reason for the change in flags was politically driven.
The motel is not associated with its former owner, Alta Faubus, who sold the motel in the 1980's. It has been owned by James and Linda Vandiver since 1996.
Ellen Kreth and Fara Faubus, Alta Faubus' grandchildren and owners of The Madison County Record, stated that they have no association with the Faubus Motel and do not agree with the Vandivers' political views or the flying of the Confederate flag at the motel.
A Fayetteville television station reported the motel's choice of flags following Obama's victory. The station inserted interviews from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Secretary of State Colin Powell into the story, talking about the historical significance of Obama being elected.
Some neighbors of the motel have complained to The Record and to the TV station of what the flag symbolizes.
James Vandiver said he had flown the flag before and that he had not heard any negative comments, then said he would only respond to questions in a written statement. The Vandivers issued the following statement to The Record on Tuesday morning:
"On election night, we lowered Old Glory from our flag pole because we are no longer the land of the free and the home of the brave (except for our military)," the letter stated. "The sound principals for which Old Glory stood have been abandoned. We raised the rebel flag of the Old South in protest. Since political correctness forces people into a limited frame of reference, we wish to say this loud and clear, this was not about race. We resent having a Marxist in the White House no matter color he is. If Mr. Obama had tried to enter the White House as an ordinary citizen, he would not qualify for a security clearance because of his past associations. We decided if Obama can refuse to properly salute the flag and his buddy, Bill Ayers, could stand on the American flag in a trash-filled alley, then we could take Old Glory down in honor and respect.
"We are angry with a biased, agenda-driven media. We are angry that for the past eight years President Bush and the Republican Party have been blamed by the Democrats and their cohorts in the media for the incomplete and irresponsible way that the group A.C.O.R.N. let down potential voters in the state of Florida in 2000. A.C.O.R.N. has used our tax dollars to carry out, contrary to the law, a partisan "get out the vote" effort of scandalous proportions. The other arm of this nefarious organization bullies and harasses banks and lending institutions to make the risky loans that have jeopardized our nation's financial security. We are outraged that the Democrats, who portray themselves as the great defenders of the night to vote, did not feel compelled to ensure the rights of our military to be guaranteed their full privileges during the election.
"Old Glory is still displayed on our American owned and operated sign. So far, the response from our clientele has been supportive and positive."
Huntsville Mayor Larry Bates had not heard of the motel's choice in flags until Monday.
"I don't have any comment other than to each his own," Bates said. "I wouldn't tell Jim not to do it. It's strictly up to him. It's on his property. The city won't be flying (a Confederate flag)." The motel, located next to Pizza Hut, has a standing sign in front of its offices that reads "American Owned and Operated."
Jessie Bryant, an African-American from Fayetteville who is ending a 14-year run as a member of the Washington County Quorum Court, grew up through the segregation era. Bryant, born in 1926, was asked about her reaction to the Confederate flag being flown at the Huntsville motel.
"It's just his way of expressing his dislike for what happened. If that's his way of protesting what happened, he has the right," Bryant said. "He has the privilege of changing the flag. It's his way of expressing how he feels. It's obviously a dilemma with him. He feels a little bit of his heritage has been taken away, which is not true at all. In America, he still has the same privileges of anybody else. There is nothing we can say or do about it."
Bryant's son, Arkansas State Trooper Louis Bryant, was killed by Wayne Snell during a traffic stop in 1984 on U.S. Highway 71 between De Queen and Texarkana. That stretch of highway is now known as the Trooper Louis Bryant Highway.
Arkansas is one of our most scenic states.
Chuckling. I made the mistake in high school of betting my history teacher (unbeknownst to me at the time a Lincoln expert) that Lincoln never said that he was a white supremacist. A crew cut for me if I lost, a Lincoln beard for him if he lost. I was more a longhair back in those days (mid 70s), not a crewcut kind of guy.
your last statement that racism exists everywhere is spot on.
the first flag to be used by a segregation group (KKK)was the American flag so should that be banned too?
The KKK etc use the stars and stripes and millions see that flag as oppressive and hateful.
Get to Cherokee NC or any other place where native Americans live and ask them which flag is oppressive to them in the past.
Face is that some around the world see the stars and stripes as a bully flag but we say hell to them and that is what southerners say to liberals who have no knowledge about the war between the states.
They still use that flag today as now they also use the battle flag.
I hope you see what I am getting at, just because one or two or 10 groups use a flag does not mean it should not be flown.
some things which is not in the PC teachings for those who are too thick to understand history and the war between the states.
Hell these dumb idiots think it was over slavery and have no idea Lincoln even said he was not going to war over blacks or slavery
I bet 99% of northerners would not even know that blacks were slave owners too and even a black man in VA got slavery legal through the courts.
Biggest race riots in this country ever was in the north, NY to be exact
biggest business during the war in NY was slave ship building
was not the battle flag which flew over slave ships was it?
I’m with you. My ancestors from Texas, Louisiana and Virginia fought under that flag and I make no apologies to anyone.
LOL
sorry for laughing
least you could have the hair grow back
Oh I did. Reagan was president before I got another haircut.
I wish present day southerners would truly revere their Civil War ancestors and join in their conclusion that the Confederacy was not worth the effort.
It's hard to disprove a historical might-have-been, but there were Indians fighting on the Confederate side in the battle of Pea Ridge (March 1862). So there was a little Indian killing of Unionists in northwest Arkansas in the war.
There were also Indians fighting on the Union side. In fact, Grant’s aide who wrote out the final terms at Appomatox was a full blood Seneca.
The Cherokees fought their own amazingly bloody little civil war in the middle of the bigger war.
I have had Old Glory at the top of my 30’ flag pole for nearly 30 years.
On January 20, 2009, shortly after Zero purgers himself again, I will with reverence and respect, bring her down and she will stay down until Zero has left the White House.
In her stead will be a Rebel or Gadsden Flag, perhaps both. Heck, I might even raise a Jolly Roger. I also plan to put up a 20’ pole and hoist a couple of military unit flags.
I love my country, I have served her and I have family members and friends that have died in service to her and for what our flag stands for. I don’t hate blacks or any man because of their skin color, I never have and I never will.....however, until my last breath I will maintain my right disrespect and hold in contempt.. anyone I choose to.
I have absolutely no respect for Zero and the criminals that he surounds himself with. I have no respect for anyone of the democrat party and thus the new leadership ( in name only ) of my country.
I guess it’s a personal thing, perhaps it’s ego or maybe I just have a bad attitude against those 53% of the voters that would cut our own country off at the knees and try to destroy everything that so many have lived and died for.
If people don’t like what I think or what I do, they can kiss my country a$$.
“Perpetuating some arcane argument about “States Rights”?
I see you’ve bought into the New York liberal beliefs of the South. Good for you, nothing like being prejudiced.
I am sorry, but you have been misinformed.
If the South had been successful in secession, its tax rates would have had to be much higher than before the war, not lower.
Prior to the war, the cost of government at Washington was spread out over 30M people. Maintaining a similar government at Richmond would have fallen on <9M.
In addition, it seems highly likely that both governments would have felt compelled to maintain much larger military forces, in all likelihood leading to an arms race. This is very expensive and would have to be paid for somehow.
it wasn’t to do with slavery
it was to do with tax’s and opening trade routes to the west which DC didn’t like
if you had your ancestors land taken away, maybe if your ancestors had their vote taken away, if you had your ancestor raped and killed for being southern, if you had known about the real history of reconstruction and how the north terrorised the south then maybe you might feel different .
the south has been told since the war not to fly their flags, , that they are backwards etc by northern elite types.
As for quitting, are you serious?
By the time the north got south there had been two generations of men and boys killed in the south.
the north by this time were fighting 60 year old men and 10 year old boys
it is about remembering their right to exist and what they died for and that will go on for many more generations here inn the south
here is what I wish for
that northern liberals would stay up north and stop trying to tell us how to live down here.
They make fun of the south, the accent, way of life, food think the north is better and yet move down here
well go home if the north is so great I wish they would
maybe some need to learn history
shall the north forget vietnam vets as that war was a waste?
Probably a dumb business move to put up a flag that will piss off a certain percentage of your potential guests. But, like you said, it's their business that will be losing money.
Can you expand on this? Why would the North be opposed to trade?
what an Indian here and there while the south had the 6 nations and the Cherokee were officially on the south sides and even when you go there they will tell you this.
They were the last ones to surrender and they bore a lot of deaths onto the north as they fought their kind of war instead of lining up and the north were being truly done by them.
Maybe the Cherokees saw what would happen to the rest of the indians in the west and how the north killed all tribes in the north like the pawtucket, etc
the fact is the south was opening trade routes and the south was being taxed highly and all that money would go to the north.
It was lower after as the south had been decimated and destroyed especially by the likes of Sherman who would should have been done for war crimes
The north came down here for reconstruction, they took land, houses, food, raped women, told some whites they could not vote for 10 years while blacks were doing so.
That is because a certain party wanted to influence the south.
The carpetbaggers took what they wanted and still do in some places and the ruing areas for their own personal gain at a cost of the native people
The south could not afford any more tax’s after the war and while strife was going on down south the north was having it’s own problems with racism.
most in the south just wanted to have their own country free of DC , the north wanted the south to remain as one.
I find it a shame that after living up north and being down south that most northerners are totally ignorant to their own history.
The war between the states lost a lot of good men on both sides.
Actually TN and other states were looking at getting rid of slavery and sending them back to africa.
because the tax money form the south was all going to the north,
the south went to open trade routes out west and not pay tax’s to the north on those trades.
The north did no like this at all.
In Govt years leading up to the war arguments ensued about this and as time went by the anger grew.
Why should we pay tax’s and we never see any of it, why does it all go up north?
yea but that’s like Ford giving money to homosexuals while their sales are down thus provoking a boycott
they’;; always be dumb business moves but I think that they have thought this one out and they gave their idea to their principles and anyway I don’t think it will piss that many off down here as many either do not care what flag is flying or they would actually go there
Look at SC there’s been a NAACP boycott for years and yet blacks still go there.
The NAACP do not know their history and exploit the flag for the personal gain . They even tried to boycott down here in Florida because here we have the biggest battle flag ever made and many people round here were happy it is being flown in Florida
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