Huge Confederate flag flying high over I-65

decaturdaily. ^ | 13-June-2005

[stainlessbanner]

VERBENA (AP) — A huge Confederate battle flag flying over Interstate 65 north of Montgomery will become a permanent fixture, according to officials with the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

The organization bought land on the side of the interstate near Verbena and put up the flag, which has been flying for several months above the tree lines from the top of a large pole, easily visible from the heavily traveled interstate.

Leonard Wilson, commander of the Alabama division of Sons of Confederate Veterans, said the flag will be dedicated in a ceremony at 5 p.m. on June 26.

The flag is located on a little more than half an acre of land just north of where Autauga County 68 crosses over the interstate, about six miles south of the Verbena exit.

"We put the flag up so people could see it," Wilson said. "We are showing off our heritage. The flag is part of our heritage."

Critics of Confederate flag displays say they are reminders of the slavery era and Alabama's racist past, and can damage Alabama's image when flown beside a busy interstate route to Gulf beaches.

[Flightdeck]

"They should have shot Lincoln before the war, not after.


AMEN! :)"

It is a tragedy he was killed. He might not have fit the idealized conservative mold, but a war was going to happen whether he was in office or not. America is better off because the Union won. I am a Texan born in South Carolina.

[beezdotcom]

Regarding your tagline: don't worry. I'm pretty sure that soon, it will be "Presione 2 para Inglés"

[beezdotcom]

A corresponding question might be:

The North wanted to free slaves because of:

(a)Their opposition to "man's inhumanity to man"
(b)Their resentment of the economic advantage cheap labor afforded the South
(c)They only wanted to free Southern slaves; many in the North still kept slaves until after the war.

[Ruadh]

;) Liberals generally seem to be ignorant of history.

Speaking of the Alamo, I have never been there. I should like to visit the place once before I die. I have the utmost admiration for those "rebels and traitors" who took up arms against the government of Mexico. The words of Travis have a ring I cannot forget:

To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World:

Fellow citizens & compatriots—

I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna. I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken. I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch. The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country.
Victory or Death

William Barret Travis
Lt. Col. comdt

P.S. The Lord is on our side. When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn. We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels & got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves.

Travis

[Morgan's Raider]

Isn't the Stars and Stripes to always be flown above any other flag? I can't imagine anyone would fly the Confederate flag above our US flag.

You miss my point. Maybe I could have been clearer - I meant that among those who wave the Confederate banner, you will also find some of the most patriotic God, Country, and Flag-loving Americans.

[Ruadh]

I hold no brief for slavery, and I recognize that it was a major reason for the secession.

It is secession itself, the principle that a people have the right "to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them..." that inclines me to on occasion fly the Stars and Bars, and that makes my heart leap when I hear the strains of "Dixie's Land." The United States itself was founded on this principle. Lincoln denied the validity of it, and went to war not to free the slaves, but to prevent secession.

Up until that war, our Constitution was law, and the central government was limited in its powers. Since then, the victorious government has embarked on a course of usurpation until today it controls the minutest details of life, and our Constitution sits under glass, largely ignored.

North and South, we lost much, and I mourn the loss.

[Eastbound]

Yes, the list is incomplete, I'm sure. I personally believe that if Lincoln knew what the cost in human lives were going to be he would have done things differently. The reasons for the war seemed to have changed from one cause to another, incorporating them all as time went on. Lincoln prevailed upon God to bail him out and justify his cause in the end, and he would not live to see the resolution of the war with the ratification of the 13th and 14th amendments. He died not knowing how history was going to treat him.

And yes, even the 'Emancipation Proclamation' was stamped with racism if we can assume all of the northern states and parts of some southern states were NOT in rebellion against the federal government (The United States), for as you say, (or infer) there were slaveholders in the northern states as well, and those slaves were unaffected by the EP. Is that correct?

[archy]

I guess I'm just against glorifying traitors. Silly me.

Since Lee was never tried for, nor convicted of that crime, I guess you're in favor of suspending the U.S. Constitution's legal protections for citizens in favour of secret tribunals, like Lincoln was.

Which would make you one of the *enemies, foreign and domestic to that Constitution whom I am sworn to oppose.

[archy]

In Russia today they fly the older Russian flag which was the national banner from the late 19th century to 1917. If more and more people start to fly the Soviet flag, it's a sign that their country is in real trouble and that people have forgotten history, even though strictly speaking the Soviet is a part of their history.

Particularly if they're military, and they're flying that Soviet-era flag from armoured fighting vehicles.

[smug]

Wrong, the Confederate Constitution forbid international slave trade from the get go.

Section 9

Clause 1: The importation of negroes of the African race from any foreign country other than the slaveholding States or Territories of the United States of America, is hereby forbidden; and Congress is required to pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the same.

Clause 2: Congress shall also have power to prohibit the introduction of slaves from any State not a member of, or Territory not belonging to, this Confederacy.

http://www.evervigilant.net/documents/confederate.html

[Non-Sequitur]

Wrong, the Confederate Constitution forbid nternational slave trade from the get go.

Let's look at clause 9 again:

"Clause 1: The importation of negroes of the African race from any foreign country other than the slaveholding States or Territories of the United States of America, is hereby forbidden; and Congress is required to pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the same."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the confederacy considered itself a sovereign nation, so any imports would qualify as an international import. And clause 9 specifically protected international imports from sections of the United States.

[Noachian]

...because Confederate flags were assumed to be uncontroversial symbols from the past.

And, they would have remained so had certain political groups, for unknown reasons of their own, let it remain so.

Over time the Confederate flag became a symbol of resistance to desegregation.

Again, to certain political groups. To others it remains a symbol of a past time in American history when their forefathers fought and died for a cause.

Flying it is very definitely making a statement, though people will disagree about what that statement is.

Perhaps it's a statement about regionalism, or if you prefer nationalism. Maybe it's about defiance. There's a lot of "maybes" that we could talk about, but once a symbol enters the political arena some people become myopic and see only what they want to see.

...since people understandably fear that what happened once might happen again.

If you mean another civil war...I doubt it. Although it could happen.

...since so many people disagree about just what history that flag represents.

If there are so many interpretations of just what the history behind that flag means then how can any one group say, with any certainty, that flying it has only one meaning?

Many people see the Confederate flag in many different ways, and as a symbol for many different things. Wouldn't it be wise to let people express themselves as they see fit instead of trying to make people into cookie cutter, politically correct, individuals who see only what some political groups want them to see?

[smug]

Yes it does but as I am sure you are aware of the southern states
rightfully claim that the territories were held equally amongst the several states. Therefore they would still have an equal claim after their secession.

[Polybius]

Anyone who shoots or has shot at the AMERICAN flag has earned my contempt.

The parents of William Tecumseh Sherman would have disagreed with you.

You may also want to consider where the names "Fort Benning" and "Fort Bragg" and U.S.S. Stonewall Jackson came from.

Your appeal to regional hate-mongering had gone out of style in America by the time the veterans of both North and South gathered together for the 50th anniversary of Gettysburg in 1913.

"Comrades and friends, these splendid statues of marble and granite and bronze shall finally crumble to dust, and in the ages to come, will perhaps be forgotten, but the spirit that has called this great assembly of our people together, on this field, shall live for ever." --------Dr. Nathaniel D. Cox, July 2, 1913

[Non-Sequitur]

Yes it does but as I am sure you are aware of the southern states rightfully claim that the territories were held equally amongst the several states. Therefore they would still have an equal claim after their secession.

That doesn't explain their protection of imports from slave holding states of the United States.

[Non-Sequitur]

The parents of William Tecumseh Sherman would have disagreed with you.

Huh?

[smug]

Okay I will ask you a question. If the war had ended under a brokered peace by England and France would it not have been wise for the Confederacy to leave an opening for resettlement from the border states of Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland etc.. I am sure that these would have been hotly debated. Other than that I don't know.

[Non-Sequitur]

If the war had ended under a brokered peace by England and France would it not have been wise for the Confederacy to leave an opening for resettlement from the border states of Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland etc.. I am sure that these would have been hotly debated. Other than that I don't know.

The reason for that clause in the confederate constitution is no mystery. The deep south states carried on a brisk trade in slaves with states like North Carolina and Virginia. Clause 9 and clause 10 were carrot and stick. The carrot was that the confederacy protected the slave traffic that their slave owners depended on, and which were very profitable for slave breeders in Virginia and North Carolina. The stick was the ability to end that trade at will, so maybe Virginia and North Carolina might want to rethink their loyalty to the U.S. and join the rebellion.

[RightWinger]

I'm offended by many things many people do but this is the USA so I put up with their right to do it.

This flag is on private property and the owners have the right to fly it. I'm not offended by this flag either. It's not a "hate" thing to me.

[BnBlFlag]

"Isn't the U.S. flag supposed to be flown above all other flags?".............In Texas, the flags are flown at equal height.