Posted on 05/02/2008 8:56:18 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A Central Florida man's Confederate flag prompted a free-speech battle with his employer, who doesn't want it displayed on company property.
The flag is attached to Bobby Tillett's pickup truck, which he drives to work every day, WJXT reported. Because his employer has banned the flag from his parking lot, Tillett is forced to park far from his job.
"If I take it down, that means you know the politically correct people would have won, and that's wrong," Bobby Tillett said. "If you believe in something that strong (you) should have no problem whatsoever to fly it."
Tillett said the flag flap began when he showed up for work at BJ's Wholesale off Pritchard Road.
"Management confronts me and tells me, politely, if I would take my flag off my truck," Tillett said. "I said, 'No, I will not.'"
Tillett said his managers told him if he did not remove the flag, he couldn't park in the employee lot.
"I'm a firm believer it's not about winning or losing, it's about right and wrong," Tillett told WJXT's Dan Leveton.
So Tillett decided to park on public property about a half-mile away and walk to work.
He says it takes him about 10 minutes to walk to the job, but it's worth it.
"It's about heritage; it's about pride," Tillett said. "I don't look at it much different than the American flag. There's been a lot of blood spilled over that flag, too, and I love that flag, and I'll fly it 'till the day I die."
No one at BJ's would comment about the controversy, but they did issue a statement saying it is about the rights of other employees:
"Like all employers, we have guidelines of appropriate personal behavior and expression at work. While the policy does not identify any specific type of expression, it generally prohibits expression that is rude, abusive, hostile or intimidating. Under these guidelines, we asked this team member to not display the confederate flag in our parking lot. We are confident that we have struck the right balance for all of our team members and their work environment."
Tillett said none of his co-workers has told him they dislike the flag. He said most people support him and he plans to keep on flying his Confederate flag, even if it costs him the job.
"I'm standing by my guns ... or my flag," Tillett said.
You might want to re-read the article. The person in question is not being allowed to park his car on company property.
Do you believe the government should intervene and force a private company to ascribe to the wishes of a single individual? What's next? Forcing the Boy Scouts to accept gays? Forcing Augusta to allow women?
The right to own private property is one of the most sacrosanct of rights guaranteed by the Constitution. If that means someone not being allowed to park his car on private property because the owner of said property doesn't like it, well too bad. This person can either remove the flag or find another job.
Another Georgian here, and I’m in full agreement with both of y’all.
There’s a pervasive obsession with “my rights” that used to be a bugaboo of the Left, but is found across the spectrum now. Yes, this guy has every legal right to fly the flag, and if it’s important to him, that’s fine. When asked politely to take it down, he chose to park down the street instead. That’s fine, too. There’s no battle and no controversy.
There are virtually unlimited things I could do or say that would be legally protected free speech, but I don’t because they would be rude and obnoxious. I’m not yet 40, but I’m old enough to remember when courtesy was a Southern value.
BJ’s Wholesale. Now theres an intriguing thought.
You apparently didn’t see the same Klan advertising I saw. The Klan kept holding their Labor Day rallies in Stone Mountain (on private land near the state park) right into the ‘80s, and the CBF was difficult to miss. I’m talking about the surrounding area — I didn’t attend the rally itself.
Don't display your ignorance.
You're absolutely correct.
Wait until an employer says that the “W” or “I Support My President” or “McCain 2008” sticker “has to go” too.
There is no protection of political party... only race, sex, creed, and sexual fetish. An employer or hotel or business CAN discriminate against you for being a Republican.
It’s been done. Made some press even in 2004.
This sounds exactly like an incident that happened about a year ago - a guy has a confederate flag on his truck and isn’t allowed to park in the business parking lot.
I do not anymore care what is in Bobby’s pickup than I care that rich idiot Hollywood celebrities are wearing Che Guerravara images and other communist symbols.
The courts have upheld that burning an American flag is an act of “free speech”. They have even upheld that burning SOMEONE ELSE’S STOLEN FLAG is a protected act of free speech.
Some actions are more protected than others.
Wonder how many Ford dealerships require their employees to leave other makes “out of our lot”.
I'm talking about the 50s and 60s, when it was still run by people with some actual political power and still thought of itself as "All-American". Look at the old photographs.
Nice backhanded slap accusing me of attending Klan meetings, by the way. My dad marched at Selma. Next question?
Some people seem to believe by continuing Reconstruction forever, none will ever question the pre 1850’s slavery in the US."
Exactly HOW is this statement justifiable? Am I missing your point here? Old Glory is a symobl of SLAVERY? Are you SERIOUS?
So do you not carry concealed when on someone else’s property?
I do and will always no matter what they want.
I worked at Pepsi HQ years ago in college and always brought a coke to work because Pepsi sucks. They told me to not bring it to work. I did anyway and nothing else was said.
exactly - they havent limited anything - they do need to have a clear policy on employee behavior though - he is free to park elsewhere. On thier property, they can do what they like - JUST LIKE FR
Now that’s funny
My wife works for a financial institution that has is a very large shareholder in Coke, and is even entrusted with keeping the original and subsequent Coke product receipes safeguarded. Meaning locked up.
No Pepsi products are allowed to be purchased with company funds, used at company events, or even brought from home onto company property. They sort of let the last one slide because strict enforcement would be a total nightmare and really annoy a lot of employees. But the other two are strictly enforced and people have been fired for purchasing Pepsi products with company money.
It was and is such a symbol, but that usage does not fit the media paradigm, ergo, you never hear about it from them. Klansmen and skinheads sell papers (and ads); reasoned discussions of history and heritage do not.
That's the economic reason you never heard of those defenders. But there is an ideological reason also.
The media, in collusion with the left, have redefined all manner of terms in order to stop any discussion before it starts. The very term "states' rights" is recast in the media as a code for racism, which in its turn is recast so that a guy like me is racist by nature ("institutional" racism), whereas Rev. Jeremiah Wright is incapable of it.
So even if you try to assert that display of the flag is in support of states' rights and federalism, you're still supporting racism, according to the media. And to decide if a certain speaker is supporting racism, you only need to look at his complexion. He could be reading multiplication tables, but, hey, that is racist!
I reject the very premises on which the current media/cultural climate is based. Let them bring those into the open and defend them if they will.
Having a flag mounted on ones' vehicle isn't an "activity".
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