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Confederate Flag In Pickup Prompts Battle At Fla. Company
local6 ^ | May 2, 2008

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.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: confederate; crossofsaintandrew; dixie; dixielist; dunmoresproclamation; fl; flag; saintandrewscross; workplace
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To: AnAmericanMother

Excellent post!


61 posted on 05/02/2008 10:30:41 AM PDT by varina davis
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To: Philly Nomad

No one in the CSA was ever prosecuted and/or convicted of treason.


62 posted on 05/02/2008 10:32:36 AM PDT by varina davis
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To: Resolute Conservative
"So do you not carry concealed when on someone else’s property?

I do and will always no matter what they want."

I'd say that's fine, assuming they're supportive or at least indifferent to your right to do so.

Of course, if you were on someone else's property, and they caught wind that you were carrying and felt "threatened", I'd argue that they have every right to ask you to either remove your gun or leave their property.

Chances are that any place that doesn't want you carrying a gun is a place you wouldn't want to be anyways.

63 posted on 05/02/2008 10:34:35 AM PDT by cdbull23 (What's going on in my brain? Check it out: cainsbrain.blogspot.com)
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To: cdbull23
Chances are that any place that doesn't want you carrying a gun is a place you wouldn't want to be anyways.

Like my previous employer in Ohio. OK, it wasn't really a bad place to work, but they did have those silly "no firearms allowed on the premisis" signs all over the places. Even the guards weren't armed (which was rather stupid given the type of work that went on there).

64 posted on 05/02/2008 10:39:58 AM PDT by meyer (Still conservative, no longer Republican)
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To: stainlessbanner
"Confederate Flag In Pickup Prompts Battle At Fla. Company"

I didn't see a "battle" here. They told him they didn't want him parking in the company lot with the flag displayed on his vehicle so now he's parking elsewhere.

65 posted on 05/02/2008 10:45:12 AM PDT by Hatteras
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To: thulldud

Exactly. Good summary.


66 posted on 05/02/2008 10:52:45 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment))
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To: mnehrling
I'm sure he'll support this free expression.

What is wrong with either yours or the CSA flag? The only difference is that the bumper sticker is overtly confrontational and the confederate flag must be assumed confrontational.

By the way, this is the first flag of the Confederacy.


67 posted on 05/02/2008 10:53:32 AM PDT by AndrewC (You should go see "Expelled")
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To: varina davis
No one in the CSA was ever prosecuted and/or convicted of treason.

They could have been. Would it have made you happier if they had?

68 posted on 05/02/2008 10:57:16 AM PDT by Non-Sequitur
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To: cdbull23

I would leave. The have the right to ask and I have to right to make an obscene gesture and leisurely depart. They will not ever disarm me.

You are right I go very few places but you’d be surprised how many businesses are against concealed carry.


69 posted on 05/02/2008 11:05:13 AM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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To: AnAmericanMother
Jacksonville City Council Woman Glorious Johnson agrees with you.

Black councilwoman sets precedent


70 posted on 05/02/2008 11:14:51 AM PDT by yuleeyahoo
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To: yuleeyahoo
That's interesting. Says she represents "all the people" and that the SCV had made a good case to her that the CBF was about history and heritage, not hate.

Maybe she's a real 'post-racial candidate' - unlike Obama.

She's also a Republican.

71 posted on 05/02/2008 11:22:33 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment))
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To: stainlessbanner

I wonder if BJ’s would ban a customer (club member to be exact) from their parking lot for similar displays?


72 posted on 05/02/2008 11:39:07 AM PDT by Tallguy (Tagline is offline till something better comes along...)
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To: pnh102
Parking your car on someone else's private property is an activity. Whoever owns that property can set just about any rules they like regarding the conduct of individuals on said property.

Except that businesses are generally considered "public accomodations" & so the owner's rights to regulate behavior are not absolute. This may not prevent them from telling an employee how they must behave, but what if a customer parked on the lot in a truck flying the Stars & Bars? Bet that BJ's wouldn't get too far if the customer didn't voluntarily leave.

73 posted on 05/02/2008 11:49:10 AM PDT by Tallguy (Tagline is offline till something better comes along...)
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To: Non-Sequitur

Non, If they “could have been,” they would have been.


74 posted on 05/02/2008 11:58:43 AM PDT by varina davis
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To: varina davis

And Osama Bin Laden was never prosecuted or convicted of attacking America.


75 posted on 05/02/2008 12:02:54 PM PDT by Philly Nomad
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To: varina davis
Non, If they “could have been,” they would have been.

Virtually every confederate other than Davis was freed from the threat of prosecution by the various clemency proclamations issued by Andrew Johnson. The prosecution of Davis was halted by the ratification of the 14th Amendment. Would you rather he rotted in jail or danced at the end of a rope?

76 posted on 05/02/2008 12:08:39 PM PDT by Non-Sequitur
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To: We Dare Defend Our Rights

The bars aed stars was the flag of the entity that went to war to keep slavery for economic reasons. It later became the prime symbolofthe KKK and other racial groups, whatever other historical/regional/familial stirrings it may invoke.


77 posted on 05/02/2008 12:44:45 PM PDT by mikeus_maximus (We don't need a Ferengi President!)
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To: AnAmericanMother
Nice backhanded slap accusing me of attending Klan meetings, by the way. My dad marched at Selma. Next question?

I did not mean to imply that you had attended the rallies -- just to clarify that I had not. In the middle of composing the message it occurred to my that I might be misunderstood.

78 posted on 05/02/2008 1:12:39 PM PDT by ReignOfError
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To: mikeus_maximus
It was used by the KKK the same way as the Stars & Stripes was used by them in their Washing DC march back in the 20’s (appox) and was also used by the Nazi Bund at their mass rallies in the 1930’s.
79 posted on 05/02/2008 1:13:13 PM PDT by We Dare Defend Our Rights
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To: AnAmericanMother
Many groups stood up in the 50s and 60s and declared that the Confederate battle flag was not a racist symbol. Not only the re-enactors and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, but quite a number of just ordinary folks. They were condemning the Klan at the same time. But that's all gone down the memory hole.

I think you should provide some documentation on that if you can.

There's a difference between going against the Klan, which took some courage indeed, and saying that the CBF didn't belong to them, and bucking the whole system of segregation in place at the time and arguing that the CBF shouldn't be identified with it.

In retrospect it's natural to assume that everyone who took on the Klan also rejected White supremacy or racism, but it's just not true.

Don't know about you, but I don't let the liberals and the haters drive my opinions.

Okay, but some people in favor of the flag do. It becomes a liberal vs. conservative issue and conservatives are expected to sign up with the Confederacy without really thinking things through.

80 posted on 05/02/2008 1:20:42 PM PDT by x
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