what is funny in all this is Georgia changed their state flag a few years ago..the new one is almost identical to the stars and bars of the confederate south but there is no controversy.. the new flag is more confederate than the old one..
Posted on 05/22/2009 5:09:15 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
HOMESTEAD—The Miami-Dade branch of the NAACP has set its sights on NASCAR, Homestead’s major national attraction, in its fight against the Confederate Flag.
The civil rights organization will first reach out to officials with the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, seeking to enlist their help in efforts to ban the controversial symbol from city-sponsored events.
If that does not work, however, NAACP officials say they will consider a boycott and protest march at the NASCAR events slated for Nov. 20-22 at the Homestead-Miami Motor Speedway.
NAACP officials on Wednesday said they are drafting a letter to NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France, who has publicly spoken out against the Confederate Flag in recent years.
If the civil rights organization does not get the racing league’s cooperation and support, officials there said they are prepared to begin contacting NASCAR’s sponsors, and to stage protests during the races.
“We intend to notify NASCAR about the troubling racial discord we have here in Homestead, and we would like their support,” said Rosemary Fuller, a longtime member of the Miami-Dade NAACP who chaired an advisory board that the city council disbanded after board members challenged the Confederate Flag.
“Right now, we are still in the planning stages,’’ Fuller said, “but if NASCAR decides to come here under these conditions, we will meet them at the racetrack.”
Fuller was one of more than 200 people who showed up at an NAACP meeting on Monday, May 18 at the Covenant Missionary Baptist Church in Florida City.
Miami-Dade NAACP President Victor T. Curry turned over the portion of the meeting concerning the Confederate Flag to Fuller.
Fuller asked NAACP officials at the meeting to contact NASCAR about the situation, since, acccording to her, the racing league has already placed prohibitions on the Confederate Flag at its events, including those held at the speedway in Homestead.
A spokesperson at NASCAR’s corporate headquarters in Daytona Beach said the organization is checking to see if it has received any communication from the NAACP on the issue.
NASCAR can ill afford the negative publicity that would accompany an NAACP protest.
After years of growth, NASCAR has recently suffered an economic downturn.
Since the season finale at the Homestead-Miami Speedway last November, at least 600 employees have lost their jobs, according to The Miami Herald. Rival organizations are sharing chartered plane flights and hotel rooms, the newspaper reported, and drivers are trying to reduce airfare costs, as well.
At Monday’s NAACP meeting, members of the NAACP also threatened a boycott of the Greater Homestead/Florida City Chamber of Commerce businesses if their demands are not met. Many members of the chamber are businesses that are already suffering because of the recession.
NAACP leaders also threatened to campaign against current city council members who are up for re-election this year.
The controversy flared up after black residents complained that they were surprised by Confederate States organizations that were allowed to participate in the November 2008 Veterans Day parade.
The Military Affairs Committee of the Greater Homestead/Florida City Chamber of Commerce organizes the parade, which receives financial support from the city. The chamber invited the Sons of Confederate Veterans to participate.
Group members wore Confederate Army uniforms and displayed the Confederate battle flag as they made their way along the parade route, down Krome Avenue. Some black residents who attended the parade said they were offended, and sought to have the organizations and their memorabilia barred from future events.
Supporters of the Confederate Flag say it is a symbol of southern pride. Opponents, including many members of the black community, say it is a reminder of slavery, lynching and racial intolerance.
In April, the NAACP joined the fray by petitioning the Miami-Dade County School District to keep students and school bands out of events where the Confederate Flag is displayed.
A week later, led by Homestead Mayor Lynda Bell, all seven members of the Homestead City Council voted on April 20 to shut down the Homestead/Florida City Human Relations Board (HRB), which addressed racial issues in both cities.
Bell said the HRB was not taking on matters that are important to her city’s residents, a majority of whom are Hispanic. The board’s members, however, said they have taken on Hispanic issues, and that they believe the city council was trying to block their efforts against the display of the Confederate Flag at taxpayer-funded events.
The school district has yet to respond to the NAACP’s request, but that has not stopped the controversy from escalating, most recently Monday’s NAACP meeting.
Not everyone believes the NAACP’s efforts will be effective.
“The threat of a boycott is one that is frequently employed by the NAACP when it is displeased about something, which is most of the time,” said Roger McCredie, executive director of the Southern Legal Resource Center, an organization based in Black Mountain, N.C. that advocates for southern heritage causes.
“Silly as it is, such a threat often serves to intimidate local governmental bodies and from a practical standpoint there is nothing that can be done to stop them from attempting to enact such a boycott,’’ McCredie continued. “What they don’t want you to know, however, is that most people with any sense see such a tactic as exactly what it is – a self-serving political device with much more bark than bite.”
Fuller disagreed.
“I don’t think an organization like NASCAR, that has so many major sponsors, should bring people here who could be subjected to this type of racism,” she said.
This Homestead-Miami Speedway has seen racial discrimination protests in the past. In 2004, an organization called the National Association for Minority Race Fans led a small group of protesters near the raceway's entrance for about two hours before a race, according to The Miami Herald.
The goal of the protest was the group’s mission statement of promoting a safe environment at racetracks for minority fans, and to promote racial diversity among NASCAR competitors and employees.
Among the demonstrations that year was an offer to exchange an American flag to any fan who would turn in a Confederate flag to the group, according to The Herald.
This year, NASCAR has five main racing series, with three of them being national, along with several regional circuits.
The Sprint Cup, the Nationwide Series and the Camping World Truck Series are its main draws, and are the most popular. All three will hold their league championship races in Homestead.
Ironically, those championship races will take place starting just one week after Veterans Day. Confederate States groups say they will again march in the Veterans Day parades, and the NAACP plans to lead protest marches there.
Yet France, NASCAR’s CEO, in recent years has tried to shed the organization’s “good ole boy’’ image and reach out to minorities.
He has gone on record in previous interviews stating that neither he nor NASCAR supports the Confederate Flag.
In 2005, France gave his take on the Confederate Flag to 60 Minutes: “I think it’s a fading image…these are massive facilities. And I can’t tell people what flag to fly. I can tell you the flag we get behind. It’s the American flag.”
He also told 60 Minutes that he would love to tell fans not to fly the Confederate Flag if he could: “It’s not a flag I look at with anything favorable. That’s for sure.”
There is another class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs—partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs…
There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who do not want the patient to get well, because as long as the disease holds out they have not only an easy means of making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make themselves prominent before the public. -Booker T. Washington
France traded the hard-core base for a bunch of fickle sissies, for who you can not make enough new rules to satisfy. He tried to create a science from an art and failed miserably. Until he removes himself and takes Helton and Hunter with him, NASCAR will continue to deteriorate.
The blacks are always associating the Confederate flag with the KKK, and that simply is not true. The KKK does have thier own flag, and it looks NOTHING like the stars& bars. I don’t have a picture of it, or I’d post it. Basically it is the christian cross with a drop of blood in the center. I doubt if one out of 10,000 blacks would recognize it if they saw it.
Right with you. I have seen just as many battle flags in the north as in the south. I had a friend in southern New Jersey who flew his stars and bars just to piss off certain people. The more these idiots get mad about a flag, the more it will be flown.
A big and upcoming demographic are the Hispanics. So let JJ and AL and NAACP do their boycotts and it would have very little if any effect on NASCAR.
Hispanic NASCAR Fans Break The Mold
Patricia Graham, Mar 05, 2009 01:30 PM
It is surprising how many companies make the “se habla espanol” mistake: They assume that, to tap the $925 billion buying power of Latino consumers in the U.S., one can simply translate general marketing efforts into Spanish.
Nothing could be further from the truth. To really make the most of this extraordinary opportunity — to win the hearts and minds of the greatest proportion of Hispanics possible — you need to understand that their likes and dislikes, desires and concerns, are often vastly different from those of non-Hispanics.
One internationally prominent marketer that knows this and has been working hard to understand and appeal to U.S. Hispanic consumers is NASCAR. The sport signed on its first Hispanic driver, Juan Pablo Montoya, in 2007; and today, 38% of U.S. Hispanics consider themselves at least “casual fans” of NASCAR — essentially the same proportion as for non-Hispanics (42%).
A key aspect of marketing to Hispanics is accurate research — and a new report on Hispanics and NASCAR from Knowledge Networks and sports marketing agency rEvolution takes a top-quality approach to representing all aspects of the Hispanic community in the U.S. The study points out that, to grow deeper roots among Hispanics, NASCAR needs to turn its casual Latino followers into “avid fans” — and that will require thinking about the marketing of the sport in some slightly different ways.
The driver is not king (or queen): Although non-Hispanic NASCAR fans tend to become very focused on a favorite driver, Hispanics are much less engaged at this level; only 19% are aware of Montoya, and, in general, they tend to root for the most successful drivers. So bringing in more Latino drivers may not have the effects one might expect.
Build the family unit: Hispanic NASCAR fans often do not know friends or family members who share their interest — so they do not experience the same sense of community that non-Hispanic fans often feel. Finding ways to make the sport more “social” could help solidify this fan base.
Speed gets attention: 59% of Hispanic NASCAR fans say that the speed of the cars was a key factor in attracting them to the sport; so highlighting that aspect of NASCAR could be destined to draw more interest from Latinos.
One important aspect of this study is its representation of Hispanics who do not use the Internet at least occasionally — a remarkable 44% of the U.S. Latino population. We have found that the problem is more one of lacking access than lacking interest; and so part of this study was use of an unusual, ongoing panel in which non-Internet Hispanics are given laptops and online connections so they can take part. As a result, we know the opinions of a vast number of Latinos who would be missed by conventional online research.
Recognizing the importance of U.S. Hispanic consumers is step number one ... but getting to know them on their own terms through accurate research is a bigger challenge. Be sure your approach to learning about Hispanics is nuanced as this fast-growing community.
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=101542
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
NASCAR making strides in drive for Hispanic diversity
By Richard Lapchick
Special to ESPN.com
While NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program might be perceived as an effort to draw more African-Americans into professional racing, the reality is that the campaign is aimed at developing a full range of minority and female drivers and crew members and to expand its fan base in numerous directions. And so far, among Hispanics, NASCAR is making strides.
The program is helping produce promising Latino drivers. Michael Gallegos, who was born in Colorado, finished 17th in the 2007 NASCAR Camping World West Series standings in his third season in the program. And Jesus Hernandez, a second-generation Mexican born in Fresno, Calif., finished 12th in the 2007 NASCAR Camping World East Series standings in his fourth season in the program.
Several drivers, including Ruben Pardo, Rogelio Lopez and Jose Luis Ramirez, were born in Mexico. The elder statesman among Latino drivers might be Carlos Contreras, the first Mexican-born driver to compete in any NASCAR national series. Contreras, 38, broke through in 1999 when he joined the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and finished 14th in his first race — the NAPA Auto Parts 200 at California Speedway.
“Most people expected me to go to CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams), which was very popular at the time in Mexico, but I chose NASCAR,” Contreras said. “I wanted to be the first Hispanic in NASCAR, to open doors in Mexico and with Hispanics to NASCAR racing. I feel I have definitely opened doors for others to follow, including Ruben Pardo. We now have a NASCAR series in Mexico, and the races are broadcast in Spanish throughout the U.S. and Mexico. I feel that what I did started everything.”
According to the Simmons National Hispanic Consumer Survey, about 8.9 percent of NASCAR fans are Latino. There was a 10 percent increase between 2001 and 2005, when the most recent survey was taken.
There are Latino team members, drivers and a team owner in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series and Camping World Series. Felix Sabates, born in Cuba, has owned a NASCAR team since 1987 and was instrumental in making a Mexico City race part of the NASCAR Nationwide Series circuit. Armando Fitz, owner of Fitz Motorsports, has been a Nationwide Series team owner for seven years. Joe Nava, owner of Performance Motorsports, competes in the Camping World West Series. Alba Colon, from Puerto Rico, is General Motors’ top engineer for its NASCAR Chevrolet racing program and was one of Hispanic Business magazine’s 20 Elite Women last year. Phil Jimenez is a race engineer for the No. 84 Red Bull Toyota team.
But drivers are the faces of the sport.
Aric Almirola, who is of Cuban descent, drives for DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc.) in the NASCAR Spring Cup Series.
“When fans have someone they can relate to, identify with and cheer for, they become emotionally invested in the sport,” said Max Siegel, president of DEI. “I am proud to be able to support Aric’s career, and hopefully have a direct impact on the growth of our sport.”
There are obstacles, however, and some in NASCAR spoke openly about the challenges they have faced in trying to reach the top of the sport. Asked if he faced racism, Contreras said, “a little.”
“The new Mexican guy stood out sometimes, especially to some people in the garage who had never been out of the South,” said Contreras, who competed in two races last year in the NASCAR Nationwide Series for Fitz Racing. “I can say, though, that with time, I was seen by most as a regular guy in the garage, and I made lots of friends.”
The bigger obstacle is attracting sponsors, Contreras said, because corporate America doesn’t really rush to sponsor Hispanic or other minority drivers.
“If sponsors want the Hispanic market, they will go to soccer or music,” he said. “… Give me a good car and I will get around the track as good or better than any driver. Why should I be limited with my sponsors because I am Hispanic? It’s really not fair.”
Ruben Pardo, who drives for Fitz Motorsports, said Contreras helped open doors for him.
“If there aren’t big pockets behind you, you just can’t go racing,” he said. “I am eager to race, but support for me to continue my career is not there right now. I really have to work twice as hard as the next guy. Companies need to support Hispanic drivers. If you had a Hispanic driver competing with a high-profile team or sponsor, I am sure that fans would flock to their support. … It is tough for a Mexican company to spend this kind of money, and U.S. companies hesitate to sponsor a minority. My résumé should impress most anyone, but once they see I am Hispanic, I am cast aside as a Hispanic driver, instead of being seen as a NASCAR driver who has won races and championships.”
Clearly, the talent is there. But the sport still needs more top Latino drivers at all levels. And the corporate sponsors still need to fully understand that embracing diversity is a business imperative and that the Latino market has not been fully engaged. Understanding that could be the real fuel that propels the Latino community even further in the world of motorsports.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/hispanicheritage2008/columns/story?id=3644625
I didn’t read through all of this, but are they talking about flags raised by NASCAR itself, or by people in the stands?
In any event, I expect many more Confederate flags to be flown once word of the NAACP’s threats come out.
As for myself, I don’t fly either the Confederate battle flag or the 1860 Union battle flag. I prefer the current “50 stars and 13 stripes” flag myself. But that’s just me.
Sadly that's probably true and almost nobody knows or is taught anything about the African Squadron or any of the other efforts where the US Gov as well as the British Gov put blood and treasure toward ending slavery far before the Civil War.
what is funny in all this is Georgia changed their state flag a few years ago..the new one is almost identical to the stars and bars of the confederate south but there is no controversy.. the new flag is more confederate than the old one..
Who cares? Not me.
I graduated from Gettysburg College right before they started filming the movie "Gettysburg" in the area. Of course the filming was a boon to the local economy above and beyond the normal tourist draw. I still remember a front page pic from the local paper of Ted Turner and a black female aide of his at a press conference, and she was proudly sporting a confederate kepi ;-)
I was in Georgia a few weeks back and noticed the same thing about the "new" Georgia flag... actually it's an older Georgia flag that was readopted. However, I thought the same thing... no controversy even though it's at least just as confederate as the one that had the Confederate Battle Flag. So much for anyone knowing anything about history.
Video:
There are a lot of southern transplants here in southeastern michigan. They came during WWII and never left. They kept their heritage and in many cases even hold their southern accents after 3 and 4 generations.
I am sure NASCAR folks won’t sleep nights knowing NAACP members won’t be there. I wonder if there is some way to make NAACP members boycott everything and just go away. That is not an anti-black people comment. The NAACP is made up of black people who have conveniently identified themselves as annoying. Getting any group of annoying people to volunarily go away is a great thing.
Exactly.
Nascar has been trying to get rid of the CBF for sometime now. They too have gone PC.
Yep, it would be inhibiting freedom of speech if they made rules, but since they are a private entity, not the government, they can do it. They’ll alienate much more fanbase by going PC than they would by just going with the flow.
I’ve been to thousands of races, and see very very few blacks. With about a 1% black fanbase, at best, it’s not surprising almost none have risen to the ranks of Winston (yeah, I know, i’m old school) Cup.
Dawsonville?
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