Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Rebel Flag Allowed to Fly at Veterans Day Parade
nbcmiami.com ^ | Sep 4, 2009 | JESSICA SICK

Posted on 09/04/2009 1:41:52 PM PDT by kingattax

Despite protests, the city of Homestead said they won't ban the controversial symbol ---

Over a century later, the Confederacy seems to have won.

It's a small battle, of course, but it looks like Homestead's Veteran's Day Parade will happen, and, despite protests by the NAACP, organizers decided they could not ban the displaying of the Confederate flag, according to the Miami Herald.

The controversy over the flag began last November, when black residents became outraged that the city allowed the symbol to fly during Veterans Day events.

"I think the Confederate soldiers have always been in the parade. I've seen them there," Chamber of Commerce chairman Jerome Williams told the South Florida Times back in April. "So, why is it an issue this time? I understand the debate, but I've done my own research and realize there were many black people in the Confederacy."

Tensions further flared when the Human Relations Board, who supported the ban, was dismantled by the city - which is not involved in planning the parade -- insisting that it was because of the desire to take it in a different direction, not because of the flag controversy.

A couple months later, the military affairs committee considered canceling the parade altogether, but ultimately decided to go ahead with the festivities, though, according to military affairs chairman Jeffrey Wander, there's a simple solution to saving the drama. "We can't take a position on this," Wander told the Miami Herald, "but we hope the Sons of Confederate Veterans don't bring the battle flag.''

That scenario doesn't seem likely, though.

``It's hard to march in a parade without our flag," said Gregory Kalof, commander of the Miami chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. "It's like going to a rodeo without a horse."

The NAACP did not return calls yesterday for comment.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: csa; dixie; veterans; veteransday
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-23 next last
it's ironic that most civil rights groups will protest any display of the confederate flag yet will not acknowledge the historical fact that black soldiers served in the confederate army.
1 posted on 09/04/2009 1:41:52 PM PDT by kingattax
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: kingattax

It’s nice to see that free speech is being upheld...............for now.............


2 posted on 09/04/2009 1:43:36 PM PDT by Red Badger (The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other peoples' money...M. Thatcher)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kingattax
Oh, come on. I despise Obama, too, but to twist the fact that those uneducated, know-nothing-else slaves were forced to fight and die for their masters' unwinnable war into the idea that they wanted to fight to remain slaves......no mas, dude. My 93-year-old granny talks about how her grandparents' slaves didn't want to be set free. Uhm, yeah, grandma, because they didn't know how else they were going to be FED. Terrible. Just terrible.

Let's be right.
3 posted on 09/04/2009 1:48:05 PM PDT by DRey
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kingattax
If the reenactors are representing a specific period they should carry the national flag of that particular period. If they are not representing a period, they should carry the Third National Flag. Or if they are representing a particular unit they should carry the flag of that unit (which might be an actual battle flag).

But they should not carry the naval ensign, which is what is incorrectly referred to as the "battle flag".
4 posted on 09/04/2009 1:56:07 PM PDT by Arkinsaw
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kingattax
Why can't these people just get over it? It's the battle flag, for God's sake. Confederate re-enactors dressed like Conf. soldiers cannot NOT carry their battle flag.

There are so many things tolerated in today's society that are so much more noxious as well as obnoxious, it has become past ludicrous. And we got here by the conservatives being ACTUALLY tolerant instead of pretending tolerance.

Another faux race issue that I am heartily sick of.

vaudine

5 posted on 09/04/2009 1:59:40 PM PDT by vaudine
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kingattax

When a captured black Confederate soldier was marched into Camp Douglas at Chicago,(the Union equivalent of Andersonville) the guards sumarily shot him on sight. There was evil on both sides. My grand fathers brother was captured at the Battle of Vicksburg and was never seen again.


6 posted on 09/04/2009 2:06:13 PM PDT by jesseam (Been there, done that)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DRey
Damn man, you do NEED to read a history book. Nathan Bedford Forrest's (Considered a founder of the KKK) favorite blacksmith was a FREE black man from Aberdeen Mississippi. This was during the war.
Not all blacks in the ante bellum south were slaves. And many of the free blacks owned slaves.
I know you do not believe me, but all you have to do is google it. or even better go down to the libary and look it up.
7 posted on 09/04/2009 2:08:16 PM PDT by Tupelo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: DRey
Check your history...though it was not very common, African Americans did fight for the Confederacy. The majority were freed men and fought in the western theater. But some fought in Lee's Army of Viginia. From wiki:

Dr. Lewis Steiner, Chief Inspector of the United States Sanitary Commission while observing Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson's occupation of Frederick, Maryland, in 1862: "Over 3,000 Negroes must be included in this number [Confederate troops]. These were clad in all kinds of uniforms, not only in cast-off or captured United States uniforms, but in coats with Southern buttons, State buttons, etc. These were shabby, but not shabbier or seedier than those worn by white men in the rebel ranks. Most of the Negroes had arms, rifles, muskets, sabers, bowie-knives, dirks, etc.....and were manifestly an integral portion of the Southern Confederate Army."

If you are going to force a slave to do something against his will, arming him and 3000 of his friends might not be a bright idea. ;~)

8 posted on 09/04/2009 2:10:36 PM PDT by major_gaff (University of Parris Island, Class of '84)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Tupelo

No need. I’m a student of history at Texas Tech, come from a long, long, LONG line of Confederate and Rev. War soldiers. I know my history. I know there were some free that fought, some slaves that fought. The fact is they were stupid, intentionally kept stupid, and didn’t know what they were fighting for, other than what they knew, what they were told in the South.


9 posted on 09/04/2009 2:13:01 PM PDT by DRey
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: kingattax
The Confederate Air Force is now named The Commemorative Air Force.

In 2002 it changed its name to Commemorative Air Force after a vote of the membership. Many felt the name Confederate Air Force was confusing, did not accurately reflect the purpose of the organization, and was detrimental to fund raising efforts.

This name change was deemed by some fans to be a move of political correctness. The reason for the name change as stated by the organization was "Because the word "Confederate" is offensive to some."

No more Confederate Air Force, but there is in existence a Yankee Air Force.

Perhaps they should change their name because if history is accurate there where no yankee planes in the air during the civil war and because the word "yankee" is offensive to some.

10 posted on 09/04/2009 2:13:15 PM PDT by TYVets (Let’s Roll!!! The leadership of the GOP has no spine and no guts, but we conservatives do)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: major_gaff
If you are going to force a slave to do something against his will, arming him and 3000 of his friends might not be a bright idea. ;~)

Yeah, I know the argument. A trained dog, "free" or not, will do what he's trained to do. When it comes to unwilling trained humans, it's nothing to be proud of.
11 posted on 09/04/2009 2:15:21 PM PDT by DRey
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: kingattax

Allowed?

I allow them, they allow me nothing.

Containing my anger with these self appointed busy bodies is becoming a full time job

TT


12 posted on 09/04/2009 2:18:21 PM PDT by TexasTransplant (NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSET)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: major_gaff
If you are going to force a slave to do something against his will, arming him and 3000 of his friends might not be a bright idea. ;~)

The Confederates generally were not very bright people. Local Confederate idiots forced a whole regiment of white Unionists from Bradley County, Tennessee into Confederate service and marched them into contact with the Yankees at Cumberland Gap where the regiment dissolved and largely deserted into the Union Army. Confederates serving as recruiting officers for the US Army!

13 posted on 09/04/2009 2:20:02 PM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: TYVets

I always thought the name ‘Confederate Air Force’ was pretty cool.


14 posted on 09/04/2009 2:21:46 PM PDT by OpeEdMunkey (Eat right,...exercise...die anyway.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: OpeEdMunkey
I saw the Confederate Air Force flying a B-24 which was low, slow and very noisy.

In addition they staged a dog fight between a Japanese Zero and a P-51 Mustang . I thought it was great.

I can only assume that the Commemorative Air Force has continued with the same high quality as\the Confederate Air Force.

15 posted on 09/04/2009 2:41:57 PM PDT by TYVets (Let’s Roll!!! The leadership of the GOP has no spine and no guts, but we conservatives do)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: DRey

Especially since the flag is not a symbol of slavery but of the brave men who fought and died for their country and were respected for their skill and valour by the men on the other side. Blacks who sometimes show contempt for the Stars and Stripes, like Van Jones,ought not to have the final say.


16 posted on 09/04/2009 3:00:42 PM PDT by RobbyS (ECCE HOMO!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: DRey

If you offer a man his liberty in return for taking up arms. he might just surprise you and stand with the people he knows.


17 posted on 09/04/2009 3:05:37 PM PDT by RobbyS (ECCE HOMO!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: RobbyS
If you offer a man his liberty in return for taking up arms. he might just surprise you and stand with the people he knows.

That's what my grandma says. Maybe she's right. But I think it's only true if the man has forgotten who took his liberty in the first place.
18 posted on 09/04/2009 3:13:53 PM PDT by DRey
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: kingattax
I have been to several sites which discussed Black Confederate soldiers. Some say tens of thousands served but one site had 65,000 as a number. The sites also say that the Blacks received full pay unlike the ones in the northern army. Over 13,000 were killed in action or as one site said, “saw the elephant”.

One Black professor at Southern University said, “When you eliminate the black Confederate soldier, you've eliminated the history of the South”.

If the South had made full use of the Black soldiers, it would have been the larger army. Jefferson Davis wanted black Confederate veterans receiving bounty lands

Some Black info:
1. The “Richmond Howitzers
2. James Washington, a Black Confederate n/c officer became the 3rd Sergeant of the D 35th Texas Cavalry
3. Free Black musicians, soldiers, teamsters and cooks received the same pay as the other troops.
4. The Chief Inspector of the US Sanitary Commission noted that at least 3,000 Blacks were included in Col. Stonewall Jackson's troops. They wore the same shabby uniforms as their white counterparts.
5. It was noted by Frederick Douglas that there were regular Black soldiers in the Confederate Army. He noted they had muskets, bullets, and were ready to shoot down members of the northern army.
6. The Black soldiers returned heavy fire on Union troops at the Battle of Griswoldsville. Griswoldsville was near Macon, GA.
7. Britain and France refused a plan by Jefferson Davis which would have freed the slaves in recognition of the CSA.
8. There were 2 companies of Black soldiers in the Jackson Battalion. They were under Col. Shipp.
9. The Nat’l Park Service recognized that Black citizens were asked to help defend the city of Petersburg, VA. They were offered freedom if they did so.

There were many more facts on the internet about the Blacks who helped defend the South.

People need to do their own research instead of just taking so called facts as the truth. I learned that in my genealogy research.

One other fact. Col. Frank S. Nickerson, US Army described the conditions of southern Black prisoners as, “My cattle at home are better cared for than these unfortunate persons”. He was talking about the care the Blacks received as prisoners of the Federal Army.

19 posted on 09/04/2009 3:31:24 PM PDT by MamaB (If you see someone without a smile, give them yours.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DRey

If it’s the only family you know.


20 posted on 09/04/2009 4:22:22 PM PDT by RobbyS (ECCE HOMO!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-23 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson