Dixie Flag Controversy Continues in Palestine

PALESTINE (AP/Staff) – About 50 people protest the recent removal of the Confederate flag from an East Texas town’s courthouse. Fourth-grader William Peeler said Wednesday he doesn’t pledge allegiance to the American flag because “under that flag, the Yankees killed southerners.” Last week Anderson County commissioners narrowly voted to fly the original Confederate flag to commemorate Confederate History Month in April. It’s not the more recognized “rebel flag,” but opponents say it represents the South’s support for slavery, a key issue during the Civil War. On Monday night, members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans decided to take down the flag themselves — just as Palestine city leaders were calling for its removal.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans’ Marc Robinson doesn’t understand why people wanted the flag removed. He says, “We were just trying to honor those brave Confederate soldiers, those brave veterans who served Anderson County many years ago.” Robinson adds this had nothing to do with supporting slavery — and points out that the Confederate First National flag flies over the San Jacinto monument all year long.

Many would like use the issue to begin a dialogue over racial understanding. To blacks in Anderson County, flying the Dixie flag on a public building not only represents slavery — but in more recent times, it had become a symbol of those in Texas who resisted the civil rights movement. Author and Fort Worth Star Telegram columnist Bob Ray Sanders says, “That’s when they started flying those flags over courthouse lawns and statehouses, because it was a defiance of what was going on in the country” with integration. Sanders pointed to the cry, “Segregation now, and segregation forever.” He says the disagreement also comes just weeks after the legislature paid tribute to blacks who had been gunned down in Anderson County in 1910.