Heritage, Not Hate

-This post written by Behn-

About a week ago, as Meg, Graham and I were strolling along at the Lexington Community Festival, I came across the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) booth. I noticed some tee shirts they were passing out: General Lee, with a tear strolling down his cheek and the First National Confederate Flag beside his head. Pretty soon I discovered there would be a Flag Rally-to protest a recent ordinance to be voted on by the Lexington City Council. An apparent "controversy" that dates back to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. This weekend happens to fall on the same date as Lee-Jackson weekend. So, inevitably, some were offended by all the Confederate flags flying on public flagpoles during MLK weekend.

I'm not on here to act as a Southern Sympathizer 150 years after the War Between the States first began, nor to declare the aforementioned flying of flags as "unpatriotic." I majored in U.S. History at University of Delaware and chose to move to the fine town of Lexington because I love the area's local history. To take away public display of the flags on city flagpoles is not necessarily a detriment to the area's history, but it is definitely a slap in the face to two great individuals who have had a hand in so much of Lexington's history-and those two individuals are Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.

These men were by no means racist or hateful. They felt God calling them to defend their native state of Virginia. Lee became president of Lexington's Washington College (now Washington and Lee) after the war, and of course Stonewall Jackson was a professor at Virginia Military Institute (VMI). I see both as great American men and a big part of Lexington's history. To remove flags is a "politically correct" act of disrespect to both men. The City of Lexington approved the banning of flags on public poles by a vote of 4-1. In addition to Confederate flags, both VMI and W&L flags are also being banned. This ordinance does not prohibit individuals from flying the Confederate banner on their own property. I'm also hearing that the SCV is planning on taking this to higher courts.

I took Megan and Graham into Lexington on Thursday evening to check out the rally. One of the speakers was H.K. Edgerton, former North Carolina NAACP President, and a Confederate Advocate. All in all it was an interesting night. I think the Council's decision could backfire. The SCV's tagline, "Banning the Area's History is just plain wrong", is a statement I would have to agree with. Americans who died for both the North and the South during this time in our nation's history deserve our respect. Fly the flags.