Campaigns mounting in rural South to revive Confederate flag

While 2015 saw some areas in the South campaigning—often successfully—to have Confederate flags taken down from government and university buildings and removed from state flags, heritage supporters have been working to lobby legislators and prepare lawsuits "to restore or maintain Confederate monuments," Cameron McWhirter reports for The Wall Street Journal. (AP photo: Confederate flag removed from South Carolina Capitol on July 10, 2015)

"Confederate heritage groups say that membership and donations are up; and Confederate flags unfurled on trucks or waving in front of homes remain a common sight across much of the rural South," McWhirter writes. "Dewey Barber, owner of Confederate flag retailer Dixie Outfitters, in Odum, Ga., said sales have 'overwhelmed' his company last summer and fall. Many flags are out of stock as suppliers rush to fill orders, he said."

The South is one of the fastest growing regions in the U.S., McWhirter writes. The 11 states that made up the Confederacy—Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia—have increased in population from 84.2 million in 2000 to 102 million in 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That's an increase of 21 percent, compared with a 13 percent overall U.S. growth rate. "Southern states’ ethnic and racial composition has evolved significantly, with black, Hispanic and Asian minorities growing." (Read more)

PBS to rebroadcast 'The Civil War'; first episode looks at impact of slavery on war

Supporters of the Confederate flag say it represents heritage, not hate, a claim disputed by Civil War historians. The flag has been at the heart of controversy since the June 17 murders of nine African Americans in a historic Charleston, S.C., church and the arrest of a white suspect with ties to hate crimes. Since the shootings, some have called for banning the flag, others have rallied behind it and disputes continue about what the flag means and how the Civil War is taught in classrooms in relation to slavery. (Slaves working in the sweet potato fields on the Hopkinson plantation, South Carolina, 1862)

That makes this the perfect time for PBS to broadcast a completely restored version of the nine-part series, "The Civil War," by Ken Burns. The series, which begins airing on Sept. 7, will offer a great opportunity for rural newspapers to write about the war and get lively discussions going in the community about what it means locally and nationally.

The first episode, "The Cause," gets right to the heart of the impact historians believe slavery had on the war. Here's a description of the episode: "Beginning with a searing indictment of slavery, this first episode dramatically evokes the causes of the war, from the Cotton Kingdom of the South to the northern abolitionists who opposed it. Here are the burning questions of Union and states' rights, John Brown at Harpers Ferry, the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, the firing on Fort Sumter and the jubilant rush to arms on both sides. Along the way the series' major figures are introduced: Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant and a host of lesser-known but equally vivid characters. The episode comes to a climax with the disastrous Union defeat at Manassas, Va., where both sides learn it is to be a very long war."

Confederate flag alive and well in Appalachian coal mining town in rural Virginia

Chris Spencer, the only African-American student at Hurley High School in southwestern Virginia, proudly displays the Confederate flag tattoo on his right arm, telling Erik Brady of USA Today, "It doesn’t mean racism to me. I just look at it as a flag. It’s our mascot. It just means our school.” At the Appalachian school of 200 students, the Confederate flag is highly visible, on the front doors, in the main office, on athletic uniforms and even on athletic equipment. (USA Today photo by Michael Shroyer: Chris Spencer and his Confederate flag tattoo)

While in many areas in the South politicians and activists have called for removal of the flags in light of the June murders of nine African Americans and the arrest of a white suspect with ties to hate crime, the Confederate flag is a way of life 453 miles from Charleston in the small town of Hurley. High school principal Pam Tester told Brady, "It means heritage, not hate. You won’t find a single person in Hurley who thinks different. That’s not what it means here. Never. Virginia is for lovers.”

Brady writes, "That’s the party line in Hurley, a tiny coal mining community tucked into the southwest corner of Virginia, south of Kentucky and west of West Virginia, where longtime citizens say they just want to be left alone to rally around a symbol that’s been with them for as long as they can remember."

Hurley, an unincorporated community in Buchanan County, one of Virginia’s poorest, "was founded in 1858, just before the Civil War, and according to the 2010 census had a population of a little more than 24,000, roughly 97 percent white," Brady writes. Locals blame President Obama and Democrats for the loss of coal jobs. Darwin Bailey, who is unemployed, told Brady, “The liberals and the tree huggers want to shut down the mines. And next thing they’ll want to shut down our flag, too.” (Family Search map: Hurley)

The football field is named for the school's first coach, Arthur M. Ratliff, Jr., whose ancestors fought for the South in the Civil War, Brady writes. A 1982 Washington Post piece on Ratliff "describes a man who hated Franklin Roosevelt for eroding initiative, Earl Warren for destroying justice, Elvis for ruining music and government for over-regulation." Ratliff told the Post, “I’m a general on the battlefield of life. Why, hell, God created me to win.”

Ratliff, who died in 2007, left behind a foundation with net assets worth more than $24 million, Brady writes. Sam Varney, who played on the first teams, said "Ratliff thought that flag 'denoted courage, valor and states’ rights.' It was not adopted really for anything connected with slavery or hatred or anything that those who are being vocal about it say. To change it because someone else doesn’t like it goes against the grain of mountain independence.” (Read more)

At least 22 states, mostly in South, have had Confederate flag rallies since Charleston shootings

Since June 17 when nine African Americans were killed in a historic Charleston, S.C., church and a white suspect with ties to hate crimes was arrested for the murders, many lawmakers—including South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley—have called for the removal of Confederate flags from government buildings. While many flags have been taken down, not everyone sees the flag as a symbol of hatred and racism, as evidenced by the 173 reported rallies and protests in support of the flag—mostly in the South—that have taken place since the shootings, Christopher Ingraham reports for The Washington Post.

Those 173 rallies and protests—in just 62 days since the shootings—were attended by about 23,000 people, according to data from the Southern Poverty Law Center, Ingraham writes. About 5,000 people attended a July rally in Ocala, Fla., where there were reports of gunfire, and another 4,000 attended a North Carolina rally. Also, 2,000 went to a KKK rally in Charleston.

Overall, 22 states have had rallies, led by Virginia with 23. Texas is second at 19, Alabama has had 17 and Georgia and Florida have had 16 each, Ingraham writes. "A common refrain of Confederate flag supporters is that the flag is about heritage, not hate. But historians of the South, as well as political scientists who study the motivations of people who wave the flag, generally dispute this claim. And a number of rallies tracked by the SPLC include the involvement of known hate groups, like the Klan, the Aryan Nations and the League of the South." (Post map)

South Carolina House votes to remove Confederate flag; Gov. Haley to sign bill at 4 today

The Confederate flag is coming down in South Carolina. The state House voted 94-20 today to remove the flag from the South Carolina State House grounds, where it has flown for five decades, Jim Self reports for The State in Columbia, S.C. (State photo by Tim Dominick: Rep. Todd Rutherford and Rep. Leon Stavrinakis celebrate the passing of the bill)

Gov. Nikki Haley, who asked for the flag to be removed after nine African Americans were killed in a historic Charleston church last month and a white suspect with ties to hate crimes was arrested for the murders, will hold a bill signing at 4 p.m. today, Self writes. The flag could be taken down as early as Friday. Haley said in a Facebook post: “It is a new day in South Carolina, a day we can all be proud of, a day that truly brings us all together as we continue to heal, as one people and one state.” (Read more)

Old Glory a source of pride for rural African Americans at flag factory in South Carolina

In a rural town 65 miles north of Charleston, S.C.—where nine African Americans were murdered in a historic church and a white suspect with ties to hate groups was arrested for the crime—the mostly African American employees of the Valley Forge Flag factory in Lane, S.C., continue to take pride in manufacturing American flags, while applauding their employer's decision to discontinue making the Confederate flag, Edward McAllister reports for Reuters. Confederate flags are not made a the Lane factory.
African American Margaree Mitchum, manager of the 100 employees at the Lane factory, told McAllister, "I look at a flag differently now. When I started to sew, and I saw them flying, it filled my heart because I’d had my hands on them . . . For us, as black people, the Confederate flag shows racism. Everything has its place, and I think it should be taken down."

Scott Liberman, chief executive officer of Valley Forge, a company founded by his great grandfather in 1882, told McAllister of manufacturing the Confederate flag, "I wish I had stopped doing it a long time ago. If it has become offensive to people, I don't want anything to do with it." (Read more)

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Monday called for the Confederate flag to be removed from the Capitol grounds, and Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley on Wednesday ordered the Confederate flag and other Civil War flags to be removed from Capitol grounds. Lawmakers in Mississippi, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia have also discussed removing the Confederate flag from state grounds or license plates and the University of Texas is discussing the future of a statue of Confederacy President Jefferson Davis on school grounds, reports The Associated Press.

Alabama governor orders Confederate flag to be removed from Capitol grounds

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley this morning ordered the Confederate flag at the Capitol to be taken down, Charles Dean reports for The Huntsville Times. "Asked his reasons for taking it down and if it included what happened in Charleston last week, the governor said, 'Yes, partially this is about that. This is the right thing to do. We are facing some major issues in this state regarding the budget and other matters that we need to deal with. This had the potential to become a major distraction as we go forward. I have taxes to raise; we have work to do. And it was my decision that the flag needed to come down.'" (Dean photo: The Confederate flag being removed this morning)

Also removed were three Civil War flags: "the First National Confederate Flag, commonly referred to as the 'Stars and Bars'; the second flag is the Second National Confederate Flag, more commonly known as the 'Stainless Banner;' and the last flag standing is the Third National Confederate Flag," Dean writes.

Confederate flag remnants still part of 7 state flags; S.C. editor calls for removal from Capitol grounds

UPDATE: In front of a bipartisan, biracial group of local and state officials, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called today for removal of the Confederate flag from the state Capitol grounds.

The state flag of Mississippi is the only one
with the saltire of the Confederate battle flag

Last week's murders of nine African Americans at a historic church in Charleston, S.C., and the arrest of a white suspect who had ties to hate groups and who proudly displayed the Confederate battle flag, has re-ignited the argument about the flag and its place in society and government, especially in the South, where remnants of various rebel or Confederate state flags can be seen in seven current state flags — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and Tennessee, Christopher Ingraham reports for The Washington Post. (The case for Tennessee is pretty weak, in our view.)

Those seven states consist of about 60 million Americans, 12 million of them African American, "meaning roughly one third of the nation's black population lives under a state flag that evokes, at least in the eyes of many, the Confederacy," Ingraham writes. "Defenders of the flag say it's a symbol of Southern heritage. Detractors maintain that hatred and racism are an inextricable part of that heritage."

In the wake of the shootings, Graham Osteen, editor of The Sumter Item in Sumter, S.C., an hour east of the state capital of Columbia, wrote an editorial on Sunday calling for lawmakers to remove the Confederate flag from the state Capitol grounds, where it has flown over a Confederate memorial since 2000, when it was removed from the Capitol building in a compromise. Osteen wrote:

If the South Carolina General Assembly doesn't get the Confederate battle flag off the Statehouse grounds after what happened in Charleston this week, then we may as well replace the Palmetto Tree on the proper state flag—the beautiful blue one—with a swastika.
I'm sick of the cockeyed excuses from state politicians about why the Confederate flag issue is so complicated. Nine innocent black people are murdered by a 21-year-old white man consumed with racist hatred. He embraces the symbols that divide people, including the Confederate flag, and declares his murderous intentions in racist manifestos and photos posted online. Could it be any clearer what that flag now represents to most people? How complicated is that?
My family has been here in the American South since the 1700s, and my great-great-grandfather was a Confederate soldier. He was a printer. He printed currency. After the South lost the war and the United States emerged intact—thank God—he became a newspaperman.
The family business he started continues today, and now six generations of my American family have been dedicated to supporting the communities we serve and protecting the First Amendment of the United States of America through publishing and communication. We have a track record, so here's some free speech for those who want to keep the Confederate battle flag on the Statehouse grounds as some twisted symbol of Southern heritage: You're misguided and morally blind. Snap out of it.
The Southern pride, heritage and bravery I want to be associated with is that of the families of the victims who on Friday forgave the monster who murdered their loved ones in cold blood. The only grace and love that could have enabled such an action comes from a faith in God and humanity so deep that we should all pray for some small part of it in our own spirit. I'm praying for just a piece of that amazing grace for all South Carolinians this week as the victims are buried. This is South Carolina's time to show the world our true, united colors as a people. Start with the flag. Do the right thing." (Read more)

Immigrants in rural Minnesota share culture and heritage through folk art

Rural immigrants in some corners of Minnesota have been able to share their culture and heritage with locals, and each other, "with the help of arts groups, local festivals and public money that supports cultural pursuits," Gregg Aamot reports for MinnPost. (Aamot photo: The "Tapestry of Friendship")

"Lisa Rathje, a folklorist and teacher at Goucher College in Baltimore, traveled throughout Minnesota as a consultant for the Minnesota State Arts Board, looking, in particular, for examples of folk art," Aamot writes. "She said she was struck by the interesting work being done by immigrants and refugees—much of it non-commercially—and the interesting combination of cultures that can be expressed in various works." Rathje told him, “Newer immigrants and refugees are aware of that tension—aware of those shared lives and that gets revealed in their work."

One place where that is clearly evident is in Pelican Rapids, "an Otter Tail County town of 2,500 people where Somalis, Eastern Europeans, Latin Americans and others were first drawn by work at West Central Turkeys and other agricultural industries," Aamot writes. "Many now express their talent and culture through art."

"This intersection of old and new is captured in a community quilt, called the 'Tapestry of Friendship,' on display at the local library," Aamot writes. "The 25 patches on the quilt were made by local women with roots in older immigrant communities—such as Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch and Irish—and newer ones, including Somali, Bosnian and Mexican. Native American culture is also represented in the quilt. In an accompanying pamphlet, each woman explains the origins and significance of each patch in a short essay." (Read more)

St. Paddy's Day question: How Irish is your county?

Even those who claim no Irish ancestry wear green on March 17, and join in the day's celebrations, promoting the saying, "Everyone's Irish on Saint Patrick's Day." But just how Irish is your county? Here's a map from Jed Kolko, chief economist for Trulia Trends, a real-estate data site. (Click on map for larger version; click here for interactive version that can show specific percentages for each county.)

The data come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, its year-round poll of Americans, which asks them their "primary ancestry." That is claimed by 22 million Americans, or 7.2 percent of the population. "Another 13.5 million Americans claim at least some Irish ancestry, bringing the total to 35.5 million Americans — 11.6 percent of the population — with at least partial Irish ancestry," Kolko writes.