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Tuesday, February 13, 2001 Confederate flag flap finally finished in FloridaNews-Journal Editorial Florida took a welcome step to cleanse its past when Gov. Jeb Bush quietly removed the Confederate battle flag from the state Capitol, where it had flown since 1978. Florida's "Stainless Banner," a white field with a battle flag in the corner, had been a painful reminder for many blacks of slavery and racism. The flag is a symbol of a past that shouldn't be forgotten. But the flag also has no place as a symbol of what Florida should represent to all races today. Bush used a remodeling project outside the Capitol's west entrance as an opportunity to remove the Confederate flag as well as three others that commemorated the Spanish, French and British governments that ruled the state. All of the banners will be displayed a short distance away at the Florida Museum of History -- a place where they can be experienced in their appropriate historical context. Previous efforts to remove the flag for too long were rebuffed or ignored. Black legislators wanted to run it down the flagpole in 1996, but then Gov. Lawton Chiles and Secretary of State Sandra Mortham rejected the appeal. Bush's decision and timing, as might be expected, have prompted some cynicism about his motives. Although a statement from the governor said he had been thinking about the move for a year, black legislators understandably suspect Bush is looking for ways to repair relations with black voters who felt disenfranchised during the presidential election or who are angry about his policies -- particularly on affirmative action. Motives matter, but so do actions. Bush has banished a widely hated symbol without dragging Florida into the kind of debate that other states have suffered over the Confederate flag. After two decades, Georgia legislators could only agree to display a shrunken flag on a new state flag. South Carolina had to endure a bitterly divisive debate and a national boycott by civil rights groups before it decided to move -- but not remove -- its Confederate flag. Mississippi residents will vote in April on whether to eliminate their Confederate symbol. Florida and its residents have been spared a rekindling of those tensions. Removing the Capitol flag gives the state an opportunity to remember its history, without having that history taint its future. HICI Special Report — Symbols: Worth Fighting For? |
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