Confederate flag debuts the day Obama becomes presumptive nominee
They are two events linked mostly by a single, jarring coincidence.
On the same Tuesday that Barack Obama became the first African-American to win the Democratic nomination for president, local activists raised a Confederate flag the size of a semitrailer truck at the intersection of Interstates 75 and 4.
Some might suggest an indirect connection — that supporters of Confederate history, angry that their heritage has been overlooked in the rush to celebrate multicultural achievement, wanted an in-your-face way to grab the area's attention.
And they would be right.
"We've been marginalized and put off and ostracized for the last 20 years," said Marion Lambert, a Tampa member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He said he didn't plan specifically to raise the flag on Obama's big day but doesn't mind the juxtaposition. "We're using this ultimate weapon we have been given by a society which ostracized it."
Read entire article at http://www.tampabay.com
On the same Tuesday that Barack Obama became the first African-American to win the Democratic nomination for president, local activists raised a Confederate flag the size of a semitrailer truck at the intersection of Interstates 75 and 4.
Some might suggest an indirect connection — that supporters of Confederate history, angry that their heritage has been overlooked in the rush to celebrate multicultural achievement, wanted an in-your-face way to grab the area's attention.
And they would be right.
"We've been marginalized and put off and ostracized for the last 20 years," said Marion Lambert, a Tampa member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He said he didn't plan specifically to raise the flag on Obama's big day but doesn't mind the juxtaposition. "We're using this ultimate weapon we have been given by a society which ostracized it."