With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

NAACP, Homestead in dispute over Confederate flag

Black leaders are mobilizing to pressure Homestead leaders to stop the Confederate flag from flying at parades and city-sponsored events.

It started during a day of patriotism. The Sons of Confederate Veterans waved the Confederate battle flag as they marched for the first time in a Veterans Day parade in Homestead last November.

Six months later, the Miami-Dade chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has launched a campaign to prevent future public displays of the flag, a divisive symbol that speaks of racial wounds to some and Southern heritage to others....

''I don't understand why, in 2008 as we are all taught to be tolerant, people cannot be tolerant of me as a white Southern man and my right to fly a Confederate flag,'' said David ''Chili'' Baglin of Cutler Bay. ``The Confederate flag is not a symbol of racism to me. It is only a symbol of my Southern heritage that I am proud of.''

Read entire article at Miami Herald