Byron Smith, owner of The Flag Shop in Baton Rouge, does not sell purple and gold ones anymore. Todd Shelton, director of communication for Kappa Alpha Order, said KA fraternities never are allowed to display them on KA grounds.
Ole Miss has banned confederate flags from its stadiums to avoid offending future black recruits. LSU has taken a “middle-of-the-road” position, pressuring vendors to not use LSU colors on them, but looking the other way when fans wave them at football games or display them during tailgating parties.
LSU football players are on the fence as well. Some said watching Ole Miss fans wave the flags conjures up images of hatred and bigotry. But, some who gave contradicting responses said it’s okay for LSU fans to wave them because they’re only showing pride in their heritage and excitement for the game.
It has been 139 years since the Civil War ended, and 44 years since the last surviving veteran of the war died. But, the Confederate battle flag is still as divisive a symbol today as it was back then.
This is a story about the feelings at LSU today and how most of the students interviewed have accepted an idea that the situation regarding the symbol will not change.
The situation at LSU
The NCAA released a statement on April 27, 2001, saying it would not award championship site contracts to states where the Confederate battle flag continued to have a prominent presence. Although Louisiana’s state flag does not include the battle flag, LSU took steps to prevent being denied championship hosts in the future because of association with a controversial symbol.
Ralph Gossard, former associate vice chancellor for Administrative Services, released a letter the same day to all flag and specialty advertising businesses in the Baton Rouge area, stating the University’s stance on the issue.
“During this past football season, we received a number of inquiries and complaints about a ‘Confederate’ flag, presumably the Naval Battle Jack flag, printed in the LSU school colors,” the statement said. “LSU has not and will not license the use of its colors for this use and will take necessary legal action to prevent any unlicensed use.”
Several stores closely associated with LSU stopped selling the purple and gold battle flags and some stores closely associated with LSU discontinued the merchandise. Smith experienced the effects of this decision firsthand.
“LSU requested that we not sell them because we do a lot of business with the athletic department with making flags and banners for sporting events,” Smith said. “They didn’t want to be associated with that.”
Tiger Mania also does not sell the flags, but declined to comment on the reason.
Although the University has never asked its fans to leave those flags at home, perhaps officials wanted to avoid the same national attention the University of Mississippi experienced when it faced controversy from the flag.
How Ole Miss reacted
As a school immersed in Confederate symbols and connotations, Ole Miss made a significant change to its atmosphere in 1997 when former head football coach Tommy Tuberville asked students to stop waving the battle flag at games.
In Sept. 26, 1997, article in “The Daily Mississippian,” Tuberville said, “It’s time to support our teams physically, mentally and morally with enthusiasm and not symbols. As stated many times before, the Rebel flag is not associated with Ole Miss.”
Ole Miss successfully banned all small flags, banners and flag sticks, thus banning the Confederate flag from the stadium. The initial reason for discontinuing its presence in the stadium was to ensure black recruits would want to join the football team. But, Jeff Alford, assistant vice chancellor for University of Mississippi relations, said the students, faculty and administration were ready to move past the symbol.
“The change occurred smoothly because the time was right and we had a spokesperson to say we need to change some things around here,” Alford said.
Alford said many people already were offended by the flag, and the University was ready to change.
Alford said a Confederate flag would be noticeable during pre- and post-game celebrations because people seldom fly it since the change. However, students and football players who attended last fall’s game at Ole Miss said the number of flags was noticeable.
Making exceptions despite their feelings
Chad Lavalais, an education senior and former defensive tackle, told The Reveille in a Nov. 25, 2003, article that he saw “thousands of Confederate flags” at Ole Miss and the combination of seeing the flags and hearing racial slurs during the game made him vow never to return to Mississippi.
Teammate Marcus Spears, a mass communication senior and defensive end, agreed the images at Ole Miss were offensive and surprising.
Despite these discontented feelings, Spears and other players bucked those statements by making exceptions for the LSU fans. He said players know LSU fans fly the same flags, but they think the situation is less severe and therefore less threatening.
“I’m not too fond of it because I know what it stands for,” Spears said. “You start thinking about it sometimes, but it never bothers me to the point that I get mad. Some people do it because they’re representing LSU, but I think it’s something that goes with the individual. I don’t like to get into racial discussions, but, if it offends people, it should be addressed.”
Skyler Green, a sports marketing junior and wide receiver, said he looks at the flag as something of the past, and does not pay much attention to it.
“It’s all in what they believe, and if that makes them more excited about LSU, then let them do it,” Green said.
Some players, like Brandon Washington, a general studies junior and defensive end, were not as accepting of the symbol.
“I like playing for fans, but I don’t want to see that,” Washington said. “To some it’s pride. To us, it’s racism. I realize that not all are flown for racism, but more often it does represent that, and I don’t think it should be flown.”
Brian Johnson, a communication studies sophomore and offensive lineman, said some fans handed him and other players purple and gold Confederate battle flags to sign at the January 24 Parade of Champions. The parade celebrated national titles for LSU and Southern.
“I threw it right back,” Johnson said. “We don’t like it and we don’t want them to fly it.”
What does is stand for, anyway?
Leonard Moore, a history and African-American studies professor, does not see the connection in flying a Confederate flag to LSU football spirit.
“The majority of players on the football team are African-American,” Moore said. “Then we have these white boosters cheering them on when they’re flying the Confederate flag. It’s disrespectful and for the fans who do (fly the flag), it shows they could care less about those players.”
Moore said from an administrator’s point of view, the University should do more to discourage the flag at games. He also wondered what the real meaning was behind showing the flag.
“When people say, ‘It’s my heritage, it’s what I’m proud of,’ what do they mean?” Moore said. “Pride in what? A majority of folks flying it probably don’t have any connection to the Civil War. People are taking pride who have no investment in that.
“To me, it’s letting people know, ‘Let’s get back to the way it used to be,” he said. “What I want to know is, what do white Southerners get out of it?”
Moore is not alone in his thoughts.
Wanda Jackson, a history professor at Southern University, said the battle flag gained popularity during the 1950s when the Supreme Court ruled to desegregate schools. That case, Brown v. Board of Education decided in 1954, set the precedent that separate schools disagreed with rights of equal protection of laws guaranteed in the Fourteenth Amendment.
“It’s relevant today because some people who fly it now have hostile feelings about that decision,” Jackson said. “People use the flag as rhetoric against the war, and when they say it’s heritage, I don’t understand it. As a black person, and as an American, people need to understand the North won.”
Jackson finds it hard to see how people can be truly patriotic when they fly a symbol for separation.
To Jackson, the battle flag can only stand for feelings of resentment toward desegregation, and that impression is not confined to black opinions.
David Goldfield, a history professor at the University of North Carolina–Charlotte and author of “Still Fighting the Civil War: The American South and Southern History,” said he understands that some people claim the flag is not racist. But it still is offensive, he said.
“When you look at history, it seems clear that it’s used for racial purposes,” he said. “There’s no question about it. Mississippi, Alabama and Florida redesigned their flags to make a statement against the Brown [v. Board of Education] decision.”
Goldfield said although the men who fought under the flag did so courageously, they fought for “one of the most god-awful causes,” — human bondage. He said the place for the Confederate battle flag today is the museum.
Defending the symbol
Some white students on campus, however, defend the right to fly the Confederate flag, saying it is not always racist.
Tony Marks, a mass communication senior, said controversy about the flag exists because of a misunderstanding of history.
“I understand it offends some people, and I respect their feelings. I just think they’ve been misguided and misunderstand the history,” Marks said. “It’s a very bad part of our history, but it symbolizes a way of life. It’s more about Southern traditions, and to a lot of people who fly it, it’s not done with an intent to be racist.”
Chad Waldrup, a history senior, said he absolutely thinks people should still fly the battle flag because it stands as a free speech issue and a sign of heritage.
“People are proud of the South, but it doesn’t mean everyone’s racist,” Waldrup said. “Symbols change. It probably means the same thing as it used to, but perceptions change. I’m not asking [people] to change their views, I’m just asking them to respect mine.”
Michael Silva, a chemical engineering freshman, said he understands the heritage argument. For that same reason, he put a Philippine flag bumper sticker on his car to represent his background.
“In that way I think it’s Southern pride,” Silva said. “I don’t think we have a race problem on campus, and if people cared less, it wouldn’t be a problem.”
Students agreed that race relations on campus are affected somewhat when people display the flag. But, there are other factors which separate races. Many responses indicated that differences won’t ever change and there was a common idea that like attracts like. Some found it acceptable to ignore what made them or others uncomfortable.
Others expressed a desire to move on and create a new history of which everyone could be proud. But, in a region where the way of life is known as hospitable and friendly, many people said they thought it OK to look the other way.
A change in meaning
The Confederate flag’s many interpretations can cause rifts among groups in the country, the South and the University. Some said the symbol is a definite divider, while others think it is the least of any racial problems.
Elizabeth Conrad, a biology freshman, said because there is so much controversy surrounding the issue, Southerners have become desensitized and have learned to deal with it.
“It means something to someone, so that’s why they fly it or don’t fly it,” Conrad said. “Something’s always going to offend someone, and I don’t think banning it would change anything on campus.”
She said the flag is not affecting race relations because it is mostly flown at football tailgate parties, and it is not a constant presence on campus.
Jimmy Rumney, a mass communication freshman, agreed.
“The blacks would still sit over there and the whites over there,” he said. “People are going to gravitate where they’re most comfortable.”
Rumney agrees there is a misunderstanding toward those who fly the flag. Contrary to Moore’s comments that white fans do not care about the black players, Rumney said if people were truly racist and felt that strongly about it, they would not go to football games to cheer for black players.
Mark Cryer expressed a different opinion in March at his one-man performance “99 Questions” at a tour stop at the University.
Cryer has been traveling the country performing the play, which answers various questions about being black in America.
“Race is the dirty little secret of America, and people put it under the rug and hope it’ll go away,” Cryer said after the show. “As someone with a Northern perspective, I think it absolutely separates us. There’s an unhealthy bias against the South because that symbol is acknowledged as negative.”
He said the battle flag is a reminder of a time that meant something different.
Moving toward solutions and understanding
Different sides could argue about the Confederate battle flag forever because of its countless interpretations attached to countless experiences tied to the Civil War and its cause. For that reason, University history professor Stanley Hilton thinks people should be careful with symbols that can assume different meanings.
“To African Americans, it conjures up something heinous, and that’s slavery,” Hilton said. “But, to Southerners that take pride in that flag, they don’t think slavery. They seem to be supporting ideals of an American revolution at the time.”
Leah Jewett, director of the University Civil War Center, said in an e-mail it is impossible to state unequivocally that the battle flag means one thing only.
“The facts tell us that various flags were used throughout the Civil War to represent the Confederacy in battle and as a political nation,” Jewett said. “But, the battle flag controversy cannot be clarified by researching the Civil War and stopping there. The post-war years were crucial to understanding the issue.”
She said public memory of the South’s history steeped in politics and identity plays a significant role in the modern interpretation of the battle flag.
Learning the history of the flag could help clarify the issue, she said. The flag controversy points to a larger issue of a political and racial struggle in the nation as a whole, not just the South.
“Really listening to opposing viewpoints, and considering all facets of American history as ‘our’ history, warts and all, would go a long way toward achieving mutual respect and understanding,” Jewett said.
Strong opinions aside, some believe talking about the issue would help clarify misunderstandings among opposing groups.
Cryer said there needs to be more sensitivity about the subject and what it symbolizes.
“It’s one of those things we can put behind us now,” he said. “I look at the controversy as an opportunity for discussions. Sometimes people use [the race issue] like we’re different species. If I cut you, you’ll bleed. If I strike you, you’ll feel pain. We have much more in common than things that separate us.”