Confederate Flag

WHEN I LEFT Baltimore 2 1/2 years ago to live in Hot Springs, Ark., I looked forward to slowing my pace, spending time with extended family and learning about the New South.It didn't take long for me to discover that little about the South is new.My first lesson in Southern living came a few weeks after I arrived in this tourist town of about 13,000 people.I was driving along Central Avenue, the main drag, just beyond the shops that cater to people who flock here for hot mineral baths, horse racing and other attractions.

Courts' technology needs upgrading, but it won't come cheapThe Sun's editorial "Upgrading Baltimore's low-tech court system" (Sept. 9)made one very important point, but was flatly wrong on another.The Sun is correct that the criminal justice system badly needs to upgrade, and in some cases initiate, information technology services. Some of us, backed by State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy, have been trying to do this for years.Data sharing, when we can get there, is the ultimate hope. Information -- and the ability to collect and analyze it -- is the most important game in town.

SIX SCORE AND 13 years after the organized killing ceased, the Civil War and its lingering emotions return today to Howard County, where the Sons of Confederate Veterans intend to hold a memorial service honoring vanished men and vanished yesterdays, and maybe not-so-vanished values.It isn't so easy to tell about the values.The Confederate loyalists will rededicate a Civil War monument placed before the Howard County Courthouse half a century ago and claim it has nothing to do with favoring the enslavement of human beings, while those actually descended from the enslaved will generally find this an outrageous and painful reminder of America's historic racist instincts.

A ceremony to honor Howard County Confederate war dead went peacefully yesterday afternoon, despite about 100 protesters who felt that the event promoted racism and hatred.About 200 people attended the rededication of a 50-year-old Confederate monument outside the Howard County Circuit Courthouse in Ellicott City at 2 p.m. yesterday. They sang "Dixie," saluted the Confederate flag -- and listened to a speech that accused Maryland's secretary of state, John T. Willis, and Gov. Parris N. Glendening of trying to erase Maryland's Southern heritage.

Confederate flag is sign of South's history, heritageI just finished reading the Sept. 22 article, "Black leaders protest effort to honor Confederate soldiers." I couldn't believe that they would act so childishly. Have them go back and reread history. The Confederate flag did not and does not represent racism. It was a flag that men took into battle. Just because "certain groups" use the battle flag in their marches, they also use the American flag.I guess you can consider the American flag racist too, because it flew over the Capitol and the White House when "The War Between States" was fought.

I LIVED IN New York and California for much of my life, so imagine my surprise when I moved to North Carolina a year ago and discovered that the Confederate flag -- the emblem of slavery -- is as prominent in this area as syrupy southern accents.As an African-American, I was outraged because I know all too well that those who flew that flag fought the bloodiest war in this nation's history for the "right" to maintain my ancestors in bondage.However, it is not just African-Americans who should be disgusted by the resurgence of "Confederate Chic," as evidenced by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who display the Confederate Battle Flag on special Maryland license plates.

Growing up in Montgomery County listening to his grandmothers tell stories about his ancestors fighting and dying in the Civil War, Patrick J. Griffin III developed a curiosity that evolved into a lifelong passion.Although relatives served on both sides of the conflict, Griffin identified most closely with the South. Perhaps it was the fact that the Confederates were underdogs. But as he learned more about the war, his appreciation and respect for the sacrifices and the ideals of the Confederate soldier grew.

Disappointed by a judge's decision upholding the use of Confederate flags on specialty license plates, state officials are pondering a possible appeal while a lawmaker has drafted a bill abolishing all specialty tags.State Del. Clarence M. Mitchell IV, who opposes the Confederate flag on license plates, said he is introducing a bill to abolish all vanity and specialty tags granted to individuals and nonprofit organizations by the state.A federal judge ruled Monday that state motor vehicle officials violated the free speech rights of the Sons of Confederate Veterans when they revoked plates bearing the group's logo, the Confederate battle flag.

Angered by the state's revocation of Maryland license plates honoring Confederate veterans, two seniors at Hereford High School raised the rebel flag in the schoolyard this week -- and ended up with a five-day suspension.Administrators who tried to lower the flag when they discovered it Monday morning found that the pulley on the pole had been jammed and summoned a county truck with a cherry picker from Towson to remove the flag, Hereford Principal Ray Gross said.The matter is pending before a Baltimore County Board of Education administrator, who could decide to expel the male students and make them pay restitution for the flagpole and the use of the cherry picker, which could amount to as much as $500.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans vowed yesterday to take the fight over the Confederate battle flag into court in an effort to keep the symbol on the organization's special Maryland license plates.The group is protesting a decision by the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration to revoke plates issued to 78 Sons members. MVA Administrator Ronald L. Freeland withdrew approval of the flag logo after black political and religious leaders complained that it was an offensive and racist symbol of slavery.

Stars and Stripes also once symbolized racism I found the rationalization of the actions of Johns Hopkins University officials in the editorial "A civil action" (Nov. 21) a bit disingenuous. Certainly, the flags of the Confederacy were, at a time in our history, connected to racial oppression. But the Stars and Stripes was also, for a while, the banner of a nation that recognized slavery and constitutionally recognized its victims as only three-fifths of a person. Both were part of our history.

I was dismayed to read that, after 20 years of hosting the groups, the Johns Hopkins University is refusing to allow Confederate Civil War re-enactment groups to rent space for their yearly ceremony ("Hopkins balks at Confederate banner," Nov. 20). As the wife of a Civil War history enthusiast, I know that the Civil War was about more than just slavery and that those who seek to celebrate Confederate ancestors are not also seeking to celebrate discrimination and bigotry. By including in its article on the controversy quotes from the NAACP condemning the Confederate flag as a symbol of hatred, the newspapers boxes re-enactors and historical enthusiasts in with white supremacists and others who twist history to suit their political needs.

Every January, descendants of Confederate soldiers gather in Wyman Park to march under the banner of the Confederacy, sing "Dixie" and lay wreaths at the monument to Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, legendary generals of the Confederate States of America. And afterward, for 20 years now, everyone has gone across the street to the Johns Hopkins University for coffee and refreshments, with some of the 200 descendants and observers still wearing the uniforms of Confederate re-enactors and carrying the flag.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- They just can't help it. As soon as politicians and pundits cross the South Carolina line, their IQs plummet 20 points. I reckon the candidates figure if they say really dumb stuff, them lowbrow, redneck yahoos will vote them right into that great big ol' house up in Washington. Some of those yokels, like yokels everywhere, may be dumber 'n a box o' rocks, but they're smart enough to know what the newcomers want and, aiming to please, seem determined to give it to them.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- For Kitty Green, the NAACP's call for an economic boycott of the state seven years ago was a "slap in the face." While the teacher-turned-entrepreneur supports the civil rights organization's effort to remove the Confederate flag from the State House grounds, the sanctions hit her business hard. Now some members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People are questioning whether it's good policy to continue the boycott. In 2000, the flag was moved from atop the State House dome to a monument in front of the capitol, and there's no plan to move it again.

When Anthony Wright steps onto a football field, he instinctively reminds himself to block out everything except the game. He will say it today at The Coliseum in Nashville, Tenn., where a strong performance against the Tennessee Titans could begin a campaign to remain the Ravens' starting quarterback. He will say it like he did so often at the University of South Carolina, where the pressure wasn't from breaking into the starting lineup but from breaking down a color barrier. A decade ago, Wright did what was once unthinkable, becoming the first black starting quarterback in the school's then-104-year football history.

WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean refused to apologize in a nationally televised debate last night for saying he wanted to be the candidate of white Southerners with Confederate flags on their pickup trucks. The former Vermont governor has come under intense criticism from several of his Democratic rivals since making the remark. The flap is threatening to become the first serious problem to face his front-running candidacy. Last night in Boston, during a town hall-style "Rock the Vote" forum aimed primarily at younger voters, Dean again found himself on the defensive but refused to back down.

SCOTLAND -- Years of severe weather have markedly eroded the shoreline here at the southern tip of St. Mary's County. Isabel was only the latest storm to batter the marshy point where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Potomac River. It's not just Point Lookout's whipping winds and remoteness that give it a haunted feel. Some say it's the turbulent history of a place where thousands died slow deaths. From 1863 until 1865, the point was the site of the Civil War's largest prisoner of war camp, housing more than 52,000 Confederate soldiers.

CAMBRIDGE - A ceremonial salute last week from two Civil War replica cannons and a front-page newspaper photograph showing this Eastern Shore city's mayor standing next to a Confederate flag has angered many African-Americans here, who say the incident was an unwelcome reminder of the area's long history of racial tension. Mayor Cleveland L. Rippons posed with the model artillery pieces made by two local men who fired them as a salute to the Pride of Baltimore II when the vessel made a stop April 17 in Cambridge, the first goodwill port call of the schooner's 2001 sailing season.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Maurice Bessinger makes a tangy, mustardy barbecue sauce. At his restaurant, he also serves up a political philosophy that is too tart with racist overtones for some but, for others, is a sweet rallying cry for states' rights. A few months after the Confederate battle flag was lowered from the state Capitol, a visitor to Maurice's Gourmet Barbecue samples both mouth-watering mounds of pork and a litany of literature devoted to, in Mr. Bessinger's words, a 21st-century declaration of independence.