World's Largest Confederate Flying in Tampa

The Sons of Confederate Veterans are planning to put up a Confederate Flag the size of a semi-trailer.

At 30 feet high and 50 feet long, it will sit atop a 139-foot pole on private property and fly above a major freeway in Tampa, Florida. Of course, this Transformer sized Stars and Bars is causing great upset among black residents and others who care about the feelings or opinions of the local African American community.



This latest controversy brings us right back to an age old seemingly impossible to resolve argument. The Sons of Confederate Veterans say the flag is a symbol of heritage not hate. While most black people associate said heritage with slavery and myriad other racist brutalities.


As expected the Sons of Confederate Veterans say critics of their plans are simply misinformed and just don't understand.

Adams insists the flag isn't about racism or slavery. "It's about honoring our ancestors and about celebrating our heritage," he said. "It's a historical thing to us."

He hopes people who are offended by the flag will drive to the memorial and view the plaques honoring Confederate soldiers. They plan to have one dedicated to black Confederate veterans, he said.

Why is it that the people who want blacks to "just get over" slavery and Jim Crow are often the same ones extolling the virtues of the Confederacy and its failed secession attempt?

Well one thing is for sure: the best way to help America move past the indelible stain of slavery does not include flying the Confederate flag all over the place. Any fifth grade history textbook will explain that the Civil War was indeed about States' Rights; States' Rights to own human beings and to expand that right into the Western territories.

In the spring of 2006, there was a lot of fuss about all of the Mexican flags that were waived during the Immigration reform protests. I don't know why. Afterall, the southwestern United States once belonged to Mexico. So let's just acknowledge that those protesters waving Mexican flags were celebrating their heritage, too.

And in a related story further north, three white high school seniors in Minnesota were so caught up in Dixie that their flag fetish cost them big time. They claimed their love of "rebellion" and the "Dukes of Hazard" compelled them to bring a big ol' Confederate Flag to school - disrupting everything. So, administrators took a hard stand, suspending them immediately. Which meant that they were not allowed to attend their own graduation .

I wonder if it was worth it for them? Hopefully these kids learned a hard lesson before going out into the real world.