Confederate flags displayed in Florida Capitol
/ Friday, April 25, 2014
TALLAHASSEE — A display of Confederate flags in the Florida Capitol this week created a little buzz on social media but did not match the interest several months ago in a stack of beer cans or a “flying spaghetti monster.”
The display, arranged the Sons of Confederate Veterans group, marked today’s state recognition of Confederate soldiers killed in the Civil War. It took place in a part of the Capitol rotunda near where a Christmas Nativity scene and a Festivus pole competed for attention last December. “That brought awareness to us that we could do this,” SCV member Kelly Crocker said of the holiday displays in the Capitol.
As the Festivus display, and a later visit from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster proved, anyone is allowed to promote political or religious messages in the rotunda if they follow certain guidelines.
But there is no guarantee that people will pay attention. While the Confederate flags raised eyebrows and prompted a few Twitter posts late this week, they seemed overwhelmed in the final hectic days of the legislative session.
Crocker, who described himself as a fifth-generation Floridian, said his group set up the flags Thursday ahead of Confederate Memorial Day Saturday, an official state holiday since 1895
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It was the first time the group had brought Confederate flags into the Capitol, but the display was by no means unprecedented. The flag was flown at the Capitol from 1978 until 2001, when it was quietly pulled down at the request of then-governor Jeb Bush.
Ben Wolf, a spokesman for the Department of Management Services, which governs displays at the Capitol, said there was little controversy in approving the Confederate history group. “They met all the guidelines and followed all the proper procedures,” he said.
Crocker said he was aware that the flags could be a sensitive topic for some. “Many people associate this flag with the KKK or slavery,” Crocker said. But his group wants to counteract that perception, he said, saying they are only celebrating their ancestors. A poster accompanying the flag denounced racism.
But some still find the flag offensive. Later on Thursday, Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, took aim at the flag display when he tweeted a photo of himself with state Sens. Oscar Braynon II, D-Miami Gardens, and Dwight Bullard, D-Cutler Bay, posing with a cardboard cutout of President Barack Obama. Clemens captioned the photo on Twitter: “Our response to the intrinsic racism of Florida Heritage Day. #AmericaWon”
Rep. Alan Williams, D-Tennessee, chairman of the Florida Legislative Black Caucus, said he had not felt it necessary to speak out publicly about the flags. “I really don’t think it’s worth the energy,” Williams said while hurrying in and out of House legislative meetings Friday. “I’m not a big fan of the Confederate flag. A lot of people don’t appreciate it. It is a part of our history, just a part of our history that we don’t want to repeat.”
Kelly Crocker of the Sons of Confederate Veterans helped set up a display of Confederate flags in the Florida Capitol on Thursday. (Staff photo / Ian Cummings)
As the Festivus display, and a later visit from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster proved, anyone is allowed to promote political or religious messages in the rotunda if they follow certain guidelines.
But there is no guarantee that people will pay attention. While the Confederate flags raised eyebrows and prompted a few Twitter posts late this week, they seemed overwhelmed in the final hectic days of the legislative session.
Crocker, who described himself as a fifth-generation Floridian, said his group set up the flags Thursday ahead of Confederate Memorial Day Saturday, an official state holiday since 1895
.
A Christmas Nativity scene installed at the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee. Florida officials overseeing holiday displays at the Capitol said yes to a Nativity scene, a Festivus pole and a chair holding a fake pile of pasta with eyeballs and an accompanying proverb created by the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. (Associated Press archive)
Ben Wolf, a spokesman for the Department of Management Services, which governs displays at the Capitol, said there was little controversy in approving the Confederate history group. “They met all the guidelines and followed all the proper procedures,” he said.
Crocker said he was aware that the flags could be a sensitive topic for some. “Many people associate this flag with the KKK or slavery,” Crocker said. But his group wants to counteract that perception, he said, saying they are only celebrating their ancestors. A poster accompanying the flag denounced racism.
In this Dec. 11, 2013 file photo, Chaz Stevens talks with reporters after setting up his Festivus pole made out of beer cans at the Florida Capitol building in Tallahassee. Stevens placed the pole across from a Nativity scene. Since Florida considers the Statehouse rotunda to be a public forum, people can use the space to express themselves or protest, as long as they first apply with a state agency. (AP Photo/Brendan Farrington, File)
Rep. Alan Williams, D-Tennessee, chairman of the Florida Legislative Black Caucus, said he had not felt it necessary to speak out publicly about the flags. “I really don’t think it’s worth the energy,” Williams said while hurrying in and out of House legislative meetings Friday. “I’m not a big fan of the Confederate flag. A lot of people don’t appreciate it. It is a part of our history, just a part of our history that we don’t want to repeat.”
