The local newspaper comes out with an opinion statement...
EDITORIAL: nwfdailynews
Posted Jun 29, 2015 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jun 29, 2015 at 4:10 PM
If, as The Associated Press reported, the Confederate battle flag has “quickly … fallen into official disrepute” across the South, not all the latest developments are discouraging. There is good news to report.
First, politicians’ efforts to remove the flag have focused on banners waving atop government property, such as state capitol grounds and war memorials. Individuals who wish to display the Confederate flag can still do so, as long as it’s on private property. That’s the way it should be.
If you’re a fan of the flag, you can run it up a flagpole outside your home, tape it to the side of your car or truck, nail it to your roof or go wild with it on social media. Nobody’s stopping you.
On your own property, we believe, you can do pretty much whatever you want.
Public property is different. It’s maintained with taxes paid by everyone and is supposed to be accessible to everyone. So, ideally, public property should not boast features deeply offensive to large segments of the public.
That’s what the Confederate flag is. In the 1860s, it rallied troops into battle. A hundred years later, it rallied opposition to the civil rights movement. Many find it a troubling emblem.
Our second item of good news, then, is that petitions are circulating to have Confederate flags removed from the county courthouse lawn in DeFuniak Springs and from a Civil War memorial in Crestview. Local officials say they’ll consider the requests.
Find the petitions at
www.change.org.
Our June 26 report on the petition drive mentioned how many signatures had been collected, but that’s not important. Leaders in Walton and Okaloosa counties should take down their Confederate flags because it’s the right thing to do.
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley figured it out. Last week he ordered the removal of four Confederate banners from outside the capitol in Montgomery. He didn’t ask anybody. He just did it.
If the rebel flag has outstayed its welcome in Alabama, it certainly has in Northwest Florida. Let’s put this behind us.
Northwest Florida Daily News editors
http://m.nwfdailynews.com/article/20150629/OPINION/306299996/15921/OPINION