Confederate Flag Flies Once More Over Florida County

As backlash against the Confederate flag continues across the country in the wake of a racially charged church massacre in Charleston, S.C., not everyone agrees it’s time to relegate the battle flag to museums.

Commissioners in Florida’s Marion County voted unanimously on Tuesday to restore the flag to its place of honor outside the county’s government complex, many news outlets are reporting. The commission had the flag removed for a few days following the June 17 Charleston shooting that left nine black churchgoers dead. Accused shooter Dylann Roof, 21, was associated with the flag courtesy of an online posting in which photos of the man posing with a Confederate flag were found.

Marion County’s government complex displays all five national flags that have flown over the Sunshine State during the past 500 years or so. Those flags include French, British, Spanish, American banners.

Attendees at Tuesday’s meeting supported the move, with many turning out specifically to ask for the flag’s reinstallation.

“I don’t see racism in the symbol of the Confederate flag,” Debbie Rotstein was quoted by Click Orlando as saying. “I see it was part of the Civil War, and it was part of our history.”

See Also:

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Rotstein’s sentiments were echoed by many in Marion County, but they don’t seem to be flying elsewhere as moves to ban the Confederate symbol from public display continue.

As local and state governments throughout the south debate the merits of flying the flag, deeply southern-rooted NASCAR has announced its intentions to remove the banner from its events.

NASCAR chairman Brian France has gone on the record saying he wants to “eliminate the presence of that flag,” according to the Huffington Post. “We’re working with the industry to see how far we can go to get that flag to be disassociated entirely from our events.” While Confederate flags weren’t banned from NASCAR festivities in Daytona over the 4th of July weekend, the track offered to trade fans shiny new American flags for any Confederate standards they brought with them.

Also in Florida, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor is calling for the removal of a statute of a Confederate general’s statute from the U.S. Capitol. She’s say the image isn’t representative of the Sunshine State. The backlash has even reached the entertainment industry with TV Land pulling reruns of the once popular television show “Dukes of Hazzard.”

In Marion County, however, the debate is settled for now. The flag was reportedly raised back on its pole minutes after Tuesday’s vote.

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