A flag fight is brewing in southern Florida
We read:
"Members of the Miami-Dade branch of the NAACP want the Confederate flag banned from the Homestead-Miami Motor Speedway, and they will meet Thursday to decide whether to boycott a NASCAR race slated there for November...
But officials at NASCAR and the raceway say there's little they can do to prevent spectators from displaying or waving the Confederate flag. NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston told FOXNews.com that NASCAR's "longstanding policy" prohibits displays of the Confederate flag on its cars, uniforms, licensed merchandise or in advertisements....
Homestead-Miami Motor Speedway President Curtis Gray said spectators are not permitted to wave large flags of any sort in the stands because of safety concerns, and to prevent them from obstructing the view.
He said Confederate flag items are not sold or officially displayed throughout the 65,000-seat raceway, but there's no official ban on spectators bringing miniature flags to the track, or wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the symbol. "... we don't regulate the lawful behavior of our fans or prohibit free speech and expression of our guests," Gray told FOXNews.com. "We can't tell people what to wear. Where do you start? Where does it end, as far as individual expression?"
Brandon Hensler, a spokesman for American Civil Liberties Union's Florida chapter, said bringing a Confederate flag to the race or any public event would be protected speech. "If someone wants to show up with a shirt like that, there'd be no legal recourse for that," Hensler said. "Unless there's a specific threat, all speech is protected."...
Chuck McMichael, commander in chief of Sons of the Confederate Veterans, a Tennessee-based group that promotes Confederate heritage, said the flag fight stems from last year's Veterans Day parade when some attendees objected to Confederate Army uniforms and flags displayed by participants. As a result, some Greater Homestead/Florida City residents sought to have the organization banned from future events, McMichael said.
But any attempts to block Confederate flags at Homestead-Miami Motor Speedway will be met with "some action," McMichael said, including the possibility of counter protests. "Any time somebody starts talking about that, of course there's cause for concern," McMichael told FOXNews.com. "The bottom line is I don't think they should ban [Confederate flags] because there's nothing wrong with them. It's just people showing pride in their heritage."
Source
Interesting to see the ACLU on the right side for once.
10 comments:
I'm shocked that the ACLU is standing up for the confederate flag while NASCAR has a policy which prohibits its display on its cars, uniforms and ads.
NASCAR should be boycotted until they change the policy.
As for the NAACP, f-ck them. What else are they gonna boycott? Country music?
The ACLU was just asked for their opinion on the matter, they are not currently assisting NASCAR.
Anyways, NASCAR already doesn't allow the confederate flag on official merchandise, on race teams, and on official displays...it's already banned. What the NAACP is trying to do is get NASCAR to police the fans, and NASCAR has said it is not in the business to police the minds of people.
Why doesn't NAACP move NASCAR to ban rap music, most of which is racist? I don't, maybe because it is enjoyed mostly by blacks?
I think NASCAR's response to this outrage is pathetic. This is clearly nothing more than another attempt at racial extorsion. I'm sure the naacp will quietly end up with a nice "thick envelope" (see: $$$) to keep them quiet.
The continuing effort by radical blacks and their leftist supporters to demonize a proud and valuable symbol of the South is an insult to not only every southerner, but to every American.
Tens-of-thousands of brave and patriotic Americans died fighting for that flag and what it represented to them. And no, it wasn't about racism. It was about pride and the love of liberty, something most Americans have been convinced is "un-PC" and therefor, no longer appropriate. What a truly sad ending this country is coming to.
"NASCAR already doesn't allow the confederate flag on official merchandise, on race teams, and on official displays...it's already banned."
----Doesn't make sense to me, most NASCAR fans are white southerners, why would you not want to make a buck celebrating their heritage? What are they teaching in business school? That it's better to lose money and not piss off a minuscule number of black NASCAR fans?
I suppose next they will change the history of NASCAR to not show that it grew out of moonshiners racing the hotrods they used to run from the law.
Bobby, the gutless bean-counters who run NASCAR won't sell that merchandise because whatever they earn from it won't come close to what a lawsuit would cost them, not to mention the negative publicity. And of course, the NAACP knows that. What bothers me is, where is the outrage from the fans? Why aren't the millions of race fans also applying pressure to NASCAR?
"Interesting to see the ACLU on the right side for once."Although I'm sure it wrankles the ACLU to defend this flag they can't do an obvious 180 turn.
They are the champions of the 1st ammendment.....
Mostly when it comes to Liberal ideology, but sometimes they get trapped by a Conservative issue.
Surely you mean the ACLU is on the right side at least TWICE (see the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival story).
I am black....and what is all the fuss about the Confederate Flag? It's all a part of our history, secondly more blacks fought for the south than the north, and thirdly, F-ck the NAACP. They are just another Liberal fascits organization that do not represent what is the core belief of many blacks. I'm ashamed that they are in existence.
I used to fly a Confederate Flag from my car when driving through college towns to annoy the Lefties.
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