State Representative Juanita Brent
Lawmakers in Ohio have
rejected a push to ban all Confederate memorabilia at county fairs
proposed by a house representative who said such imagery promoted
slavery. House Bill 665, which gives coronavirus aid to local and
county fairs, passed without the Confederate flag amendment in a
56-33 vote, mostly along party lines. The amendment would have
prevented the sale or display of any Confederate flags or merchandise
at local or county fairs.
Democrat Juanita Brent,
who represents District 12 in the Ohio House of Representatives, had
introduced the amendment to House Bill 665. The Republican committee
chair, Rep. Kyle Koehler (R-Springfield) cut off debate over the
issue against the objections from Rep Brent. He gaveled her down.
Brent then voiced
objections and said: "Treasonous." Representative Brent
says the confederate flag is a banner of white supremacy and seeing
it is a constant reminder of slavery.
Those opposed to banning
the flag were concerned that preventing it violated the First
Amendment despite the fact that the Ohio State Fair banned the sale
of Confederate flag merchandise in 2015. The opposition believed the
decision should be up to the fairs themselves.
Brent's amendment was
rejected with majority Republicans voting to table it and Democratic
members voting to adopt it.
Explaining the decision to
reject her amendment, Brent said Republican lawmakers gave “the
usual reasons to do nothing.” She expressed her concern …
“Listening to the
civil unrest, we need to take action and make changes so the people
feel like they’re being heard … They talked about the First
Amendment, about how local authorities should decide. I reminded them
the ban on the flag at the state fair has not been challenged in
court."
House Majority Floor
Leader Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican, said early Friday after
the vote …
"Ladies and
gentlemen, either we believe in the First Amendment for all, or we
slide down the slippery slope of restricting its application only to
those whom we favor today or tomorrow."
Then, there was also the
unusual (to say the least) objection to Brent's amendment from Rep.
Don Jones. He said any discussion over whether to ban flags should be
expanded to include all
flags and that decisions on their prohibition should be made at the
county level.
Jones rambled ...
"We've got a lot
of enemies of our country and I just don't know that this is the
appropriate bill, the appropriate time. If we are going to start to
ban flags, I think we ban all of those flags, not just one.”
The whole development came
just days after Ohio Sen. Steve Huffman, a Republican, asked during a
hearing on whether to declare racism a public health threat whether
the “colored population” is most susceptible to the coronavirus
because “they do not wash their hands as well as other groups.”
Considering the
Confederate symbol, the facts are the facts. Ohio fought for the
Union.
Nearly 7,000 Buckeyes were
killed fighting the Confederates. And, several of the best-known,
most effective Union generals were originally from Ohio, including
future U.S. president Ulysses S. Grant, William Sherman and
Philip Sheridan.
In recent years, the
Confederate flag has been a symbol of white supremacy and opposition
to civil rights. By the mid-20th century, the flag symbolized white
resistance to ending segregation laws.
The Ku Klux Klan has used
the flag in its violence and intimidation. The KKK flew it at
lynching parties, and angry mobs waved it outside public schools as
black children enrolled. The racists also displayed it in front of
white “segregation academies” and next to leering dogs unleashed
on black protesters wanting the right to vote. (Today, its supporters
say the KKK co-opted it.)
Vendor Russell Bissett of
West Virginia says, “I don’t understand why people don’t
realize the Confederate flag is a battle flag. That’s all it is.”
And, even though some
historians like Gary Gallagher have written that it was Robert E.
Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia flag, not the Confederate
government's banner, history records on May 1, 1863, the Confederacy
adopted a flag – known colloquially as the “Stainless Banner” –
featuring the Army of Northern Virginis battle flag emblazoned on a
white field. For the remainder of the Confederacy’s life, the
soldiers’ flag was also, in effect, the national flag.
As you can see for
yourself, the battle flag was essentially the Confederate national
flag.
The Stainless Banner
“If we were trying to
put this inside a museum, I would be the first one to stand up and
say, ‘This is part of America’s history,’” Brent said. “But,
this is not part of Ohio’s history, and we should not be
encouraging it.”
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