Sunday, June 14, 2020

Ohio Fairs and Confederate Flags


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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