Woman Flies Confederate Flag Because It's Her 'Heritage'

Annie Chambers Caddell, whose ancestors fought in the Civil War, insists the Confederate flag flying over her home is an important reminder of her heritage. In her historically black neighborhood in South Carolina, where she recently moved, though, her neighbors are upset because it symbolizes to them enslaved Africans, lynchings and other crimes against African Americans.

Still, Caddell's flag continues to fly.

Recently, more than 200 residents signed a protest petition and now neighbors plan to march Saturday along the street in front of Caddell's house, according to the Associated Press.

While I agree with residents that it is disrespectful and a symbol of hatred -- the equivalent of painting a swastika on the side of your house in a Jewish neighborhood -- somehow I think the time for marching has long passed. It seems like energy wasted. I mean, who does that? Unless it's to protest, I don't know, segregation. But to organize a march against one seemingly ignorant woman seems to be a waste of time.

The Confederate flag still flies at many NASCAR races, a sport that features few African Americans. After years of debate, South Carolina lawmakers voted in 2000 to move the Confederate flag from the Statehouse dome to a monument in front of the building. The flag had been on the dome since the Civil War centennial in the 1960s. The NAACP has imposed a tourism boycott for the past decade as it seeks to have the flag removed from the grounds. That seems to be a better use of energy.

There was once a movement to reinvent the swastika back to its original symbol of peace and good luck (various Eastern cultures view it as symbols of gods). When the Nazi Party adopted it, it was intended, partly, to be used to express Germany's "glorious past" that included the "racial purity" of the Aryan Nation. That movement to reinvent its meaning back to its original usage didn't pan out. It has been outlawed in Germany if used as a symbol of Nazism. Still, it pops up every once in a while from some crazy person looking for a platform.

Caddell won't be there during their march. She says she plans to be on nearby James Island for the wedding of a friend who is black. She then said some of her best friends are black and that she is not a racist. (I didn't even make that up. Well, maybe the best friends part, the rest is exactly what she said.)

In her yard, she also has various ornaments including a gnome, Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations and a sign on her fence reading, "Confederate Boulevard." Martha Stewart she is not.

"That flag means a lot more to me than anything I can describe to you," Caddell said. "It's my heritage and it's my right. I'm not trying to slam anybody, and I wish I wouldn't be slammed either. Yes, I could take it down, but what message does that send?" she asked. "If you don't stand for something, you'll never be anything."

Violet Saylor, a 74-year-old retired social worker who lives about three blocks away, said the flag brings back to her memories of Jim Crow in the neighborhood she has lived all her life, according to an Associated Press report:

"She shouldn't fly that flag because it represents slavery and the Ku Klux Klan that used to ride through the town, and we used to have to turn our lights off and hide behind the shades," said Saylor.

If Caddell can't understand that, and how flying a flag in the face of that is insensitive, a march is not going to change her mind.

I think their best bet is to just stay away from her. My guess is she's not the kind of neighbor you want to shoot the breeze with. I am guessing she is the kind of neighbor that spends an inordinate amount of time picking her nose, putting coals in her potbelly stove and lamenting the loss of Bob Barker as the host of the Price is Right.

Perhaps if the flag just "disappeared" while she's on her trip with her black friends, that could save everyone a lot of time and energy.