Confederate Battle Flag A Troubled Symbol
Posted 2009-09-19
BROADWAY – The Confederate battle flag has come to represent quite different things to different groups.
While many consider the flag a symbol of their heritage and a way to honor ancestors who fought for the South during the Civil War, minority groups have come to see it as a representation of slavery and oppression.
Not surprisingly, the flag is often the subject of controversy and court battles.
Among more recent examples is one of a University of Montana student, whose display of the Confederate flag from his dorm room’s balcony earlier this month led to a fight with that school’s administration.
School officials told the student, who is from Winchester, that the display violated the university’s banner policy, according to The Associated Press.
The lawyer for the student said that forcing the removal of the flag violated his Constitutional right to free speech.
Free speech is also at issue in a South Carolina case. In 2006, a teen sued a school district in that state over the right to wear clothes that include the Confederate flag.
Last week, a federal court ruled in favor of the school district but the plaintiff’s attorney said this week an appeal is planned, the AP reported.
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