The Flag Is Still There

 

I’ve written in the past about the controversy over the huge Confederate battle flag that flies in a prominent place just off the exit from US460 to the east of the Virginia town of Farmville.

The flag was erected on private property by a non-profit called Virginia Flaggers in an arrangement with the landowner. I don’t need to tell you that the flag caused consternation among certain elements of the population as soon as it appeared.

Back in 2022, not long after the flag was first raised, locals who opposed it initiated a legal process at the county level to force its removal. This is from the summary that I wrote at the time:

All the brouhaha about the flag raised outside of Farmville was, of course, based on the fact that it was deeply offensive to all right-minded citizens. However, the flag’s detractors were well aware that lip service had to be paid to the First Amendment, and that opposing the battle flag based on its symbolic meaning could never succeed. The preferred strategy was, as it often is, to use zoning ordinances to force the removal of the offending flag.

In this case, however, the anti-racist bien-pensants had a problem: Prince Edward County didn’t regulate flagpoles with its zoning ordinances. The county hurriedly passed a new one, and then appealed to the zoning board to force the removal of the flag.

The Farmville Herald, which is getting more woke with every issue, was fairly salivating over the prospect of sticking it to the nasty Confederate racists by bringing down the flag. Numerous articles appeared in advance of the June meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals.

Unfortunately for its opponents, forcing the removal of the flag was not the slam-dunk they had hoped for. Not only had the permit for the flag been issued before the zoning change went into effect, but the flag had already been flying for longer than the statutory 60-day period during which a building permit could be revoked.

The issue was obviously a hot potato that the board was anxious to get out of its hands. The Herald and Longwood University may be modern and progressive, but the surrounding rural areas most certainly aren’t. Country people have a fierce respect for custom and tradition, even the black folks among them. If a referendum had ever been held about the issue, the Confederate Battle Flag would have won by a large margin.

In the end, three members of the board voted to reject the appeal, and two members abstained. The flag stayed up.

RTWT @ Gates of Vienna