Posted on 09/10/2005 10:52:27 AM PDT by SmithL
MARYVILLE - Because they couldn't take Confederate battle flags into Shields Stadium on Friday night, Maryville High School fans Gary and Connie Young decided to take in everything else they could put together with the star-studded St. Andrew's cross pattern.
They sat on a Confederate flag blanket, waved towels emblazoned with the Rebel flag and wore specially made shirts.
"Our rights have been violated," said Gary Young, who's leading the effort to restore the former school symbol.
Last month, the Maryville Board of Education banned all flags - including the Confederate battle flag - from official school events. School authorities said no one had tried to carry a flag into the game against intra-county rival William Blount High, the Rebels' home opener.
"We haven't had a problem," Maryville Assistant Principal Lynn Brown said during the first quarter.
The ban doesn't extend to clothing, and many fans wore hats, shirts and other garments with the flag pattern.
"They're getting flags in, just in different ways," Connie Young said.
Before kickoff, she handed out 200 T-shirts and 100 towels from the back of her red Corvette. Paid for with donations, the shirts were free for the asking until they ran out.
"We're just sorry we couldn't get more," Gary Young said. "Our next order is probably going to be 500 or 1,000."
One of their customers was Josh Ellis, 16, a junior at Maryville High. He wore one of the Youngs' black T-shirts with "Past and Forever" written on the back beneath a depiction of the flag. A Rebel flag towel hung from his hip pocket.
As the game got under way, Ellis said the ban dampened student enthusiasm.
"We'd have 15 or 20 flags up were, with everybody going crazy," he said. "It'd be awesome."
A group of fans tried to fly a flag from the roof of Donna's Flowers, a shop across the street that is visible from the stadium, but 15 helium-filled balloons weren't strong enough to keep it aloft.
If I were a black 'leader' concerned with the confederate flag, I would have urged every black person in the south to display it on their bumpers and every where else as a reminder to never forget. Soon it would have been a symbol that would be relegated to history.
I think they prefer to fuel the fire.
ping
Why? Are you stating that because one group would display the Confederate Battle Flag that others would not? I would hope one day those of every race understand the struggle my ancestors undertook and why and the Flag will be flying proudly everywhere.
They banned ALL flags? Does this include the Stars and Stripes?
If one understands history, they will know that the Civil War was about (economic) self determination, of which slavery was but one factor ("cheap" labor).
The disaster on New Orleans' poor is a testament to modern Democrats keeping the black, poor on the economic and cultural plantation as they did during Reconstruction.
Will we let them do it again?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.