Former City Worker Sues City of Tampa for Firing Him Over Confederate License Plate

AP ^ | 03/12/2003

[Phlap]

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - A former city worker who was fired for refusing to remove a Confederate flag license plate from his truck is suing the city of Tampa.

In a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday, Larry A. Carpenter, 47, said his First Amendment right to free speech was violated when he was fired over the dispute.

Carpenter was ordered in January 2002 to remove the license plate or park his truck off city property. He refused to do either, was cited for insubordination and was fired from his job as a traffic maintenance specialist in the Public Works Department.

Carpenter's attorney, J. Benton Stewart II, said his client, a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, is proud of his heritage and merely wants the city to develop a written policy that is uniformly applied.

Stewart said other city workers who drive vehicles with bumper stickers bearing political slogans and offensive statements are allowed to park on city property.

Messages left with City Attorney Jim Palermo were not immediately returned. Carpenter declined to comment on the lawsuit Wednesday.

[Polybius]

However, there are a handful of symbols used by groups which are so offensive to other groups that good taste militates against their use. The Confederate flag, swastikas, and crossburnings are among the few that instantly come to mind.

The "Confederate Flag" you speak of was not the flag of the political entity called the Confederate States of America. That was the "Stars and Bars". The flag we are discussing was a Battle Flag.

The swastika was a political symbol of the Nazi Party. The Iron Cross, on the other hand, was a battle emblem that is still the battle emblem on German aircraft and armor to this day although the Iron Cross has also been misused by some groups.

If all it takes for a symbol to be banned is it's misuse by certain hate groups, do you think the flag illustrated below should be banned?

[hoosierskypilot]

Neither. I'll do for myself, period. But if blacks want me to respect their great civil rights movement then they need to remember that we're treated as we treat others.

Blacks, in the movies, for example, freely call whites "crackers", "white bread", "honkies", etc. Whites are required to take it because of something Stonewall Jackson did.

But let a teacher in LA use the word "niggard" and she loses her job. Go figure.

Meanwhile, I'll raise my confederate flag a little higher because I know it irritates people like you.

[hoosierskypilot]

I should have to take it off, because I am parked in my employers parking lot?

Yea, that's right. Because you're a conservative white male. But hey, if you're a fascist-liberal-pig, you can even cut up the American flag memorializing 9/11 and the castrated cops will wink at you.

Great freaking country we live in, huh?

[Sloth]

Does standing up for someone's individual right -- even if it is unwisely used -- constitute aid & comfort? If not, then we may agree.

[hoosierskypilot]

a historically downtrodden group

Puleeeze! Go whine that tune to Jesse puke Jackson or Al pimpton. Nobody cares, anymore.

[Cooter]

Which would you rather have: the skin privilege that comes with being white, or the socioeconomic status of being black--with all those great affirmative action perquisites and that popular Martin Luther King holiday?

White Guilt = Black Power

[Rebelbase]

"You don't fly the Confederate flag or paint swastikas on synagogues, and you don't give aid or comfort to those who do."

You truly have been brainwashed by the liberal elistist media to draw that comparison.

My ancestors did not own slaves and died fighting to protect thier Southern homeland from an invading army. That is a noble cause, worthy of remembrance.

The Jesse Jackson race baiting NAACP types have perverted the meaning of the flag to demean an entire culture for their own PROFIT AND GAIN.

Grow up, get a spine, and take some Midol. And stop it with the Golden Rule sanctimony. Your christianty smells over here.

[Beck_isright]

I think we can officially bestow the title, "soon to be quite wealthy former city employee" in front of his name in all future stories. However if you have a PLO or pro-Sammi Al-Arien plate, that's ok.

[billbears]

If I can't find at least several hundred (thousand) educated blacks who find it offensive, then I'll pay the cost of the exercise and pay you an equal amount for losing the wager

You're missing my point. There are quite a few educated people who find the Flag 'offensive'. And exactly why would that be? After 60+ years of revisionist history and the evident whitewashing of historical record, I'm amazed they haven't completely erased the Confederacy. What do you think these educated people are taught in the educational system? Exactly what the Empire would have them taught.

Do they hear about the grandson of Francis Scott Key being thrown in jail for speaking out against the tyrant? Do they hear of the hundreds of newspapers shut down throughout the north? How about the editorials in the early days of the war in the north calling for the north to quit the war? Do they hear about the suspension of habeas corpus? Illegal military courts? Of course not. What they hear is 'slavery bad, Confederacy bad, north GOOD!!' Nothing else. What a mantra. And after seeing your own posts I see your drinking the koolaid by the gallon.

[JebBush2008]

So if the American flag license tag on the front of my van upsets someone, I should have to take it off, because I am parked in my employers parking lot?

Should an employer have the right to fire someone that has a "Long Live Saddam" or "No War on Iraq" bumper sticker on their car which is parked on the employer's property?

[Rebelbase]

I wouldn't expect a brainwashed liberal to understand the nobility of defending one's family to the death.

[The Old Hoosier]

It's HIS truck.

[billbears]

Let me try to catch your point this time. Are you saying that educated blacks find the Confederate flag offensive because history has been revised and they have been duped into viewing the flag as a symbol of oppression? Those silly negroes. You can take them to college, fund their degree, and they still can't figure out what really offends them. Better off as slaves.

LOL. I love liberals. You take words out of context and twist them to what you would have them say. Let's look at exactly what I said shall we?

There are quite a few educated people who find the Flag 'offensive'

and somehow you infer I meant blacks? And no, I did not mean blacks. Perhaps you could take a travel around the South and look at the Confederate memorials dedicated to the black soldiers who fought for the South. Then perhaps you could study the historical record of such evil men as Grant and Sherman and some of their racist views. Either way, you're out fishing with no argument. Thanks for playing

[Polybius]

If all it takes for a symbol to be banned is it's misuse by certain hate groups, do you think the flag illustrated below should be banned?

That's not the gist at all. Take a closer look at my original post.

Yes, "The Golden Rule" as you interpret it.

Reach into your wallet and pull out a One Dollar Bill. You see that man whose portrait is on the bill? He was a slave owner. He owned more than 200 slaves. How do you think a black man feels when he sees a slave owner on the money in his pocket?

You have decided the the Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, associated with Southern military valor since 1861, is a "symbol of slavery" but that George Washington is not?

What about the "Buffalo Soldiers"? Are they a symbol of African American military valor or a symbol of the cultural genocide of Native Americans?

Is the Alamo a symbol of Texan military valor or a symbol of the extension of slavery and Anglo-Saxon hegemony?

Once you start down the slippery slope, very few American symbols not endorsed by the Politically Correct Police will survive.