University of Virginia Library

Old Attitudes

This is the kind of change that
one can too easily point to as an
indicator of new attitudes towards
these groups, while at the same
time ignoring underlying grievances
of a substantial character. The
alleged harassment of black
students by some members of the
University Security force, the
failure to bring blacks into the
social mainstream of the University,
the absence of black professors on
the faculties of all the schools, the
absence of black coaches in the
Athletic Department, the absence
of black administrators in the
higher echelons of the University,
and the near total exclusion of
blacks from the fraternity system
are of a more fundamental nature.

A single individual waving a
Confederate Flag does not mean
obviously that everyone is a racist
or that the flag waver himself is a
racist. One must also be careful not
to draw unwarranted conclusions
from all this. But the incident
serves to remind us of the many
things that remain to be done in
this area.

In an immediate sense, what
should be done with respect to
future home games and other flags?
At the outset it is oped that no
one will bring another Confederate
Flag into Scott Stadium in
recognition of the unpleasant
connotations that it has for many
students, black and white. This is a
real problem, as several individuals
pointed out during discussions
related to this column. Some felt
that everyone would be better off
if nothing further was said about
Saturday's incident.

But an attitude such as that, as
pragmatic as it may be in terms of
not wanting to encourage others to
"test" the situation by bringing
flags to games, is precisely the
mental state that results in so little
being done now to rectify the more
serious problems in the black-white
area spoken of earlier.

One suggestion has been to ban
all flags from Scott Stadium, be
they the Confederate, Vietcong, or
whatever. This idea has immediate
appeal, but given the realities of the
situation it would soon become
obvious to everyone that it is in
fact a ban on the Confederate Flag.
A side from some legal questions
concerning such a blanket ban, it
again goes only to the surface of
the problem.