University of Virginia Library

It can only be attributed to
liberal beating-around-the-bush that
in all the controversy over the Scott
Stadium flag waving incident the
central issue has been ignored: the
ardent flag-waver, for all his
alleged offensiveness was acting
within his rights of expression. In
this light it is not his guilt that
stands out but, rather, the involved
black are seen to be guilty of
intolerance and, far worse, of
repression.

Even were we to assume that
this waving of the confederate flag
represented racist beliefs, we
cannot prevent a man from
expressing his beliefs. It is only
when he acts on his beliefs in a
manner calculated to do us injury
can we take action against him. We
cannot punish one merely for his
beliefs no matter how 'offensive'
we may find them.

Nor can we assume that the
gentleman meant to put his racism
on display when he waved his flag.
Likely he did not; symbols are far
too complex to tie to one meaning
and one meaning only. The
confederate flag itself is used as the
banner of the Patriot Party, a
radical organization of poor whites
which is dedicated to fighting
racism and which has intimate
connections with the Black Panther
Party. Those who remember the old
SSOC (the Southern Student
Organizing Committee, long since
merged with—some would say
swallowed up by—the SDS) will
remember the large part played by
the confederate flag in its emblem.

I personally was not at the
game— and am therefore dependent
on the C.D.'s no doubt inspired
accounts—because I wished to
participate in the minuscule Attica
protest demonstration.

At this demonstration many
banners were displayed which were,
of course, offensive to many. This
is done consciously, deliberately, as
a means of political agitation;
sometimes people must be shaken
into action. In a supposedly free
society we have these rights and
they must be maintained—we must
protect our right to make ourselves
as offensive as we wish.

Finally—if the University and
Student Council act in typical
fashion by sweeping the whole
business under the rug with a
blanket ban on flags in Scott
Stadium, are we to assume that the
ban applies to our own Stars and
Stripes? Some find that flag to be
offensive and the nationalism it
represents may well pose a greater
threat to civilization than any
amount of racism.