PORTSMOUTH
To some, it represents heritage. To others, it symbolizes racism and the subjugation of a people.
Although the Confederate battle flag is steeped in military symbolism - men on both sides of that flag lost their lives over what it represented in the Civil War - there is no military policy on displaying it.
In fact, one of the original flags of the Confederacy - not the most familiar one - has flown over the historical side gate of Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth since 1967. There, the Gosport Shipyard, as it was called then, served the Confederate States Navy until it was destroyed in 1862 and rebuilt under its current name.
Nationwide, the glorification of the Confederate battle flag last month by the man who gunned down nine people in a South Carolina church, under a banner of white supremacism, sparked debate over whether the flag should be retired as a symbol of Southern history.
In the wake of the massacre, Alabama removed the flag from its government buildings, and South Carolina followed suit.
But the Defense Department says there is "no guidance that specifically discusses the display of the Confederate flag." A Navy spokesperson referred to Pentagon rules governing good order and discipline and said it falls to the commanding officer to balance that with an individual's right to free expression.
A commander can bar a service member from behavior or actions that "present a clear danger to the loyalty, discipline or morale of the troops," the rule says. Further, "Military personnel must not actively advocate supremacist, extremist or criminal gang doctrine, ideology, or causes, including those that advance, encourage or advocate illegal discrimination based on race, creed, color, sex, religion ethnicity or national origin."
To some, that includes this Confederate flag, too.
"Due to the recent events, I would say it's offensive," said Priscilla Bonilla, a former sailor who has walked past the flag to and from work every day as a fire watch supervisor at the shipyard without ever noticing it. When it was pointed out to her, the Chesapeake resident said she doubted other people knew it was there.
"If they did, I think it would be an issue," she said. "I can understand both sides because of the history. But I can see how you don't want to send a message that you support it, and if you allow it, that's what you are showing people."
But not everyone sees it that way. Will Aygarn, who can trace his family farm back generations in what was then Princess Anne County, views the flag as a symbol of Virginia's proud history, not a symbol of slavery. The former sailor said he has ancestors who fought on both sides of the Civil War.
On Memorial Day, Aygarn flew a Confederate flag on a telephone pole at the front of his property, but vandals recently tore it down. The 55-year-old got a ladder and put the flag higher up on the pole.
"The flag means history, Princess Anne County and family heritage and Virginia's opposition to the invading federal armies," he said. "I think that Virginia's involvement in the war is nothing at all to be ashamed of."
In 1861 in Savannah, Ga., Confederacy Vice President Alexander Hamilton Stephens gave what is known as the Cornerstone Speech, in which he disputed the idea that black and white races were equal.
"Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea," he said. "Its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first in the history of the world based upon this great physical, philosophical and moral truth."
That sentiment was echoed by each of the Confederate states in the justification for war. Such statements are evidence that the flag symbolizes racial subjugation, says Timothy Orr, an assistant history professor at Old Dominion University.
"The Confederate flag is a symbol of the Confederacy, which was founded on white supremacy," said Orr, who specializes in Civil War history. He said the flag has continued to represent that as a symbol for the Ku Klux Klan and for modern racist groups.
"Throughout its history... this flag has been used as a symbol of white supremacy," he said. "I guess that's why it is such a polarizing icon."
The flag flying over the gates of the shipyard is not the most-recognizable of the confederate flags, but is the original flag of the Confederacy with seven stars representing the original states that seceded. It has flown since the 200th anniversary of the shipyard in 1967 alongside an American flag, a British flag and the flag of Virginia - the "four sovereign flags flown over the shipyard gates," according to an article on Navy history on the Navy's website.
One Navy official who was not authorized to discuss the issue and spoke on condition of anonymity, said it was the only Navy facility in the country displaying a Confederate flag.
If Civil War sailors who fought here for the Union were alive today, Orr said, they would be appalled to see the flag outside the shipyard.
But the flag is a symbol for a much deeper wound, he said, which threatens to undermine the founding principle of this country: that all men are created equal.
"The government ought to take steps," he said. "If we mean to live up to that promise, something needs to be done. With all the racial incidents that happened this year, it kind of suggests the work of uniting the country still needs to be done."
On Friday, following questions from The Virginian-Pilot, the Navy took a step.
A spokesperson for the facility said that "with everything going on in the world" the shipyard commander, Capt. Scott Brown, ordered all four flags taken down and put in a museum "in the best interest of our workforce and the U.S. Navy."
The flags had marked the shipyard's 248-year history, but times change, spokeswoman Terri Davis said.
"The flags represent progress, progress in shipbuilding, progress in repair and progress in the defense of our country," Davis said. "Removing the flags from the gates doesn't diminish their historical significance, but it does allow us to focus on successful execution of our mission."
On Sunday evening, a photo of four American flags at the gate was posted to the shipyard's Facebook page. The caption: "We are America's Shipyard! United we stand under one flag."
Poster Comment:
That filthy Confederate rag should never have been hoisted over federal property to begin with.
Obama should issue an Executive Order to remove it everywhere else...
And get rid of that British rag too.
