As many of you know, we are in the midst of a sad, absurd controversy in New Orleans as the city government removes monuments honoring Confederate leaders and white supremacist causes.
The long-overdue removal of these granite and bronze paens to treason and terror is being challenged by a gaggle of mostly out-of-towner “heritage” fans who, despite paying no taxes here, feel they should have a say in what we are forced to look at every day. (No doubt these ironic carpetbaggers would be just fine with Orleans Parish residents venturing to Norman or Hattiesburg to erect statues of Malcolm X.)
I have largely stayed clear of the ubiquitous debate. Personally, I’d have preferred to leave the piles in place and install even bigger monuments next to them, explaining just what these men stood for and abetted. That the city has chosen instead to remove them seems a wasted opportunity, but doesn’t make much nevermind to me.
The removal process itself has been educational, as I’ve learned to my surprise the depth of feeling that some friends hold for the Lost Cause. I really had no idea. Hasn’t made me blow them off completely, though I’ve temporarily blocked a few Facebook accounts, because I find the apologia laughable when not tedious.
Something else learned—just last night—and this one was a genuine shocker:
It is against state law to burn the Confederate flag.
No fooling. Here in the Sportsman’s Paradise and in four other Southern states, the flag of treasonous rebellion against the United States enjoys the exact same protections as that of our actual country.
A look at the five statutes shows each has provisions to bar efforts to “mutilate, deface, defile, or abuse contemptuously” the flag, emblem, standard, color or ensign of the Confederate States of America. (In addition to flag burning, the placement of advertising, merchandizing and other marks on Confederate, state or American flags is prohibited.)
In Mississippi, it is illegal to “cast contempt, either by word or act, upon any such flag, standard, color or ensign,” while in South Carolina it is unlawful to “jeer at, trample upon or cast contempt, either by word or act, upon any such flag, standard, color or ensign.” Punishments in the five states are related to misdemeanors accompanied by fines and possible imprisonment.
Readers will no doubt wonder how this can be, after the Supreme Court struck down the Flag Protection Act of 1989 in the 1990 case US v. Eichman. Didn’t that case establish the First Amendment right to burn whatever damn flag a citizen pleases?
Technically, yes. But since no one has actually been arrested for violating those laws since the Eichman case, the state laws have never been challenged by a plaintiff with standing and so have never been struck down.
Honestly, I’ve never been a flag-burner of any sort. It has always seemed needlessly provocative and likely bad for pulmonary health. As Dick Cavett said, I’m more a boil my draft card type.
But I have never been more tempted than today to get me some starred and barred plastic-based fabric and a Zippo, in hopes of getting popped for this outdated and unconstitutional statute and burying it once and for all.
Besides, “Oh, my foes, and oh, my friends, it makes a lovely light.”