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Sons, Daughters Stand Up For Beliefs On Flag Day
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Published: June 15, 2008
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TAMPA - While the Sons of Confederate Veterans hoisted the battle banner on the morning of Flag Day, the newly formed Sons and Daughters of Harriet Tubman sat down to work that evening.
Dozens of people sang "I Wish I Was in Dixie," as a giant Confederate flag was raised Saturday morning at one of Tampa's major crossroads. It was the third time in recent months the group hoisted the battle banner.
At 6 p.m., 13 opponents gathered in a Temple Terrace office to discuss how to put their frustration into action. While some people consider the Confederate flag a symbol of honor, members of the Tubman group think differently.
"They have a right to believe it but don't put me down for my belief," said Michelle Williams, the group's president. "Hanging that flag is as vivid as a noose hanging from an oak tree."
Harriet Tubman was an abolitionist who escaped from slavery and helped lead other slaves to freedom.
The flag, which measures 50 feet by 30 feet, was hoisted 139 feet above Tampa's newest veterans park, at the junction of Interstates 4 and 75.
Removing the flag from that location is at the top of Williams' list of goals, as are eliminating police brutality, improving education and increasing voter participation. The group has started a campaign to register voters by going door to door. Members are planning a rally on Aug. 16 to demonstrate the group's determination.
"We are organizing a group that will stand up for the policies and procedures in Hillsborough County in the state of Florida," said Williams, a member of the Community Activists of Public Affairs who owns a property management company.
Williams voiced opposition to the flag at the June 4 Hillsborough County Commission meeting. In the weeks that followed, her efforts evolved into a coalition of more than 200 people, she said.
"The flag shows that this city does not represent diversity. It does not represent peace and it has the potential, depending on how people interpret it, to have dire consequences," said member Connie Burton. "We want to build a coalition of people that want to live in peace and move forward. We will not tolerate the blazing of that flag."
The Sons of Confederate Veterans, a group that formed more than 100 years ago, is orchestrating the flag's prominent display. The organization owns the park property at the northwest corner of U.S. Highway 92 at I-75 in east Tampa.
The group hopes to establish a lighted park and center that would memorialize the war lost by the South in 1865.
"We're putting this flag up to build a bridge," Marion Lambert, a South Tampa welder and member of the group, said Saturday.
"This is our cause, to bring dialogue with the community," he said. "The people who have a negative outlook on what we're doing ... they just have a closed mind or they're just ignorant and can't be educated. The closed mind is everybody's enemy, everybody's nemesis."
At a previous flag raising, Lambert said the park will include 30 bronze plaques set in granite telling Civil War stories. The flag, he said, "is the eye-catcher," with the ultimate goal of drawing people to the memorial for a history lesson with a Southern slant.
News Channel 8 photojournalist Jim Farquhar contributed to this report.
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