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BY BECCY TANNER - The Wichita
Eagle
A national discussion following
the recent shootings in South
Carolina has turned to whether
the Confederate flag should be
flown in public spaces.
In Wichita, a Confederate flag
flies in the John S. Stevens
Pavilion at Veterans Memorial
Plaza near downtown. The flag
was originally placed in the
pavilion in 1976 as part of the
nation’s bicentennial.
At the time, 13 historic flags
were chosen for display by local
teachers, politicians, city
officials, veterans and
residents. The flags were chosen
to commemorate “the diversity of
purposes and peoples who have
contributed to this Country’s
enrichment,” a plaque reads at
the site.
The Confederate flag was chosen
in order to be inclusive to all
who fought in the Civil War,
according to the late Philip
Blake, who led the efforts to
restore the pavilion beginning
in 2003.
There have been no recent
complaints about the Confederate
flag that has been displayed
daily for nearly four decades,
according to Van Williams, a
city spokesman. The flag
pavilion is maintained by the
city’s parks department.
COMMENT+++++
“I think a lot of people don’t
realize it is there,” said City
Council member Lavonta Williams,
who is black. “But as I look at
it, I realize it is a very
controversial topic.
“That flag is offensive to
people who come to Wichita,
especially African-American
people from the South who
understand and know what that
flag means. I think we need to
reach out to the stakeholders of
that pavilion and make sure we
can determine some changes
because it is offensive.”
COMMENT+++++
Ted Ayres, who helped develop a
World War II memorial in
Veterans Memorial Park, said the
flag pavilion was initially
designed to show or identify
flags involved with the
development of the United
States.
“I am not supporting, I don’t
identify and am not a part of
the Confederate states and what
that flag stands for,” Ayres
said Tuesday. “But it is part of
American history and was clearly
a significant part of our
nation’s development, right or
wrong.
“With current events the way
they are, it is certainly a
topic of discussion.”
In South Carolina, where nine
black churchgoers were slain
last week in what has been
called a hate crime, lawmakers
are debating removing a
Confederate flag that flies on
the Statehouse grounds.
Kansas military historian Arnold
Schofield from Fort Scott said
the Confederate battle flag does
not symbolize or represent what
it did during the Civil War.
“During the war, the regimental
battle flag rallied troops on
the battlefield,” Schofield
said. “Today that same battle
flag through the passage of time
has evolved into a political and
social symbol that really
doesn’t have anything to do with
the Civil War.
“It is a symbol that some
people, mostly those in the
South, that represents the
epitome of their Southern
heritage, their Southern white
heritage. You have other
citizens of the South who
believe that flag is an
atrocious reminder of the
antebellum South before the
Civil War when they were
slaves.”
There is nothing wrong,
Schofield said, with displaying
historic battle flags – numerous
states across the nation have
done that. The Confederate flag
in Wichita is displayed in that
context with other historic
flags, creating an outdoor flag
museum.
The Confederate flag is about
symbolism, said Mark McCormick,
director of the Kansas African
American Museum.
“If they take it down, the
everyday lives of
African-Americans will be
exactly the same,” McCormick
said. “Our problems are much
more complex than the symbolism
of a flag. It makes me sad that
we have never gotten to the
point that we can get past these
differences.
“So OK, if they take that flag
down, what did we win? It is a
hollow victory because we are
focusing on a symptom rather
than the actual disease.”
Reach Beccy Tanner at
316-268-6336 or btanner@wichitaeagle.com.
Follow her on Twitter: @beccytanne
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