By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
Aug. 5, 2016 4:44 PM EDT FROM AP FACEBOOK SHARE
The Natchitoches Parish Journal spoke with Mayor Lee Posey late Friday evening and was advised that he had no comment at the time.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Sons of Confederate Veterans members in Louisiana claim a city’s mayor trampled on their rights by barring them from displaying Confederate battle flags while marching in a Christmas parade last year.
The group’s Louisiana division sued the city of Natchitoches and Mayor Lee Posey on Thursday, asking a federal court to declare the mayor’s policy unconstitutional.
Thomas Taylor, the division’s former commander, said in a telephone interview Friday that its flag-carrying members marched and rode floats in the parade for nearly two decades without causing any disruptions.
“We have never had a problem before,” said Taylor, a Sterlington resident who said the Louisiana division has about 1,250 members. “The crowd loves us, but this politically correct stuff raised its ugly head.”
The lawsuit cites a Nov. 2, 2015, letter from Posey to the parade’s organizers in which the mayor said allowing the Confederate flag to be displayed by marchers could cause “substantial disruption or interference with the parade” and could be seen as an “endorsement of a symbol that is viewed as racially inflammatory.”
Posey didn’t immediately return a call for comment Friday. At a news conference last year, the mayor said he knew his decision would be controversial but considered it “the right thing to do.”
“As mayor, I am accountable to all citizens who live in our city, and for many the Confederate flag is a symbol of hate, bigotry, violence and division,” Posey said last December, according to The Town Talk newspaper.
Many communities have distanced themselves from Confederate symbols since the June 2015 massacre of nine black worshippers at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. Dylann Roof, the man accused in that case, had posed with the Confederate battle flag for online photos.
“These ignorant people want to revise history and erase history because one nut did something crazy,” Taylor said.
The Town Talk reported last year that Posey said he tried to reach a compromise that would allow Sons of Confederate Veterans members to march in the parade with other types of Confederate flags, but the group refused.
“To be clear, the city of Natchitoches has not banned the Confederate flag from public display,” Posey said, according to the newspaper. “The only thing we have banned is the flag being marched in the Christmas Festival parade.”
August 5, 2016
Again, those on the left want to continue to erase our history. Blacks have to begin to realize that they are being used by these people to keep them down and impoverished. If they can keep them ignorant of the facts then they can control them. The same can be said of most of us. Know your history!
The story of the Confederate Flag is not racist. It was co-opted by the KKK, who by the way, were ALL
Democrats. Jim Crow by the Democrats. Do your research!
I am glad they were sued.Posey is trying to run everything .
Let’s get the story straight: A few Black people complained to Posey, since the majority inside the city limits of Natchitoches is black Posey sided with the majority to win their vote, it had nothing to do with right or wrong he just wanted the majority vote.
No, Let’s cover it all up, like it never happened…like the spoiled rich white girl getting pregnant and having an abortion. It was an undesirable thing, something that would make others wrinkle their noses, so let’s sweep it under the rug like it never happened. It’ll go away. Something is seriously wrong with these people afraid to “offend”. You don’t rewrite history, you idiots! It happened. Get over it.
This should have never been an issue! Posey lost my vote with that decision. So trying to erase history! With anything, marriage, children, careers, etc. There are ups and downs, this includes history! If we change the things that happened in the past, we wouldn’t be where we are today. Hard times should make tougher people, not excuses for those who get their feelings hurt!
well put.