I am not a fan of the wars that have been waged in the name of the American flag and I’ve spent a lifetime agitating for the federal government to defend human and civil rights in the United States, so many people wonder why I was carrying the American flag in the iconic photo of the memorial at the 16th Street Baptist Church.
Dorie Ladner at the funeral of children murdered in Birmingham, September, 1963. Photo by John Kouns.
It is important to understand that in Birmingham in 1963, Gov. George Wallace was flying the Confederate flag in defiance of President Kennedy’s calls for integration. The federalized Alabama National Guard wore the Dixie flags on their uniforms. I come from the state of Mississippi where the state government did not recognize the American flag. Alabama had the same mindset.
The Confederate flag represented state resistance to the rights of African Americans and indicated that the state upheld the atrocities, including the destruction of a place of worship and the murder of the four little girls and others.
Engulfed by atrocities and by state resistance, the American flag was the only symbol I could carry to express my sorrow and anger and to remind Alabama that it was part of the United States. The least I could do was to show that there is a federal government.
I borrowed the flag from Rev. Ed King, chaplain at Tougaloo College. I decided to carry the flag as a message. I knew that I was at risk for carrying it due to the climate there and the lack of visibility of the American flag.
I knew they would not like it. I knew that waving the American flag would make them uncomfortable. That was my intention.
It is ironic that now those same conservatives have cloaked themselves in the American flag while still carrying their same beliefs. The American flag became popular with the conservatives when Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy for president in Philadelphia, Mississippi. They are holding onto the Confederate flag and call themselves patriots with the American flag.
Dorie Ladner and the American Flag
SNCC activist Dorie Ladner carried the U.S. flag as an act of resistance at the memorial for the four girls killed at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. In a 2015 interview with Teaching for Change, Ladner explained,
I am not a fan of the wars that have been waged in the name of the American flag and I’ve spent a lifetime agitating for the federal government to defend human and civil rights in the United States, so many people wonder why I was carrying the American flag in the iconic photo of the memorial at the 16th Street Baptist Church.
It is important to understand that in Birmingham in 1963, Gov. George Wallace was flying the Confederate flag in defiance of President Kennedy’s calls for integration. The federalized Alabama National Guard wore the Dixie flags on their uniforms. I come from the state of Mississippi where the state government did not recognize the American flag. Alabama had the same mindset.
The Confederate flag represented state resistance to the rights of African Americans and indicated that the state upheld the atrocities, including the destruction of a place of worship and the murder of the four little girls and others.
Engulfed by atrocities and by state resistance, the American flag was the only symbol I could carry to express my sorrow and anger and to remind Alabama that it was part of the United States. The least I could do was to show that there is a federal government.
I borrowed the flag from Rev. Ed King, chaplain at Tougaloo College. I decided to carry the flag as a message. I knew that I was at risk for carrying it due to the climate there and the lack of visibility of the American flag.
I knew they would not like it. I knew that waving the American flag would make them uncomfortable. That was my intention.
It is ironic that now those same conservatives have cloaked themselves in the American flag while still carrying their same beliefs. The American flag became popular with the conservatives when Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy for president in Philadelphia, Mississippi. They are holding onto the Confederate flag and call themselves patriots with the American flag.
Posted: June 24, 2015