NASCAR Article
From: hershy60@comcast.net
To: friedlanderb@fayobserver.com
Dear Brett,
You state in your article “It was one of 23 such banners flying prominently around NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway last weekend. But if Green, who is black, was either intimidated or offended by the traditional symbols of Southern heritage, he wasn’t showing it.” Why would he be? Apparently he has more education than you.
My husband & I attend every NASCAR race at Talladega, Alabama, and watch all others on TV. I am a southerner, yet I am also a citizen of the United States of American whereas I have the same rights as you. FREEDOM of expression. We do not fly the Confederate flag, but we should be allowed if that is what we want to do, as well as any other flags.
I’m surprised that you do not know the difference between a restaurant posting a sign that says you must have shoes & shirt on to be served and posting a sign at a race track that states No Confederate Flags allowed. First of all most of the property that “we” campers are on do NOT belong to NASCAR so they can’t dictate the rules. Secondly, the restaurant rules would apply to ALL patrons, not just a few. So they would have to ban ALL flags not just Confederate flags. Third, all those redneck Confederate flag waving race fans spend hundreds to thousands of U.S. Dollars at the race tracks. How much did you spend? So why would NASCAR want to try to take our right to fly a flag that doesn’t hurt anyone? The majority of race fans couldn’t care less if the fans are black, white, yellow or red. That is not the color we look for, it’s the driver color you’re wearing that we will argue over.
Just because a person is flying the Confederate flag does not mean “Go Slavery, We hate Folks of color!!!” I alone had about 16 great great uncles, and grandfathers who fought in the War Between the States none of which had slaves. One great great grandfather was killed. I assure you all of them had zero slaves. I have brothers, cousins, nephews who have fought for the good ole USA. So don’t tell me or any other people that had ancestors who fought in the Civil war that we shouldn’t fly the confederate flag. We have a RIGHT to do so. We will fly our American flag, with our Confederate flag below it all day long, because we have EARNED that right. Why do you feel this right should be taken from us? What right are you willing to give up if we have to give up one of ours?
You should stop making it into something that it is not. Matter of fact, I think I’m going to have to go purchase a bunch of confederate flags now for the next Talladega Race. I’ll hand them out to everybody around us, and we’ll fly them proudly! Currently, we fly the Stars & Stripes but I didn’t hear any mention of that in your article. There are thousands of American flags flying at the races, but all you want to write about are the handful of Confederate flags you noticed.
I am offended by your article so based on your mentality I should demand you be fired. You should work on doing a better job of reporting, otherwise get a new job.
Janice Gattis
Avid Race Fan
American Patriot
Confederate Daughter
Revolutionary Daughter
