Joshua Rhett Miller, AP, May 27, 2009
A flag fight is brewing in southern Florida.
Members of the Miami-Dade branch of the NAACP want the Confederate flag banned from the Homestead-Miami Motor Speedway, and they will meet Thursday to decide whether to boycott a NASCAR race slated there for November.
Debra Toomer, the branch’s chairwoman of press and publicity, said a planning session has been scheduled to decide on a course of action regarding the display of the flag at the Nov. 20-22 event, as well as its presence at city-sponsored events like last year’s Veterans Day parade.
{snip}
But officials at NASCAR and the raceway say there’s little they can do to prevent spectators from displaying or waving the Confederate flag.
NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston told FOXNews.com that NASCAR’s “longstanding policy” prohibits displays of the Confederate flag on its cars, uniforms, licensed merchandise or in advertisements.
“You’re not going to see the flag or the symbol on any of those things,” Poston said. “It’s been that way for a very long time.”
Poston said NASCAR has not received any communication from NAACP officials, and he stressed that NASCAR is “removed” from the controversy since it does not own or operate the Homestead-Miami Motor Speedway.
{snip}
Homestead-Miami Motor Speedway President Curtis Gray said spectators are not permitted to wave large flags of any sort in the stands because of safety concerns, and to prevent them from obstructing the view.
He said Confederate flag items are not sold or officially displayed throughout the 65,000-seat raceway, but there’s no official ban on spectators bringing miniature flags to the track, or wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the symbol.
” . . . we don’t regulate the lawful behavior of our fans or prohibit free speech and expression of our guests,” Gray told FOXNews.com. “We can’t tell people what to wear. Where do you start? Where does it end, as far as individual expression?”
Brandon Hensler, a spokesman for American Civil Liberties Union’s Florida chapter, said bringing a Confederate flag to the race or any public event would be protected speech.
{snip}
Citing a “troubling racial discord” in Homestead, Fuller [Rosemary Fuller, a member of the NAACP’s Miami-Dade branch] told the South Florida Times that NAACP members are ready to protest and potentially boycott the season-ending race weekend if NASCAR officials fail to support the effort. NAACP members are also reportedly prepared to contact NASCAR’s sponsors if the auto racing league objects.
{snip}
Chuck McMichael, commander in chief of Sons of the Confederate Veterans, a Tennessee-based group that promotes Confederate heritage, said the flag fight stems from last year’s Veterans Day parade when some attendees objected to Confederate Army uniforms and flags displayed by participants. As a result, some Greater Homestead/Florida City residents sought to have the organization banned from future events, McMichael said.
But any attempts to block Confederate flags at Homestead-Miami Motor Speedway will be met with “some action,” McMichael said, including the possibility of counter protests.
{snip}
Original article
(Posted on May 29, 2009)
Comments
Watch the NASCAR organizational cowards fold on this. Just wait and see if you can spot one confederate flag in the next few months. One thing my Dad used to tell me about anything political was, in order to get clarity and center your thinking the first thing to ask is, “what part does money play in this?
Briar Patch 2009: So blacks are going to boycott NASCAR. How is anyone going to be able to tell?
Okay, I’ve actually never watched a NASCAR race. However, even with my tiny knowledge of the sport, exactly what loss will NASCAR suffer if the NAACP boycotts? What, the lone black ticket holder doesn’t show?
The only concern I see the track and NASCAR facing is what level of violence will the NAACP group incite? We all know how blacks respond when they don’t get their way.
NAACP boycotting NASCAR? Isn’t that a lot like the Mormon Church boycotting BET’s Black Music Awards???
I hope NAACP’s idiocy encourages MORE race fans to wear the Stars & Bars.
Good. Not that it would affect attendance much anyway. I would prefer not being around any drunk, violent, and beligerant blacks in the stands anyway. I have been to many NASCAR events and was pleased to see almost no minorities there, which of course, I saw no fights, no vandalism, and come to think of it no swearing either. It is these reasons that you wouldn’t catch me dead at any NBA games. Well, considering their audience, you might very well catch me dead there. One more reason to watch the race instead.
If the NAACP wants to ban a flag, how about the many red, white and green flags of Mexico? Seems we must let the lawbreakers wave them at will or fly them wherever they want. Now that’s something to get upset about. Guess they’re just getting ready for the final takeover.
I like how the reporter leaves it open that NAACP move will be met with “some action”, in effect dragging down the veterans group to the NAACP’s level or even lower. In fact, that’s the only and entire quote from the Confederate Veteran guy, “some action”. What coverage. Almost like I was there (sarcasm).
So if the NAACP boycotts NASCAR what will that accomplish?….Perhaps the four or five Blacks planning to attend will stay home….and NASCAR fans who never would have dreamed of bringing a Confederate flag will now invest in several.
Wave those flags, with pride!
One time my town had a Christmas parade, and a squadron of Confederate re-enactors were in it.
Everyone was afraid to clap, with Blacks watching and all, which made me clap harder.
Oh, yes, how the Evil One was moving that night, frightening the good people into fits of mumbling stupor, torn between Dionysian applause and Henry Ward Beecher-style thunderous denunciations —denunciations of that which someone, somewhere, denounced because that is what “good” people do!
Do a significant number of members of the NAACP even go to/watch NASCAR races?
“Says members will boycott NASCAR race if spectators wave Battle Flags.”
Does that mean all three blacks will stay home on race day?
Says members will boycott NASCAR race if spectators wave Battle Flags.
Ahahaha! No, not the briar patch! Well, it would be the briar patch, if an official boycott of NASCAR by blacks actually changed anything on the ground.
Man, I just had a vision of a wonderful universe, where non-whites “boycott” white territories, communities, institutions, and businesses because they all start flying the Confederate flag. I can dream can’t I?
The NAACP is throwing itself into a tizzy over the display of pieces of cloth by private individuals, while at the same time, in Detroit, people in danger can’t even make calls to the police because the city’s copper phone wiring is being routinely stolen by thieves (see article posted here on this same day). This kind of behavior confirms to me that blacks are fundamentally different than whites, and their primary language is one of racial grievance and racial identity.
“members will boycott NASCAR race if spectators wave Battle Flags.”
I went to one NASCAR race in my life and saw maybe 2 blacks in the entire crowd. It was like being at a U2 concert.
Hopefully NASCAR won’t fold like every other white institution.
When blacks boycotted South Carolina over the Confederate Flag, it was a godsend to tourism with increased revenues from hotels and tourist attractions. Boycott NASCAR? How ridiculous is that? It’s like blacks boycotting a library or the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This challenge needs to be met with a resounding please.
The Confederate flag is a symbol of the heritage of the South and Southerners have a right to preserve it. Everyone knows there were atrocities committed under that flag but the same could be said for every flag in history. There was good in the Old South as well as bad and it is the good that flag displayers are choosing to remember and celebrate.
Methinks that very few NAACP members attend NASCAR races anyway.
So, boycott away.
A boycott?
Really?
Do you promise?
How great would that be?
Well, obviously there’s that pesky little thing called the first amendment.
I was lucky enough to go to 2 races last year - one in Martinsville and one in Atlanta (hard for me ‘cuz I live in San Fran).
One of the souveniers I picked up was something I can’t get in California…
See if you can guess what it was?
Most White NASCAR fans aren’t even going to know of this threat by the NAACP, if they did White attendance and Confederate flag presence would increase many fold. BTW, recall that in the pages of AR, NASCAR has already caved in with the black woman inspector (or whatever she was) I believe NASCAR will do so again to the NAACP and some announcement will be made NOT TO FLY the flags (watched by smirking blacks of the NAACP management)
How many blacks watch or attend NASCAR to begin with? Most blacks seem to hate NASCAR already because it’s a “white thing”.
I believe if the naacp really wants to improve the situation for the one race they are concerned with ( not the one on the track BTW), they would work on improving what has become their own heritage of worthlessness and not acting childish over an issue of a flag for a long-gone way of life. The fact this story even exists just shows how far gone these folks are from reality; you simply can not continue to get ahead by protesting what others do!!! Sooner or later, the federal gov’t will not be able to condone the racist attacks on the white’s without dropping the AA protections for the characters.
We must NOT allow this to happen. For the inventors of the Nascar Racing (blacks I am sure) must not be offended. If these Hip Hoppers were to boycott nascar we could see attendance tumble 8 to 12 people, All Of The blacks who might have come?
What if someone at the NASCAR event walks in wearing an Obama t-shirt? That very well could spur a fight. That should be banned.
As QD said:
Economically speaking, their threat is a huge joke. I expect it to be completely ignored and not hear anything about it after the blacks realize they arent going to get what they want and quickly switch to complaining about something else.
I hold the naacp in total contempt since one would be hard pressed to find a more anti-white organization on this planet. And if blacks want to point to “racial discord” perhaps they need to turn their attention inwards. It’s quite obvious they have more of a problem tolerating each other than anything else.
It would be about as effective as boycotting a Metallica concert. I haven’t been to whole lot of NASCAR races but I don’t recall seeing any blacks other than concession stand workers or trash details. Is that who they’re talking about boycotting the races?
You Southerners need to hang fast on this one. The NAACP has no leverage here worth the trouble. GM and Chrysler are already under government control, so what do you have to lose by telling them to stuff it?
I NASCAR caves in to this most recent empty threat by the NAACP then it gets what it deserves; a lifetime of the NAACP dictating what NASCAR will and will not do.
Just one more attack coming from the Messiahs regime. If NASCAR folds on this they will be making a major mistake. The NAACP wouldn’t be doing this if the One didn’t give the green light because of the Feds new ownership of Chrylser and GM and all that entails.
Just remember what the New Black Panther Party intimidator said at the polling place, “you are about to be ruled by the black man, cracker”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kPSkwAkLIk&feature=player_embedded
That says it all.
“Brandon Hensler, a spokesman for American Civil Liberties Union’s Florida chapter, said bringing a Confederate flag to the race or any public event would be protected speech.”
This coming from an organization that files lawsuits to ban God from the classroom but turns a blind eye to muslim prayers in public schools. I’m happy that the ACLU has sided with Whites for a change but I get the feeling they did it to rachet up the animosity level between blacks and Whites; pit one side against the other, an ancient tactic of an old enemy.
As if the NAACP has nothing better to do — but perhaps this is just one more way for them to raise funds by hitting a prestige target?
But there is a more sinister side to this: one wonders if back in the 1950s had the NAACP come out openly and said that they were going to purge the South of its symbols, how many White middle of the roaders would have supported the civil rights movement? It seems that the NAACP and company waited until after they had won their initial victories before pulling the real agenda out of their sleeves.
Good God! What will they boycott next? The Salzburg Mozart Festival? The Mormon Tabernacle Choir? Curling matches?
Fred Astaire movies?!
Maybe we can use the Confederate flag to our (white) advantage. If business displayed this flag, it could be a way to welcome white customers. Blacks would not be excluded from frequenting establishments that post the flag but would be put on notice that whites are welcome. If this were to come to pass, I would not be surprised to see some black establishments display the flag in order to attract white customers.
We need MORE Confederate flags. The Confederate flag could be used like an insect repellent:)
Wish I could be there to wave a Confederate flag and a sign that reads, “NAACP, thank you for your boycott.”
Oooh, the black folks is gonna stay away from the NASCAR race. Attendence is gonna drop by… uh… wait. How can they boycott something they never went to in the first place?
Maybe we should all start hanging the stars and bars in front of our homes. Would the NAACP boycott my nieghborhood?
The NAACP could make more money selling boycotts than by threatening them. The words “Boycotted by the NAACP” would feature prominently in many advertisements, because everyone would know what that meant. Imagine theaters, restaurants, malls, stores, and libraries that blacks refused to patronize. They could charge top dollar.
This is an excellent example of what I refer to when I write of “black arrogance.”
This coterie of brainless examples of humanity actually think someone is going to be wringing his hands because they decide not to support them or their product or service, oblivious to the fact that they are so small in numbers as to be negligible and that not having to put up with them at ANY EVENT, would be counted as a blessing by 99% of all sane whites.
I would say they have the minds of children, but I’ve known MANY children who are much smarter than that.
The most recent target of an NAACP flag-related boycott was the state of South Carolina. The NAACP called for a tourism boycott until the flags were removed from state buildings.
The result was an unprecedented eight percent INCREASE in tourism during the boycott period.
The NAACP blowhards appear to be blissfully unaware of two factors here:
1. The people waving Confederate flags at races would probably be DELIGHTED if the poverty pimps boycotted NASCAR.
2. For a boycott to be effective, the boycotters must have been actually consuming the product in the first place, and this is simply not the case with blacks and NASCAR.
Maybe we can use the Confederate flag to our (white) advantage. If business displayed this flag, it could be a way to welcome white customers. Blacks would not be excluded from frequenting establishments that post the flag but would be put on notice that whites are welcome. If this were to come to pass, I would not be surprised to see some black establishments display the flag in order to attract white customers.
I wish this were the case. But more often than not, what would happen is the business in question would invite sit-ins that would ruin their business, anti-discrimination lawsuits, and, if Congress gets its way, “hate crime” prosecutions. Once you get into commerce, you wind up having to negotiate a veritable PC minefield.
