Posted on August 9, 2013

NAACP Decries VA Group’s Plan to Fly Huge Confederate Flag near I-95

Cheryl Chumley, Washington Times, August 7, 2013

The NAACP has come forward in staunch opposition and anger about a heritage group’s plans to fly a 10-by-15-foot Confederate flag on a 50-foot pole south of Richmond, Va. — large enough to be seen from the corridor’s main highway, Interstate 95.

The Virginia Flaggers say it’s to show respect for those on the South’s side who fought and died during the Civil War, The Associated Press reported. And the Richmond area was chosen for a historical reason: The city served as the Confederate capital during the war.

The group estimates it will fly on Sept. 28, give or take a few days, and only be visible from I-95 northbound lanes, AP Press reported.

But the NAACP sees differently. Virginia chapter executive director King Salim Khalfani told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the flag would show Richmond as a “backwater, trailer park, hick town.”

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