The receptionist said Hayward was at a mayors' conference, but she could have an aid call me. I said okay and left my number.
No call back the rest of that day. No call back the following day, so I called again on Wednesday and talked to Zack. He was evasive about the fate of the flag, said "they're discussing it now." I knew what that meant, so I registered with him my opinion that it should stay.
Then I asked about the Confederate monument. He said he knew of no requests or plans to remove it but it seemed unlikely to happen because "it's granite, very heavy, and thirty feet high."
I asked, "So the only thing that protects it from being moved is its height and weight?"
He said he didn't know what policies or ordinances applied to it. So I registered my opinion that it needs to stay right where it is.
The next day, there were media reports that Mayor Hayward had ordered the flag to be lowered and replaced with the Florida flag, but the Five Flags displays were not to all come down. I guess he was remembering what happened a few months ago when the county removed all but the US flag from its Five Flags display at the civic center.
It was an illogical, emotion-based, bandwagon response, since the five flags are supposed to be the flags of nations that Pensacola has historically been a part of. The Florida state flag is not a national flag. Duh.
Since that time, I've followed the Great AntiConfederate Tsunami of 2015 online, both locally, across the South and across the nation. As there are in so many places, there are rumblings of resistance starting up in Pensacola. I have connected with others here, and we will be meeting to discuss how best to rev up the rumbling. Time and place for the meeting have been set, and we will discuss possible plans and responses.
I'll report more here and on Facebook as the situation develops.
ONWARD!
Connie Chastain
West Florida Flaggers
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