Confederate flag at Long Island St. Paddy's Day parade sparks outrage days after local fire depts. settle suit over display of same symbol
The flag, which was flown from a truck during a parade in the community of Bayport-Blue Point, caused an immediate uproar from many in the crowd as soon as they took notice.
Bayport-Blue Point Chamber of Commerce president Karl Auwaerter said that the parade committee was caught off guard by the display and that it was not planned for or supposed to be a part of the ceremonies.
'We deeply regret the disturbing display that occurred during this year's Saint Patrick's Day Parade,' he told Newsday. 'What happened has never happened before, and we were unprepared.'
Auwaerter admitted that the parade committee didn't have a protocol in place for handling such an incident, however, once the flag was brought to their attention, organizers quickly worked to remove the flag from the truck, he said.
The Confederate flag was hung from a vehicle that was behind a truck from The Fish Store, a local seafood market and restaurant.
In response to the backlash, the restaurant released a statement on social media that they 'in no way, shape, or form support this flag or its meaning' and offered their apologies for any 'misunderstanding.'
Suffolk County Legislator Dominick Thorne, who marched in the parade, was unaware of the flag until the next day.
'I was not only surprised to hear this happened, but I wouldn't support anything that divides our county,' Thorne told Newsday. 'There's no room for hate in our county,' he added.
The St. Paddy's parade incident comes just days after two Long Island volunteer fire departments — Brookhaven and Levittown — agreed to settle claims of unlawful discrimination, undergo human rights training, and stop displaying Confederate symbols on their vehicles and equipment.
The settlements came after years of complaints about discriminatory actions by the pair of fire departments, including allegations that they displayed Confederate flags and included racially insensitive images on fire trucks and uniforms.
The fire departments also agreed to pay $28,000 in fines and settle additional claims related to 'unlawful inquiries' about applicants' national origin, religion, and if they had a criminal record.
Both departments will now remain under the review of the state's Human Rights Division for the next three years.
New York's Human Rights Division deemed the Confederate flag a symbol of hate and racism — adding that its presence in public institutions like fire departments undermines public trust and damages community relations.
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The Hill
2 days ago
- The Hill
Trump's Orwellian revisionist history rewrites America's reality
On Aug. 4, the National Park Service announced that it will restore and reinstall the statue of Confederate Gen. Albert Pike in Washington. This decision is yet another round in the ongoing fight over the American past. Trump and his supporters want to substitute a comprehensive U.S. history with a purely celebratory one. For the MAGA movement, 'make America great again' means proclaiming that America always was great and expunging from the historical record any fact, event or idea that tarnishes the image of a glorious civilization stretching from 'sea to shining sea.' Authoritarian regimes have always understood the importance of history and tried to control it. 'For Russians, the past is certain; it's the future that is unpredictable,' a Soviet proverb maintains. The adage refers to the practice of subordinating history to an ideology with a vision of a utopian future but no clear path to get there. In his dystopian novel, ' 1984,' inspired both by the Spanish Civil War and Stalinism, George Orwell developed the concept further. 'Who controls the past controls the future,' he wrote. 'Who controls the present controls the past.' When his imaginary state Oceania made peace with Eurasia and went to war with East Asia, its historians and propagandists quickly rewrote their narratives to proclaim that the new enemy had always been the enemy. The MAGA assault on historical truth began in 2019, when a group of scholars led by Nicole Hannah-Jones published the ' 1619 Project.' Trump and his followers interpreted the project's call for a more inclusive historical narrative that acknowledged the evils of slavery and the continuing problem of systemic racism as an existential threat to their cherished vision of American exceptionalism. The president responded by creating the ' 1776 Advisory Commission, ' with a mandate to rebut the '1619 Project' and promote civics education 'to encourage citizens to embrace and cultivate love of country.' The commission's report celebrates the U.S. as the 'most just and glorious country in all of human history.' When Trump left office in 2021, 35 states took up the cause of promoting a celebratory version of U.S. history, passing 'gag laws' that limited public school teachers' ability to discuss slavery, Jim Crow and systemic racism as well as gay and transgender issues. Trump returned to office in January determined to promulgate his preferred version of history with a vengeance. On March 27, he issued an executive order with the provocative title, 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.' It declared the administration's policy 'to restore Federal sites dedicated to history, including parks and museums,' and 'solemn and uplifting public monuments.' Its stated goal is 'to remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage, consistent progress toward becoming a more perfect Union, and unmatched record of advancing liberty, prosperity and human flourishing.' The president vowed 'to restore the Smithsonian Institution to its rightful place as a symbol of inspiration and American greatness.' The order prohibits the Smithsonian's museums from spending money on 'exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race' and demands that the American Women's History Museum 'not recognize men as women in any respect.' On Aug. 12, the White House sent a letter notifying the Smithsonian Institute that it would be reviewing 'selected Smithsonian museums and exhibitions' to insure they 'align with the president's directive to celebrate American exceptionalism.' The push for a celebratory version of American History did not stop with the Smithsonian. The order also required the secretary of the Interior to ensure that public monuments, statues, makers and memorials 'do not contain descriptions, depictions or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times).' The monuments should 'instead focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people or, with respect to natural features, the beauty, abundance and grandeur of the American landscape.' In compliance with the order, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum instructed staff under his jurisdiction to post notices instructing visitors to report 'any signs or other information that are negative about either past or living Americans or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of landscapes and other natural features.' At the president's direction, the Pentagon has restored the names of seven military bases originally named for Confederate generals. The Department of Defense made the change using a clever workaround. For example, Ft. Benning, Georgia, originally named for Confederate Brigadier Gen. Henry L. Benning, is now named for Corporal Fred C. Benning, who won the Distinguished Service Cross in WWI. Statues and other Confederate symbols have been at the center of the debate over the American past since the 2015 massacre of parishioners at the African American Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina by white supremacist Dylan Roof. Amid a storm of protest, the South Carolina legislature voted to remove the Confederate Battle Flag from the state house dome, where it had been raised in 1961 to protest the civil rights movement. The debate intensified with the murder of George Floyd and the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement. It came to a head in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017, when white supremacists protesting the city council's decision to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee clashed with counterprotestors, killing one of them. The confrontation reveals why history matters. To liberate themselves from oppression, marginalized people must reclaim their past from the oppressors who seek to hide it. Most Confederate monuments were erected after 1890 — not to memorialize lives lost during the Civil War, but to assert white power in the Jim Crow era. American history should not be celebratory nor iconoclastic, but inclusive. We can recognize the accomplishments of founders of the republic and still acknowledge that they lived off the proceeds of human bondage. Those two truths are not mutually exclusive. Both are part of the American story and should be included in the history we teach our children.
New York Times
3 days ago
- New York Times
Why a ‘Paleo-Confederate' Pastor Is on the Rise
I'm going to share with you two remarkable quotes, both from the same evangelical pastor. First, here is a reflection from 2009 on the Civil War and the Confederate States of America: You're not going to scare me away from the word Confederate like you just said 'Boo!' I would define a neo-Confederate as someone who thinks we are still fighting that war. Instead, I would say we're fighting in a long war, and that was one battle that we lost. And lest you think this pastor has only a passing interest in the Confederacy, consider these words, from a 2005 book called 'Angels in the Architecture' When the Confederate States of America surrendered at Appomattox, the last nation of the older order fell. So, because historians like to have set dates on which to hang their hats, we may say the first Christendom died there, in 1865. The American South was the last nation of the first Christendom. These words were written by Douglas Wilson, whose home church is based in Moscow, Idaho. He has described himself as a 'paleo-Confederate' — he believes that Southern slavery was wrong, but that the Confederacy was otherwise 'right on all the essential constitutional and cultural issues surrounding the war.' He's the founder of a church, a denomination and a publishing house. He's influential in both the Christian home-schooling and the Christian classical school movements. Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, belongs to his denomination, and Wilson's words above are no aberration. They are but small drops in an ocean of ignorant, malicious and unchristian commentary. He has referred to women he doesn't like as 'small-breasted biddies' and 'lumberjack dykes.' He has said: 'The sexual act cannot be made into an egalitarian pleasuring party. A man penetrates, conquers, colonizes, plants. A woman receives, surrenders, accepts.' To simply call him patriarchal is too mild. The body of churches he co-founded, the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, includes pastors who believe that the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote, should be repealed and replaced by something called 'household voting,' where it's no longer one person, one vote, but one household, one vote. And who is the head of the household? The husband — a man who might consult with his wife, but would absolutely have the authority to make the final decision. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Newsweek
3 days ago
- Newsweek
'We Don't Believe in Erasing American History' Says Hegseth—With Exceptions
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has come under fire from historians after announcing a Confederate Memorial will be restored to Arlington National Cemetery after it was removed in December 2023. In a post on X, Hegseth said the Reconciliation Monument, which commemorates the Confederate dead from the Civil War, would be reinstated after its removal by what he termed "woke lemmings." The secretary added: "Unlike the Left, we don't believe in erasing American history – we honor it." Speaking to Newsweek, one historian accused Hegseth of forcing libraries at U.S. armed forces academies to "remove books that treat subjects in our history that he does not like," adding: "That is what happens when you are actually trying to 'erase' history." Why It Matters The second Trump administration has sought to partially reverse steps taken by former President Joe Biden to remove tributes to Confederate soldiers and generals who fought in the Civil War. The Trump administration restored the original names of a number of U.S. military bases that were named for Confederate generals, such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina. However, in each case, it said the bases were now honoring U.S. soldiers who shared the same name as the Confederate leaders. L: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at the White House on August 11, 2025. R: USNS Harvey Milk, since renamed USNS Oscar V. Peterson, departs San Diego on November 6, 2021. L: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at the White House on August 11, 2025. R: USNS Harvey Milk, since renamed USNS Oscar V. Peterson, departs San Diego on November 6, 2021. ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/ARIANA DREHSLER/GETTY What To Know Hegseth defended his decision to restore the Reconciliation Monument to Arlington Cemetery during a Fox News appearance on August 7. He said: "We recognize our history we don't erase look at and learn from our history, all aspects of it." Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson was then questioned by reporters who noted the Trump administration had removed a portrait of General Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2019 to 2023. Though he was appointed by Trump, Milley later became a critic of his former boss. One journalist asked, "How do you differentiate between the Arlington Cemetery issue and this one?" Wilson replied, "I don't think that's an equal comparison. I don't think comparing one person to a nation coming together in the aftermath of a bloody and catastrophic Civil War is an equal comparison at all. And what we're doing with the Arlington Reconciliation Monument, I think, should be non-controversial. "Again, this is about unity, this is about a nation healing. We want to recognize that important part of American history and make sure that we're celebrating it as a department." The Department of Defense press office referred Newsweek to these comments when approached for comment. "Defense Secretary Hegseth defended restoring the Reconciliation Monument with the statement, 'We look at and learn from our history.' It's a beautiful bronze monument, but its message celebrates a cause that General and President Ulysses S. Grant called 'one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse,'" Professor Calvin Schermerhorn, a historian of slavery and capitalism at Arizona State University, told Newsweek. "A close look at the monument shows that it depicts an enslaved Black bodyservant attending his Confederate master and an enslaved woman tending the child of another Rebel soldier. "The monument was not built during the Civil War. It was placed fifty years later, in 1914, by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in an era of Jim Crow to celebrate the Confederate cause of white supremacy," Schermerhorn said. "Its message of 'reconciliation' was an appeal to forgive the treason and appreciate the sacrifices of Confederates who fired on the U.S. flag and killed hundreds of thousands of uniformed American soldiers and sailors." In March, the Associated Press reported that 26,000 images and online posts on various government websites had been flagged for deletion by the Department of Defense as part of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) purge. Images removed included baseball and civil rights legend Jackie Robinson, though this was later restored with Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell commenting, "History is not DEI." The Trump administration also renamed the USNS Harvey Milk, a replenishment oiler, as the USNS Oscar V. Peterson after a Medal of Honor recipient. The original name honored gay rights activist Harvey Milk. In a statement, the Pentagon said: "Secretary Hegseth is committed to ensuring that the names attached to all DOD installations and assets are reflective of the Commander-in-Chief's priorities, our nation's history, and the warrior ethos. Any potential renaming(s) will be announced after internal reviews are complete." "The current administration is rewriting history, but in a very particular way," Mark Shanahan, an associate professor and expert in U.S. Politics at the University of Surrey, told Newsweek. "It is seeking to control the country's narrative, removing the stories of marginalized communities and playing up the white settler contribution, irrespective of their involvement in slavery or First Nation genocide, for instance. In taking such a very macho stance towards eradicating DEI, it only serves to highlight the thin-skinned insecurity among the DOD's current political leaders." What People Are Saying Professor Emeritus J. William Harris, a historian who taught at the University of New Hampshire, told Newsweek: "This is an appalling decision. Taking down monuments is not a question of erasing history, but of deciding who, in our history, that we should publicly honor. I would note that, when Fort Liberty in North Carolina, formerly named for Confederate General Braxton Bragg, was again named 'Fort Bragg' by Hegseth, he lacked to courage simply to 'honor' General Bragg, and instead supposedly named the fort for an obscure WWII private who happened to be named Bragg. "Meanwhile, he forces libraries at our armed forces' academies to remove books that treat subjects in our history that he does not like. That is what happens when you are actually trying to 'erase' history." Dafydd Townley, who teaches American politics at the University of Portsmouth in the U.K., told Newsweek: "Hegseth's comments are illustrative of the Trump administration's continuous manipulation of the truth in its public statements. The Republican Party has purged individuals from its version of American history. Those that are ideologically opposed or do not fit the traditional values it claims to represent, have been removed or hidden from plain view. Hardly surprising, after all, the party has been led by the last decade by a man who has championed alternative facts and continuously contradicts its own claims." Adam Green, an expert in African American history at the University of Chicago, told Newsweek: "The question of whether 'honor' can continue to be extended to those that fought to uphold the Confederacy, or those that engaged in violent removal of indigenous peoples from lands they lived in for generations, or those who participated in and profited from slavery, reflects the reality that the United States has been a field of free thinking to the degree that it not only tolerated, but encouraged, debate over its mission and its record across its population. "Without this consistent renewal of how people understand themselves as Americans, we only have intolerance, paranoia, weaponized obsession with grievance, and naive invocations of 'greatness' as our heritage, in place of a fuller understanding of our history, good and bad. "We are also left in thrall of powerful individuals' vanity, insecurity, and resentments as the basis of what we should know and remember about our nation, rather than enabling the vast store of experience from all who have lived in this country to compose and share its story—its past as a resource to learn from, its future as a means to inspire people to gain honor and achieve greatness—in many ways, not one." What Happens Next It remains to be seen whether the Trump administration will seek to restore additional Confederate memorials that were removed over the past decade. "History does not fit into pre-conceived or pre-fabricated categories that simplify what is ever complex. Erasing history is a fool's errand done in the service of trying to flatten the past's complexity to serve goals other than illuminating the richness, the contradictions, the triumphs, and the tragedies of the American past. It might be expedient. But it won't be lasting. Neither American history nor the American people will capitulate to this," USC Dornsife Professor William Deverell told Newsweek.
