Jacob Ogles
A neo-Confederate organization once again flew a flag over the Jacksonville Jaguars stadium during a Saturday home game.
Save Southern Heritage announced a small plane would take flight over TIAA Bank Field during kickoff for a home game against the Dallas Cowboys. The plane flew a banner with the words “History Not Hate,” a common motto asserting the Confederate battle flag as a symbol of history and not one of racism. The banner also had a website address for the organization.
The group announced the political demonstration in advance of the game, and criticized leaders in both Jacksonville and Dallas for removing Confederate symbols.
“This is a Christmas gift to the people of these cities who are suffering under tyrants who cancel their culture by destroying or divesting public art given in good faith and with the expectation of permanence to their respective cities” said Kirk Lyons, a spokesperson for the non-profit.
This marks the third time this year the group has flown the flag over the stadium during an NFL game. The act has drawn bipartisan rebuke in the past.
“As I’ve said before, there is no place for hate of any kind in our City,” Mayor Lenny Curry tweeted in November after a similar flyover.
The organization in the past has fought with Curry, a former Republican Party of Florida chair, for renaming a park in 2020. The park had been the sight of the notorious Ax Handle Saturday attack on civil rights activists in 1960, and it was previously named after Confederate veteran Charles Hemming, but its name was changed to honor James Weldon Johnson, a former NAACP leader who in 1897 became the first Black man in Florida to pass the bar exam.
Save Southern Heritage said Curry “desecrated” the park with the name change as a “knee-jerk” reaction to the death of George Floyd, which prompted nationwide protests in 2020.
The group has holds a gripe with Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, who spearheaded initiatives to remove two Confederate monuments from the Texas city, including a statue of Robert E. Lee removed in 2017 and the 65-foot Confederate War Memorial from Pioneer Park in 2020.
“We are letting the tyrannical government officials in both cities know that the people will not be ignored,” said Lyons. He also said the flyover protest was completely community funded.
25 comments
SteveHC
December 18, 2022 at 11:35 am
“Save Southern Heritage” means flying the Confederate flag to these people? Well, “Stupid is as stupid does…”
The Fido King
December 18, 2022 at 11:43 am
At least it is not a rainbow flag that encourages degenerate behavior
PeterH
December 18, 2022 at 2:29 pm
History not ignorant hate Fido.
Elliott Offen
December 18, 2022 at 4:14 pm
Flying the rebel flag is degenerate behavior similar to trying to break away from the USA to avoid abolition of slavery. What kind of history is that? What was so cool about the old South? Nothing! What’s so cool about rural America today especially in Florida? Nothing! Buncha misanthropic animals!
fred sanford
December 21, 2022 at 12:20 pm
You are an uniformed or miseducated person. There are 40 years of history that led to The War Between The States. The U.S> has never has a “”Civil War”. The South simply seceded, as provided for in The Constitution.
fred sanford
December 21, 2022 at 12:34 pm
Remember that when you are hungry. My food is stamped with a Southern Cross. Without people like me, you don’t eat.
Mr. Haney
December 18, 2022 at 7:15 pm
Right. Treason isn’t degenerate but you certainly are..
History of
December 18, 2022 at 9:35 pm
It encourages degenerate behavior and losing wars.
NO SUPPORT FOR FLYOVERS
December 18, 2022 at 4:54 pm
Save southern heritage florida is its own private group. They do not represent the people of Jacksonville, who want to keep the monuments standing. They keep doing these flyovers for their own personal reasons. WE DO NOT SUPPORT THESE FLYOVERS.
fred sanford
December 21, 2022 at 12:32 pm
Who is “we”? The last one was funded by residents of DUVAL.
Mr. Haney
December 18, 2022 at 7:16 pm
The plane should have been shot down.
Andrew Finn
December 18, 2022 at 9:33 pm
Well, January 19th is Robert E Lee’s birthday after all. Bravo people !!!! Just because you don’t like a part of history doesn’t mean you can erase it so that you can be “politically correct” Southern Heritage will always be remembered. If that doesn’t sit well with you — remember Rhett Butler — “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” !!!!!!!!!!!!!
SteveHC
December 19, 2022 at 1:39 am
“Finn” – No one but you (and possibly any existing inbred relatives) has been trying to “cancel’ or even *suggesting* of Southern history. What IS being demanded is that not only should it be remembered and taught, but especially that its pillars should not be CELEBRATED, but rather CONDEMNED… similar to Nazi history.
fred sanford
December 21, 2022 at 12:22 pm
What were it’s pillars?
Can you tell me what Article1 Section 9 of the CSA Constitution forbade?
SteveHC
December 21, 2022 at 2:07 pm
– You conveniently “forget” about SLAVERY…
Andrew Finn
December 18, 2022 at 9:39 pm
Getting a whole month of “Lee Day” in ahead of time !!!!!!
Save Southen Heritage
December 19, 2022 at 8:51 am
Thank you for posting this article. However, SSH FL DOES NOT advocate secession. This correction has been requested from the author. Thank you.
Ocean Joe
December 19, 2022 at 9:11 am
I like the statuary and the monuments and think the better answer would have been to place accurate signage in front of them, such as Robert E. Lee: “He caused the butchery and pointless death of more American’s than anyone until covid came along” or “He engaged in willful treason and should have been executed,” as reminders of who these people really were.
The confederate flag, until outlawed, is a first amendment expression of speech, and those who fly them are telling you who they are.
fred sanford
December 21, 2022 at 12:29 pm
Ocean Joe: Secession is not treason. No one was ever convicted OR TRIED for treason in association with that war.
How many Presidents, plus the one immediately preceding Lincoln, recognized secession as a state’s right? Ever hear of the book that Robert. E. Lee was taught at Westpoint called A View of Constitution of the United States????
Lincoln, Grant, and Sherman wrote letters discussing extermination of us. But we are still here.
Brad
December 19, 2022 at 9:50 am
Losers don’t get trophies.
fred sanford
December 21, 2022 at 12:31 pm
Victors seem to get to write the history, though. Don’t be ignorant. Educate yourself.
Rebecca
December 19, 2022 at 7:07 pm
“Public art” is a misnomer. The confederate statuary was put in place during the Jim Crow era to try to keep minorities demoralized. It needs to go.
fred sanford
December 21, 2022 at 12:29 pm
Wrong. Where did the term Jim Corw come from, Rebecca?
MH/Duval
December 19, 2022 at 8:49 pm
The $1.4 million sale of the Lee statue of Turtle Creek in 2019 funded the removal and storage of that statue and the Pioneer Park monument, city spokesman Cuellar said. The city spent about $396,000 to remove the Confederate War Memorial and $480,000 to remove the Lee Statue.
Duval should declare the remaining rebel monuments surplus and put them out for bid.
Mary Catherine Gordon
December 26, 2022 at 10:04 pm
Before and throughout the entire Civil War slaves, who were owned by Ulysses S. Grant’s wife Julia Dent, worked at Ulysses S. Grant’s White Haven home in Missouri, a Union slave state. I am against slavery. If the Civil War was started over the issue of slavery, why did President Lincoln choose Ulysses S. Grant to be his top general? Captain David Camden De Leon, a Jewish physician, was the first surgeon general of the Confederate States of America. I therefore find it strange that the CSA flag has become associated with that red flag with the black swastika in the middle. In 1862 General Grant issued Order No. 11 which ordered the expulsion of Jews living in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri. As far as I know, General Robert E. Lee never ordered the expulsion of Jews living within the Confederacy and General Robert E. Lee’s slaves were freed in 1862. I do not know why some people associate statues of General Lee and the Confederate flag with antisemitism. Many Confederate soldiers were Jewish. I never hear about people protesting the presence of statues of General Grant because of his antisemitic Grant Order No. 11. A number of times in the past I have voted for African-American candidates at various Duval County Florida polling/voting sites. If I am/was a racist, why would I find myself voting for African-Americans? I am not a racist.
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