I have just learned that the Confederate battle flag was prominently displayed during the July Fourth parade in my old hometown. Seriously? PC gone wild has nothing to do with my dismay at such insensitivity during a celebration of the birth of the USA, rather it stems from the tasteless flying of the flag of treason next to Old Glory. The man responsible for the display of the Stars and Bars was quoted as saying his doing so had nothing to do with slavery. Give me a break! It has everything to do with slavery. The Civil War had everything to do with slavery. Many Minnesotans fought and died to bring down the rebel battle flag and now a Minnesotan proudly displays it in an Albert Lea celebration of the Fourth of July. Who was in charge of the parade? How could this happen? A friend in Los Angeles emailed me to advise that he had heard about the Albert Lea parade — and he was not kind. In the past I had regaled him with an excess of positive anecdotes about my great home town, so he was only too happy to give me some payback. Oh, Albert Lea, say it ain’t so.

 

Craig Counters

Bloomington