We didn't hang that flag, say fraternity/Greenville, NC

[Jill1228]

Yes I went to ECU and this makes me wanna holler....

http://www.reflector.com/local/conte...4_06_flag.html

We didn't hang that flag, say fraternity

By Jennifer White
The Daily Reflector

Friday, August 04, 2006

Members of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity said they were not responsible for displaying a Confederate flag Saturday during a march on East Fifth Street.

Several Greenville community groups marched from Greensprings Park to Greenville City Hall to support renaming East Fifth Street to honor Martin Luther King Jr.

As they walked by, five white men stood in the doorway of a house at 703 E. Fifth St., and one yelled, "Fifth Street rules!" A Confederate flag was displayed on the upstairs balcony.

The Rev. Ozie Lee Hall Jr. sent letters on Wednesday night to Greenville City Manager Wayne Bowers, East Carolina University Chancellor Steve Ballard and the CEO of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity asking them to investigate the incident.

The men involved had not been identified as members of Pi Kappa Phi, but pictures taken of the house during the march show a vehicle with a Pi Kappa Phi sticker in the front yard. One of the men in the photograph also was wearing a Pi Kappa Phi T-shirt.

Scott Wagoner, 24, Pi Kappa Phi vice president and an ECU senior, said that no members of Pi Kappa Phi were involved in the incident.

"The Beta Phi chapter of Pi Kappa Phi is outraged by the association implicated with the trouble-makers during Saturday's march," he said.

ECU senior Dan Apelian, 21, a Pi Kappa Phi member, lives in one of four two-bedroom apartments at the house where the incident took place. He said he was not involved in displaying the flag or yelling at marchers.

"Pi Kappa Phi has a couple black fraternity members, so it's bothering me when they're calling me up and saying, 'Did you hang a Confederate flag?'" he said. "What it stands for to me is racism. They're (the black fraternity members) my best friends. I would never do that."

Apelian said he was at home Saturday when neighbors knocked at his door to tell him about the march. They said they were going to hang a Confederate flag from the house's upstairs balcony, he recalled.

Apelian declined to get involved, he said. He explained Thursday that he's lived in the apartment for two months and does not know his neighbors well. He added they are not affiliated with the fraternity.

"I don't want my windows getting broken and my house getting trashed, so I just went inside," Apelian said. "I wanted nothing to do with it."

Hall said he is considering filing a formal complaint about the incident with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division or the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

"The Confederate battle flag, coupled with the derision and epithets, was alarming to many of the marchers," Hall said in a letter. "It is well-known that the flag is used as a symbol by some white supremacist hate groups."

[shinerbock]

To investigate? Like this is a criminal act? Ridiculous.

[Scandia]

I would understand if it had been a Nazi flag- and that's what I honestly thought upon first reading it.

But a Confederate flag? It stands for the heritage of the South. It is not automatically stating "down with (insert group here)".

Derision and epithets are a sign of hatred. A Confederate flag is not.

[Honeykiss1974]

So the whole intent/purpose of doing this (hanging the flag/yelling like an idiot) was for what?? Obviously whomever hung the flag during this event has a differing opinion from you two as to what it means. Afterall, I don't recall the flag meaning "we support Dr. King".....but then again, I am from Mississippi so maybe we missed that version.

Anyway, I do think that an "investigation" should not be done. It's not illegal to be an idiot or to lack common courtesy.

[Elephant Walk]

What exactly is the crime here?

Free speech?

No big news, free speech has been relatively destroyed.

[shinerbock]

In my opinion, and experience, confederate flags are often used as a sort of protest. It isnt white power or anything, but rather a response to something they feel is unjust. For example, similar things happened regarding Atlanta renaming Hartsfield to Hartsfield jackson. I'm sure sometimes it is from racism, but sometimes I think it is simply rebellion.

[amanda6035]

hartsfield jackson Dont even get me started. ridiculous.

[Tom Earp]

If anything, it was tasteless and incencitive and that is all.

There is more than one CFS Flag, but the Stars and Bars is the one that is brought up and that was not actually the True CFS flag, but as some may call it a battle flag only.

Because of the PCness of todays dogma, it is not possible to Honor the Soldiers who fought and died from the Southern States.

NO, it is not the Nazi Flag but stood for beleifs of peoples of this country, not the beleifs of a demented person against all races who were not Aryan in the words of Adolph.

Do judge a Fraternity because there was a car setting there with a PKA window sticker in the window of a car and blaming them is uncalled for.

If it is a boarding house where many people stay, get the facts first and last.

Not judge first!

[starang21]

what a stupid investigation.

these kids should stop back-peddling and stick to their guns. if that's how the feel, that's how they feel.

[Kevlar281]

And this is why I fly Bonnie Blue.

[LightBulb]

Originally Posted by Kevlar281

And this is why I fly Bonnie Blue.

The light blue Confederate flag? I didn't know it had a name.

[shinerbock]

Haha, we fly bonnie blue too. Much less controversy, and those who care about the south, know what it is.

[PKPILZ003]

Wow - God bless this country!

Only in America can the losers of a war, especially a war of rebellion and secession still fly their "battle" flag and it be proclaimed as "heritage". My take on the Battle flag has always been the same - if it wasn't about prejudice, bigotry and hate, why didn't you start flying it until the Civil rights movement got started - if it was really about heritage, you would have flown it for the last 141 years instead of just the last 46. That's why I have no problem with people dressing in Confederate uniforms and celebrating their heritage that way, but, in my humble opinion, waving the Battle flag is an act by people who know they are trying to start a confrontation.

Free speech only goes so far. Does this pass the line - i don't think so, but it's obvious that the people that did it knew what they were doing and why they were doing it.

[PhoenixAzul]

*sigh* insensitive, stupid, and generally rude. What reaction did they think they were going to get from the community? The fraternity (or whever did this) shouldn't be surprised at the uproar.

I was always shocked to see people in SCOTLAND wearing confederate flag belt buckles...turns out they just wore them because of country music, which is getting really big in the UK. I asked one guy about it in a pub one night, and he said (in a mixed Derry/fake Texas accent), "Aye! Isn't that the side that won?"...umm...not really.

[shinerbock]

Or perhaps they started flying it out of rebellion, as I said before. People get sick of having black pride shoved down their throats. Every town in the United States doesnt need an MLK blvd. I get a little angry when somebody, as mentioned above, like Maynard Jackson gets his name put on the worlds busiest airport. The flags of the confederacy have become both a rallying point for southern pride and a flag to use in protest. I heard somebody mention a while back about how the NCAA is considering expanding a ban on championship sports in SC, because the flag makes black people uncomfortable. To be honest, walking through underground Atlanta and having black power stuff everywhere doesnt make me comfortable, but I have to live with it. Having to drive through an urban public housing district known for violence doenst make me feel very welcome either, but I'm not trying to get the government to burn them down. Those flags are part of our history. They arent put up for black people, they're put up for us. Much of black culture isnt for whites either.

Also, to the PKP person, absolutely God bless this country. I hope God also continues to bless the south and the southern way of life. Thankfully this is part of the country that still encourages kindness, responsibility, family, and faith in God.