As the 13-star flag of the Confederacy returns to prominence nationally along with public outbursts of racial animosity, a black state senator from Cincinnati — Cecil Thomas — is testing Ohio’s tolerance for the old Southern standard.
Thomas testified last Wednesday in Columbus in support of an Ohio Senate resolution co-sponsored by Sen. Charleta Tavares, another black state senator and Democrat. More than anything, Senate Concurrent Resolution 7 asks that Ohio “urge” other states to cease flying Confederate flags on public property, to redesign state flags that contain actual or modified Confederate symbols and to stop making “issuances” containing the rebel flag.
“To those who say the Confederate flag is about heritage, I say you are entitled to your personal point of view. But your personal feelings should not be affixed to property that I pay taxes to help maintain,” says Thomas, a North Avondale resident whose 9th Senate District sprawls across Cincinnati, St. Bernard, Norwood, Springfield Township and other communities.
Thomas says he is not personally aware of any Confederate flags on public property in Ohio, but his resolution seeks to address something that does take place in Ohio — the retail sale of merchandise bearing the image of the flag. The resolution “urges” Ohio retailers to remove those goods from their inventories.
“If you go into some of the smaller municipalities or rural areas, you will see a lot of that, especially close to the West Virginia line,” Thomas says. “It’s pretty widespread.”
Greg Dove, president of the company that owns the Treasure Aisles Flea Market in Monroe and Caesar Creek Flea Market in Wilmington, says he will keep an eye on the resolution.
"We have very few vendors, in both of our locations, who sell that kind of stuff. For those particular vendors, they'd definitely view it negatively," says Dove, president of Levin Service Co. "From the market's perspective, we don't want to offend anyone and we ask that vendors remove offensive material or put it in the back.
"If it (the resolution) is just a suggestion, we would convey it to our vendors, but it would be an individual vendor's decision," he says. "Unless it's mandated, we would not change our rules."
Following the June 2015 murder of nine black people in a Charleston, S.C., church by a white self-declared racist who posed with the Confederate flag in photos, some national retailers announced bans on the sale of products bearing the flag. The group included Walmart, Target, Sears, eBay, Etsy and Spencer's Gifts. It isn’t uncommon, though, for Confederate flag items to be sold at flea markets across the Ohio Valley.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley ordered the removal of the Confederate flag from the state capitol in Columbia, but the flag remained on display in a chapel at The Citadel, a public military academy in Charleston. Mississippi’s state flag incorporates the Confederate flag, while the state flags of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida and Georgia contain elements of it.
Thomas and Tavares introduced their resolution in July, but didn’t get a hearing before the Senate Government and Oversight Committee until last week. Thomas said committee Chairman Bill Coley, a Republican who lives in Liberty Township, did not call for a vote or schedule another hearing. Because of that, Thomas assumes the resolution will “probably die.”
Coley did not respond to requests for comment. Thomas said he plans to introduce the resolution again in 2017.
CONTACT JAMES McNAIR: j[email protected] / @JMacNews on Twitter / 513-665-4700, x. 142
