Secular Digest Quote of the Day: “For black folks, the Confederate flag represents the same thing that the Nazi flag represents to the Jews. It represents oppression and murder.” Ken Page

This time there was no public announcement in the Cumberland Times-News. The Cumberland Historic Cemetery Organization preferred to stay under the radar on their second go-round, and apparently there will be no repeat of a picture of a kid dressed in a Confederate uniform, reading the Confederate flag brochure that Mr. Ed Taylor so fervently wants to have distributed to students in Allegany County schools.

The first brochure was turned down by Superintendent Cox and turned down again on appeal by the Allegany County School Board. Mr. Taylor indicated that he would take his case downstate to the Maryland State Department of Education, but it looks like his change in strategy is to submit the same rejected material in new wrapping, perhaps thinking that the Superintendent can be easily hoodwinked. Found on their Web site is a statement by the CHCO in regard to the new brochure, which was submitted to Dr. Cox on Sept. 24:

“This brochure is a revised addition (sic) of the confederate flag brochure from earlier this year (2009). This brochure contains the very same information as the prior, however, there is further information on other historic US flags. The CHCO has proposed this brochure to be handed out to public school students in Allegany Co. in early 2010.”

Given that the very same information in the brochure was previously turned down, I find it befuddling that Mr. Taylor would think that diluting it with a picture of the U.S. Capitol and other flags would really make any difference. The agenda remains the same, which is to champion a flag that has been used as a symbol of white supremacy and intimidation, and to tout a Christian basis for our government.

The proposed brochure makes the statement that “the CHCO promotes the true values and morals of the Ten Commandments, the U.S. Constitution and the principles of our great nation’s founding fathers.”

Below this defining statement is the symbol of the CHCO, which so conveniently happens to be a scene of a religious statue next to a cross. In case one of the students potentially receiving the brochure might miss the Christian message in this location on the brochure, there is another opportunity just below to bring CHCO enlightenment to our classrooms with the query, “Did you know?”

No Mr. Taylor, I don’t know anything about your saint in the brochure. But I do know that it is inappropriate for you to try to foist your religious beliefs on the children of our public schools in Allegany County.

Including a paean to St. Andrew crosses an unacceptable boundary, and you will be challenged once again.

The curriculum of our public schools is not designed to facilitate your message of Christianity, and the following statement in the brochure, which includes St. Andrew with a cross and halo, is preposterous for a secular school system: “St. Andrew was crucified by the Romans on an “X” shaped cross for being a Christian. The St. Andrews Cross is in the pattern for many Confederate flags.”

No regrets for disappointing you again, Mr. Taylor, but I predict that the school system in Allegany County is not going to allow you and your cemetery group to promulgate religious beliefs, nor to promote a flag symbol that so many find offensive. It is without doubt the proper course of action for them to take.

Jeffrey Davis

Cumberland