The Orange County Bar Association (OCBA) swears it's not just whistling “Dixie” when it comes a call for removal of the Mississippi state flag from the Plaza of the Flags outside the county courthouse in Santa Ana.
The Newport Beach-based OCBA says a flag that “incorporates the Confederate Battle Flag in its design” has no place on the government property.
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For those who have missed 153 years of American history, the Confederate battle cross has come to symbolize racism, segregation and–the greatest horror of all–Kid Rock concerts.
The OCBA passed the resolution calling on the City of Santa Ana to remove the flag in November, to help mark the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. (See the res on the next page.)
The flag's design “is inextricably linked to a legacy of racism, exclusion, oppression and violence in various ways,” explains OCBA president Wayne Gross in a statement (that, just to be clear, somehow manages to avoid mentioning Kid Rock).
“If we are to remain true to President Lincoln's words that defined the Civil War as 'a new birth of freedom,' a flag design symbolizing racism and hatred has no place in or around courthouses,” adds Gross, whose association recommends “an alternative state symbol of the State of Mississippi to support equal justice for all.”
Maybe after this, the OCBA could go after the rest of Santa Ana's Confederate heritage, from the magnolia trees near the old Orange County Courthouse to the one planted in honor of the girl who saved the life of the founder of the KKK that stands outside the Bowers Museum.
Actually, the Mississippi flag could join all state flags in being removed from the plaza anyway. City and county officials are discussing a renovation that might include ditching the display.
How about something OCBA members would truly love, like a Plaza of Billable Hours?
Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.