Flaggers, Fragging, and Friendly Fire: Susan Hathaway and Rob Walker’s Incredible Tale

Susan Hathaway of the Virginia Flaggers has yet to respond to suggestions that the report she circulated last Friday about the reported exploits of taser-wielding Rob Walker’s actions in warding off vandals who supposedly attempted to mar the monument to Jefferson Davis that sits at famed Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia … lacks a basis in fact. So suggests the Richmond Police Department. Indeed, the only voice heard thus far from the ranks of Confederate heritage advocates is the screeching of a certain frustrated southern nationalist novelist, who can’t get much right herself and is best understood as screaming at the corner of amusement and distraction. She can’t even give a book away for free, although she’s trying … and she doesn’t want you to remember that she fell for this tale at first.

Her solution? Why, throw Rob Walker under the bus while issuing a characteristic rant … one that overlooks the ugly fact that it was Susan Hathaway who spread this story, and it’s Susan Hathaway who has celebrated the film-making exploits of Walker, whose skill with a movie camera has won him recognition from none other than the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts … you know, the main target of Flagger protests for years.

Neither Walker nor Hathaway are helping themselves by remaining silent, but perhaps that’s because it’s better for them to keep their mouths shut and be thought a fool/liar than open them and remove all doubt. Surely, if they were going to stand by their story (in the face of the lack of supporting evidence one would anticipate from the Richmond Police Department, which reports that it has no record of any such incident … but I digress), they would have done so by now. And surely they could look for help from someone who claims she knows all about people being falsely accused of something they didn’t do, although in this case people are beginning to suspect that nothing happened at all.

Thus we have another case in which advocates of Confederate heritage form a circular firing squad, with Ms. Hathaway having already shot herself in the foot before placing it in her mouth. Perhaps this explains why she’s been unable to answer so far. The screecher creature reminds us that Confederate heritage people can’t be expected to rise to defend their own word right now, because they “have lives, families, children, jobs, and other time-consuming responsibilities.” However, this did not prevent Ms. Hathaway from circulating the report. She found the time to do that. And she has plenty of time to flag an institution that funds her favorite filmmaker (or is that former favorite filmmaker? … stay tuned).

It appears that the head Flagger fragged herself this time, and her movement has been hit by friendly fire. That’s an interesting way to mark the passing of Stonewall Jackson. Ms. Hathaway may find herself revealed as either someone who’s been duped by her favorite filmmaker or as part of a lie … and neither would speak well as to her qualifications to continue to lead the Virginia Flaggers. Then again, you would expect that if these charges were false, she’d move quickly to restore the honor … namely her own. It does her no good when the screecher creature tries to come to her support as only she can … although it appears that she’s alone in that endeavor. Am I to understand that the other Flaggers and other Confederate heritage advocates are going to leave Susan Hathaway twisting in the wind?

Restore the honor, indeed.

As for Walker, I can’t wait to hear how he explains to the Flaggers his decision to take money from the VMFA to advance his work. I also can’t wait to hear what they say … and I bet the VMFA can’t wait, either.

I don’t happen to believe that this will have much of an impact on the larger Confederate heritage movement, although it will leave a mark on Hathaway and the Flaggers she represents so long as she leads them. Other folks are distancing themselves from this, and members of the Southern Heritage Preservation Group have suddenly fallen silent on this issue as well.  That’s right, on this one they aren’t giving anything (including the time of day to Ms. Hathaway) right now.

One can only hope that this is some terrible misunderstanding. Even then, one will wonder why certain parties allowed the misunderstanding to persist, especially as it seems there will be a little (or much) more publicity about this yet to come.

If nothing else, the screecher creature can go back to ranting a little more. No one buys what she’s selling … even when it’s for free.

The Lord sure works in mysterious ways, but I’d think He’d want to wash His hands of this.