This past weekend the Virginia Flaggers celebrated their third anniversary of existence. Let’s enumerate the organization’s accomplishments during that time …
Three flags.
That’s right, three flags flying along interstate highways (damn symbols of federal power), with one of them visible to most people (the Burnside flag north of Fredericksburg). The Butler flag (Chester) remains a bit too short and a bit too close to an overpass for easy viewing, and I’ve seen no reports of how visible the Cold Harbor flag (hereafter the Judson Kilpatrick flag, in honor of his 1864 raid on Richmond) is from the road.
Oh, there have been some admirable acts of public service at cemeteries, and some entertainment provided for local and national media (I am not alone in finding the Flaggers to be entertaining). However, the raising of the Butler flag appears to have been the group’s high point (and not a very high one at that, judging from the height of the flag pole), for the erection of two additional flag poles has not drawn a lot of attention, although they are more visible than is Susan Hathaway at the VMFA.
Elsewhere, however, the Flaggers have failed to achieve their goals. No Confederate Battle Flags fly outside the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, despite three years of protesting. The Museum of the Confederacy does not fly a Confederate Battle Flag at either its Richmond or Appomattox sites. Lexington, Virginia, continues to bar the flying of the Confederate flag on city light poles, and Confederate Battle Flags no longer adorn the Lee Chapel above the Edward Valentine tribute to Robert E. Lee.
Even some of the most visible Flaggers have assumed lower profiles, at least in certain places. Susan Hathaway no longer is a fixture on the sidewalk by the VMFA, while Tripp Lewis has failed to deliver upon his promise to sue various folks. At many Flagger functions the artful photography of Judy Smith fails to conceal the fact that there are more flags than Flaggers.
The Flaggers often ask whether people are angry enough yet. Perhaps it’s time to ask whether they are still awake. Still, happy anniversary, Virginia Flaggers. You’ve brought a lot of laughter into our lives. May this coming year be no different.
Crossroads 
How long until we see a California chapter, I wonder.
In all honesty, yes they haven’t accomplished much of anything except providing us with LULZ, but that’s still a track record the LOSers are surely envious of.
I contend that its really the VCCA (Virginia Crop Circle Association) and we do not see the flags because crops circles is a failed theory dreamed up by individuals who believe they have been “visited” by another being….
There it is! Connie’s next book: The South’s Fighting Alien: Man from Mars takes Malvern Hill.
Neo-Confeds vs the Vorlon Empire? YES!!!
“And so it begins…”
Three years, three flags; reminds me of another failed start up 150 years ago. 🙂
I still have trouble wrapping my head around the flaggers endearment to the CBF, with all of its negative connotations of white supremacy and racism. The other flags of the CSA don’t have nearly this much excess baggage and could much more easily become a recognized symbol of what was good about the heritage of the Old South, rather than what was wrong with it. The CBF will never become that. It’s association with the KKK and other similar groups is just too strong in our collective national memory. And, as I’ve pointed out before, the KKK was initially made up primarily of rebel veterans and had a military-like organization that actually used Confederate Army military tactics. So, the association of the CBF with racism is not just some historical accident.
I remember once, years ago, driving down a rural southern highway (don’t remember which state, but I think it might have been Georgia or North Carolina) in the late afternoon and I saw a big Bonnie Blue Flag flying in front of farm house. My immediate reaction was that this farmer probably was proud to be a southerner but smart enough to realize that the CBF didn’t project the image he wanted to convey to the motorists who passed by his place. I only wish the flaggers were as smart.
What a colossal and sad waste of time and effort. The flaggers’ real accomplishment at VMFA is forming a little sidewalk club to reinforce groundless talking points and photograph each other to post on social media. Truth is, 3 years of harassment and lies have brought them nothing else. Not only is there no CBF on the exterior of the old soldiers’ chapel (where it never hung until the SCV put it there in the 1990s), but the antics of the flaggers have strengthened collective resolve against it and them. Still they promise to continue. Wait… what is that definition of insanity again?
Sorry dear, but you may need to get your craw checked. Atrueconfederate counts FOUR flags!