NGX editor’s note: I want to make clear that Sarah McDaniel wrote and submitted the following piece right after the Memorial Day ceremony. I was slow getting to it, and the timing of its publication is entirely on me. Please know that Sarah’s thoughts and focus are with the recently injured student. I apologize for having made it seem otherwise. ~ Joanne Cole
| In My Opinion – Sarah McDaniel |
I am fresh back from the parade and Memorial Day ceremony hosted by AmVets Post #6. It has always been very important to me that I attend the Memorial Day and Veterans’ Day events in any town where I live, because our military and their families deserve respect for their sacrifices, even those fighting in conflicts which I may think the USA was unwise to enter. I am always saddened when the turnout is low.
Yet again, the parade featured Confederate soldier re-enactors (I’m told from the 15th Alabama Regiment) carrying the Stars and Bars flag of the Confederacy. The ceremony speakers each went to great effort to talk about honoring the dead no matter what uniform they wore. But the only flag of the 20th Maine Regiment to be seen (i.e., those in the Civil War who were fighting for our country and our Constitution) was that held by one of the folks on the sidelines.
The Commander was thankful for everyone who took time from their day to attend the ceremony and honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice fighting for their country. But the AmVets’ choice to honor Confederate soldiers by so visibly placing them and their flag in the parade makes the Memorial Day events uncomfortable, at best, for many of those in our community. The Confederates did not fight for freedom or for the American principle of all men being created equal. They fought to continue the practice of enslaving other human beings. Honoring the soldiers who died rebelling against the United States in the same breath as those Union soldiers who lost their lives fighting for freedom, equality and preservation of the Union does a disservice to history.
Speaking with the Commander privately and briefly after the service, he expressed valuing history and implied that, as they have had the Confederate flag in their parade for 20 years, they would continue doing so. Reenactments have an important role in understanding history, but, to me, a public parade is not the place. The excessive emphasis on the blue and the grey also takes away time that the speakers could be focusing on discussing the wars that our living Veterans survived – the victorious efforts of the World War II vets who fought to stop the Holocaust, and those Veterans of more recent conflicts like the Korean War, Vietnam War and Gulf conflicts for which—quite frankly—I could use some more history lessons.
Publicly at the end of the service, the Commander pointed out the sign I carried which read “We honor those who died for FREEDOM not hate” and made a point to say that he did not stand for hate.
I do not know the Commander well enough to question his intentions, but I do know that in New Gloucester in the four years since I have moved to this town, there has been visible hate. Black Lives Matter signs have been vandalized, and my own sign run over repeatedly before it was finally stolen. Racist comments made by those in our government. And very recently, swastika graffiti on town roads and a resident’s Pride Progress flag burned in more acts of vandalism.
I do not want to carry a protest sign to the Memorial Day ceremony. I am saddened to think that some of the Veterans or Gold Star parents in attendance might think that I do not honor their service or sacrifice. But for those New Gloucester residents whose ancestors were enslaved, attending an event that honors the confederacy is damaging to their soul. It also, in light of the visible hate in town recently, leaves them feeling unsafe. The reasons that our Black neighbors might choose not to bring their families to the ceremony are not at all comparable to those very many folks who simply prefer to sleep in, or to get an early start on their BBQ or boating.
I am saddened that the AmVets do not choose to make their Memorial Day ceremony an event that all New Gloucester residents can be proud to attend. For nearly two decades they have honored the Confederacy without anyone in town pointing out how that is problematic – a perfect example of how silence in the face of oppression favors the oppressors. I will still come each year to honor those who gave their lives in support of the American values of freedom and equality, but as long as the Confederacy is honored in the ceremony, I will continue to use my rights of free speech to point out that the Confederates’ fight for enslavement is not worthy of honor.
Sarah McDaniel
New Gloucester
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