Confederate flags have no place on public property

The Sunday of Memorial Day weekend we were happy to be returning home from a trip out of town when we came upon a freeway overpass near the Olympia/Lacey line that was decorated with flags. Decorating with American flags on a patriotic holiday is a perfectly lovely idea. But this wasn’t just an innocent display of patriotism.

Amongst the American flags were an equal amount of Confederate and NRA flags. As a life long citizen of Olympia I fail to see the point in decorating public property with a Confederate flag. Washington state was never part of the Confederacy. The flag itself is such a hot button issue right now and regardless of one’s personal feelings about it, it does intimidate people or make them feel unwelcome. I feel that goes against the values of our town.

I hope next year the city will think twice before allowing the public display of such a symbol. Not only is it unwelcoming, it makes us, a city in a northern state, look really dumb.

This story was originally published June 3, 2017 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Confederate flags have no place on public property."