The Confederate Flag Controversy Script – Round #2

Hey everybody! The Confederate Flag on the grounds of the Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History is back in the news again! Hooray! Yay! Meh.

In this article, I’m going to predict the outcome of Round #2 and tell you how it’s going to happen.

For those of you just getting back from Uranus, here’s the quick recap that probably won’t be quick. Lots-O-Governments are now in the process of removing All Things Confederate Flag (which would be an awesome NPR show, by the way) from All Things Government Property. A recent federal court decision ruled that license plates are government property, so Governor Terry McAuliffe has already started the process to get rid of the Sons of Confederate Veterans ones with a Big Ol’ Confederate Flag on them. The SCV will soon howl, complain and probably file a lawsuit or 17… but they’ll lose because of the recent judicial precedent.

When we had Round #1 of the Confederate Flag Controversy last time in Danville, the museum wanted the flag gone. The flag supporters wanted the museum gone. I wanted all the Outside Agitators gone. I was the only one who got my wish because Danville City Council got a legal opinion from the city attorney. The opinion said that the flag was part of the Confederate monument and said monuments couldn’t be moved or altered in any way. City Council did a big shruggie and said “Welp. We can’t do anything” and punted the football WAAAAAAY down the field. We published a Winners & Losers article to recap the battle. Then we published another one because God knows you can never have enough Confederate flag stuff, you know? See, I told you that quick recap wasn’t going to be quick. The 300-word reminder light has already turned green on my computer. Yay!

Let’s bring on a Big Board to put some things out for discussion. CAUTION: I don’t care if I offend anybody with my statements & opinions (but you already knew that).

• Sherman Saunders (Danville’s mayor) wants the flag gone. He won’t say that publicly, but he does. He also wants to be the one to make it disappear.
• Councilman Larry Campbell also wants the flag gone and played an amazingly slick move last time to try to get the flag gone. His gambit failed, but you’ll remember that Saunders voted with Campbell. Campbell wants to be the one who makes the flag disappear.
• Vice Mayor Gary Miller wants the flag gone too, but he knew that the city would be inviting a lawsuit based on the city attorney’s opinion.
• Alonzo Jones wants the flag gone too, but he voted against Larry Campbell’s gambit for the same reason that Miller did.
• I’m betting that every other councilman is tired of the constant back-and-forth on the flag issue.

Here’s my prediction of what’s going to happen in the next few months.

1. City Council will be discussing the flag issue at their July 7th work session. Work sessions are open to the public, but there’s no public comment session during them.
2. That means that the July 7th business meeting’s comment session will be completely filled again with local flag supporters and local flag opponents and they’ll do their speaking thing.
3. The gallery will also be overfilled with the Outside Agitators who will be both flag supporters & flag opponents. These are the people that have no idea that Danville even exists except during times of Confederate Flag Controversy. They’ll do their speaking again, too.
4. Sherman Saunders will remind everybody that no decision on the flag’s future will be made that night.
5. These people will say the same things that they said last time.
6. At the media table, we’ll have massive amounts of fun watching the facial expressions and body language of council members and staff. Completely off the record, of course.
7. These speeches will last about 90 minutes in total, then Sherman Saunders will remind everybody that no decision about the flag will be made that night. Again.
8. Saunders will call for a smoke break recess, which gives all the flag people a chance to leave.
9. After we get back in session, there will be about 6 people left in the gallery. The meeting will move into speed mode and will be finished in about 10 more minutes after that.
10. After another quick break, the work session will start.
11. A majority of council members (and possibly all of them) will ask the city attorney to get a legal opinion from Attorney General Mark Herring’s office on what the relevant statute actually means and what options are available.
12. That opinion will come back in a few weeks and will say “Yep, you can’t move the monument BUT the flag isn’t part of the monument and here’s why. A windstorm could tear off the flag and the flagpole and it would still be clear that the piece of stone is still a Confederate monument. Therefore, the flag is only an accessory piece and not an essential part of the monument. Bye bye flag, if you so choose.”
13. City Council will schedule a vote to remove the flag from the monument and send the flag into the museum. The local & outside flag supporters & opponents will be back for the Mother Of All Public Comment Sessions which will last for about 923 hours. Lawsuits will be threatened. Names will be called. Tempers will fly.
14. City Council will vote to move the flag “to a more appropriate location for historical purposes” in a lopsided and possibly unanimous vote.
15. Outrage, cheers, howls and sighs will happen.
16. In less than a few months, the people’s well-known short attention span will kick in and people will say “What flag?”
17. The End.

There’s one thing that will short circuit my predictions above, and that’s if a real offer comes in to buy the Sutherlin Mansion. If somebody steps up with the cash for that, Danville City Council will vote 9-0 to accept the offer and the Fine Arts part of the museum gets sent packing to a new location. The Confederate history part of the museum will stay there under the new owners. I don’t know what the magic dollar amount will be to get the city to sell the property, but it can be yours if the price is right.

Without the building being sold, I firmly believe that the flag will be gone from the museum grounds soon with the help of an Attorney General’s office legal opinion. That legal opinion will protect the city from any litigation filed by any flag supporter group.

I’ve been wrong before. But that’s rare. Heh.