Neighborhood Notes

Interesting story. The Confederate flag raises hackles everywhere, but I am surprised that this comes up in Sunnyside. Since segregationists adopted the flag as a symbol for the resistance against civil rights, the meaning associated with the flag has been permanently changed. In The Oregonian's story the head of the Louisiana State history department says people have forgotten the other things the flag symbolizes, including the notion "Hell no, you can't tell me what to do."

I think that is exactly why so many people have a problem with displaying the Confederate flag. It symbolizes racism and the "hell no" attitude, those two meanings are now intertwined, especially since both meanings were adopted in the South. Even though the flag may be displayed, as the shop owners say, based on "heritage, not hate", in the greater population the flag has come to symbolize the heritage of hate.

I don't believe the sign with the flags is breaking any law, and the shop owners have the right to use the flag on the sign. They also possess that "you can't tell me what to do" spirit given they won't change the sign.

From The Oregonian:

To folks in the Sunnyside neighborhood of Southeast Portland, Dixie Mattress Co. represents one of the city's enduring mysteries.

What actual business goes on behind those iron bars and dusty windows? What would inspire anyone, let alone a small-business owner in ultra-liberal Portland, to keep a sign featuring two Confederate battle flags hanging out front for the whole world to see -- and judge?

The answers are hard to come by.

The shop's owners, sisters Judy Perronne and Denise Woodward, don't attend meetings of the Belmont Business Association. The head of the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association said he's never spoken to them.

Their store sits in the heart of the business district, but the only times they seem to surface are when controversy forces them out -- like earlier this week, when someone came by in the middle of the night and covered up the rebel flags with big tin signs depicting Martin Luther King Jr. with the inscription "I Have a Dream."

They've been targeted by graffiti artists before, like many Belmont businesses, but never this kind of overt response.

Read the full story.