In New York, which fought on the side of the Union in the Civil War, the Confederate flag can be seen in places including a subway station, school and art gallery.
People throughout the country are taking a closer look at the Confederate flag and its meaning following the racially motivated murders of nine people at a Bible study in South Carolina.
At the Times Square subway station, the national debate is bringing attention to a decorative feature long overlooked.
According to the New York Post: “Tiny Confederate flags are right under the noses of millions of straphangers passing through the Times Square subway station every day.”
Vote Now: Should the Confederate Flag Be Removed From All Government Buildings?
Civil War historian David Jackowe told the Post that the tile mosaics honored New York Times publisher Adolph S. Ochs.
“The tiles were installed more than 90 years ago when stations were adorned with symbols to honor prominent figures – in this case, the Tennessee-raised Ochs, who was buried with a Confederate flag after his death in 1935,” the Post said. It quoted four commuters expressing disgust with the presence of the mosaics.
But Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Kevin Ortiz dismissed any similarities between the mosaics and the Confederate flag, saying: “It is a geometric pattern, not a flag design, and has no reference to anything beyond a pattern,” the Post reported.
A Confederate flag of a different kind – “with tattered, red, white and blue threads dangling” – is on display at an art gallery in the heart of New York City,
according to Mother Jones.
“Beside it sits the remnants of a separate flag, now reduced to red, white, and blue piles of fabric. The two pieces on display at the Mixed Greens gallery, called ‘Unraveling’ and ‘Unraveled,’ were pulled apart by hand by artist Sonya Clark to symbolize the work needed to be done to undo the legacies of racism, prejudice, and injustice represented by the flags,” Mother Jones said.
Urgent: Should Government Buildings Be Forced to Remove the Confederate Flag?
The Stars and Bars also made news in New York in April 2014, when two students at the private St. Anthony’s Catholic School on Long Island brought a Confederate flag to a sporting event after school hours and were suspended indefinitely,
Fox News reported.
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