In response to contacts from some South Dakota residents, borough manager Charles R. Gable has sent a letter on behalf of the mayor and borough council of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to the mayor and council of their sister city Gettysburg, South Dakota, to weigh in on the latter Gettysburg’s stitching since 2009 of the racist, traitor flag of the Confederacy on its police uniforms. The former Gettysburg disapproves:
The Borough of Gettysburg does not display the Confederate Flag on its police uniforms, patrol cars, stationery, or from official Borough flag poles. As a community, we take very seriously the words spoken in President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address,
“…our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal … It is for us the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus nobly advanced”.
The Borough Government here serves this community in helping continue this unfinished work. The relevance of the message in President Lincoln’s 1863 speech is even more significant today, as each new generation embraces the fundamental right to equality. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania supports inclusion, diversity, and acceptance in the community and in fact has a ‘radical intolerance for inequality’.
While our Borough does not have an official policy on the use of the Confederate Flag, we are keenly aware of what it represented during the Civil War and today remains associated with white supremacist groups. For this reason, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania does not view the use of the Confederate Flag on any Government property (flag poles, police uniforms, etc.) as an appropriate symbol of inclusion and equality [Charles R. Gable, Gettysburg PA borough manager, letter to Mayor and City Council of Gettysburg SD, 2020.06.29; published in Morgan Matzen, “Gettysburg, Penn., Explains Its Stance on Confederate Symbols to Gettysburg, SD,” Rapid City Journal, 2020.07.01].
Gettysburg Borough faces plenty of controversy over the numerous Confederate monuments and symbols at the Gettysburg National Military Park. Manager Gable distinguishes authentic and contextual historical displays from symbols that honor racist traitors:
There are statues, markers, and monuments in and around Gettysburg that are associated with the Confederacy. None of them stand for commercial purposes. Rather,they are displayed in historical context with an educational perspective. These markers must be used to teach future generations our history, if for no other purpose, so that we collectively can acknowledge the strides we’ve achieved as a Nation toward that ‘more perfect union’ and that we fought a war to help get there.
…The difference between our nonuse of the Confederate Flag in the public square or on public property and the defense of leaving Confederate statues, markers, and monuments in place is significant. These Confederate symbols recognize our troubled past, but do not honor that past—rather they now exist to teach the wrongs of that past. The nonuse of the Confederate symbols on our public property affirms for us and future generations that we have learned valuable lessons from that past and pledge to not only not repeat it, but to continue to pursue a more perfect American union [Gable, 2020.06.29].
Gable enclosed with his letter a borough flag for his employer’s sister city and borough seal lapel pins for the Gettysburg SD, council members. (Gable’s computer appears to have spellchecked mementos to momentous.)
I can understand the desire to bring things together, and i can understand that thinking may have been different in the late 19th century. . .but it’s time to put aside the mistakes of the past and move on. Design a new patch that doesn’t include the confederate flag. If Mississippi can do it, I think we in SD can, too. It’s time. . .it’s just time.
That’s a very fine letter from Gettysburg, PA. I commend that burrough for their clear understanding of the Civil War and its aftermath. I wonder how Gettysburg, SD, will respond to the Pennsylvanian’s wisdom?
“GETTYSBURG, S.D. – Local residents say a South Dakota police department has removed a decal from its squad cars that featured a Confederate battle flag next to an American flag.
“Dave Mogard, the police chief in Gettysburg, declined to confirm that the decal had been removed, saying Thursday that the City Council would discuss the issue at a meeting next week. Dakota News Now also reached out to Gettysburg Mayor Bill Wuttke, but he has yet to respond.
“Several locals, including Selwyn Jones, an uncle of George Floyd, say the decal had been removed from the department’s squad cars and station doors.
“Jones called for the change after his nephew, who was Black and handcuffed, died May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer used his knee to pin down Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes.”
dakotanewsnow.com
That is good news! Gettysburg finally did good, took them 10 years to get that job done, but they got’r done!