Amy Johstono
Staff Writer
acjohstono@valdosta.edu

The members of the Mary Turner Project hosted “Heritage? Hate? or Fear?” in the University Center Monday night, a forum that discussed Confederate symbols and how they impact students and the community.The MTP members decided to host the forum because of the display of the Confederate flag outside the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house at the beginning of the semester, according to John Baker, a member of the Mary Turner Project.
 “Normally SAE members keep the flag hung inside their fraternity house near the front window of the house,” Baker said. “In the following days [after the semester began] it was subsequently displayed, in different ways, on at least four more occasions.”
 For years, Greek organizations on campus have displayed Confederate symbols because it represented their Southern pride and heritage. However, many students on campus view it  as a symbol of racial hatred, Baker said.
 It was this difference of opinion that inspired the MTP members to host the forum. The forum had a six member panel, consisting of professors, a student, and VSU personnel, that covered all areas historically, politically, and socially, that symbols such as the Confederate flag could affect.�
 Members of SAE were invited to the forum, but were instructed not to attend by their national office. In their place, they sent a letter which the Moderator of the forum, Dr. Ari Santas, professor of philosophy, read, apologizing to anyone who might have been offended by the fraternity’s flying of the Confederate flag.
 “Please know we had no intention of offending anyone by displaying the Confederate flag,” Mac Jefferies, Emininent Archon of SAE, said in the letter. “I hope you will accept on behalf of us and convey our most sincere apologies to any offended parties. It will not happen again.”
 When the national SAE office was notified of the Georgia Sigma Chapter’s display of the Confederate flag, they instructed the chapter to remove the flag or lose their charter, according to Dr. Santas.
  Each member of the panel was given a question regarding the Confederate flag in relation to their area of expertise.
 Dr. David Williams, professor of history, gave historical use of the flag by the Confederacy, the Klu Klux Klan, and Georgia. The flag was not used as a symbol of racial hatred until the Civil Rights Movement began, according to Williams.
 Dr. Marc Pufong, professor of political science, discussed the limitations of the First Amendment to protect a person’s right to speech.  Most legislature concerning hate speech and hate crime are very long and very vague so it’s harder to create a clear definition of hate crime, according to Pufong.
 Maggie Viverette, Director of Office of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Multicultural Affairs, discussed how the Confederate flag can help students learn more about the diversity of culture on campus.
 “The flag does provide students the opportunity to interact, identify what they have in common, and identify that we may disagree,” Dr. Calvin Walker, associate professor, office of academic student instructional support, said.
 He talked of the necessity of change in the history books, so that students may better understand everything that history is about.
 “We need to find a way to include everyone’s history, everyone’s literature, and paint a well-rounded picture of what America’s all about,” Walker said.
 Keri Laster, senior mass media major, discussed what the Confederate flag means to him and the meaning it holds for his generation as compared to the previous generation.
 Laster had friends in high school who wore the Confederate flag on their belt. They weren’t racist; they simply embraced the flag because it was Southern, he said. To Laster, there’s a difference between history and the Confederate flag.
 “It became just a flag,” Laster said.
 As Laster got older he began to understand the history of the flag and why he should probably be offended by its presence, but he still never really found it offensive, he said.
  “There’s so many other things in the world to be offended by that to take the time to notice the Confederate flag enough to get the thought together that I am truly offended by this, I just don’t have time,” Laster said.
 Dr. Mark George, assistant professor of sociology, discussed the meaning of racism and how it still exists today. �
 “I don’t think there’s a university in this country that’s not racist institutionally in terms of curriculum it mandates for students and how it defines knowledge,” George said.
 At least 125 people attended the forum, according to MTP member, John Rogers. The audience ranged from students to members of the community, including some who witnessed racial hate crimes in the 1950s and 60s and a member of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans.
 “It would have been nice to have someone speak positively of Confederate symbols,” said David Lamon, local commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Valdosta, “All I heard was negative historical information.”
 More information on the Mary Turner Project can be found at www.maryturner.org.