Offended by Pan-African flag in city

I was appalled to see the Pan-African flag flying outside the Stamford Government Center.

Marcus Garvey, a Black nationalist who supported separation of the races, was the brainchild behind this flag. During his lifetime Garvey was highly controversial. Advocates of racial integration, including notable AfricanAmericans, found Garvey’s actions intolerable, including meeting the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Garvey and the Grand Wizard shared the same goal: separation of the races. Garvey even proposed that African Americans repatriate back to Africa, a continent he never visited.

In 1923, when convicted of federal mail charges, Garvey blamed the Jewish judge, Jewish prosecutor, and Jewish jurors for seeking retribution against him for meeting with the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Much of Garvey’s divisive ideology would be later embraced by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and the Pan-African flag by the violent Black Panther Party. Fortunately, most African-Americans do not embrace Farrakhan’s ideology, as most did not embrace Garvey’s, yet the City of Stamford and Norwalk have poorly decided to fly the flag of a renowned Black nationalist and antisemite on city property. Flying a flag created by an individual engaged in racial division and hatred diminishes the real heroes that should be celebrated during Black History month. I request that both Stamford and Norwalk promptly remove the public display of the Pan-African flag, a symbol of hate and division, from city property.

I would also remind state and local leaders that last year’s Supreme Court decision in Shurtleff v. Boston may invite requests from other groups, such as neo-Confederates, to request that towns fly their symbols of hate and division on town property likewise. In flying the Pan-African flag Stamford and Norwalk set a bad precedent, inviting a legal challenge to the Free Speech Claus of the First Amendment if another organization’s request to fly their flag on government property were to be denied.

Just as I am offended by the presence of the Pan-African flag outside the Government Center, I would equally be outraged if the city was forced to fly the Gadsden flag or worse, the Confederate flag, so as to not violate the First Amendment rights of those making such request. Therefore, Stamford should take the lead of Boston postShurtleff and refuse to fly any flag other than those of the United States, Connecticut, and City of Stamford on town property.