The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Group calls for flag removal
Fair Minded Coalition of Lorain County wants Confederate flag gone from Fair
First United Methodist Church of Wellington at 127 Park Place hosted a community conversation on Aug. 23 in response to the Lorain County Fair’s policy of allowing vendors to sell the Confederate flag.
The Fair Minded Coalition of Lorain County planned the event to provide a forum to discuss the role of the Confederate flag in contemporary America in the wake of racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, stemming from a demonstration on Aug. 11 and 12.
Guests in attendance heard from First United Pastor Paul Wilson, Coalition Director Jeanine Donaldson and the Rev. Stanley Miller, the former director of the Cleveland NAACP.
Following speeches guests watched a series of video clips documenting the history of the Confederate flag before breaking into groups for a facilitated discussion.
Miller, who serves as pastor of First United Methodist Church in Oberlin, called for the faith
“The faith community has been absent,” Miller said. “What are we doing to change the narrative.”
— Rev. Stanley Miller, former director of the Cleveland NAACP
community to take a more active role in making a difference.
“The faith community has been absent,” Miller said. “What are we doing to change the narrative.”
After holding a news conference at Ely Square on Aug. 14, the coalition and its supporters gathered to have a presence in Wellington during the Lorain County Fair.
“All along we wanted to provide some information, history and background and why it has no place at the Lorain County Fair,” Donaldson said on Aug. 21.
Pastor Paul Wilson spoke of his youth growing up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where in the same area as the former KKK leader David Duke, in calling for the flag’s removal. He said he first saw a KKK cross burning at the age of 14 and underlined the flag’s historical role as a symbol of hate.
“My contention and my objection to the Lorain County Fair selling the rebel flag is that it is my fair,” he said. “We can’t conquer hate with hate.”
“The hardest thing you can do is to forgive those over and over again. To forgive them over and over again is just something we have to do,” Wilson said.
Wilson underlined the flag’s historical role as a symbol of hate, oppression and economic apartheid by the KKK in the period following the U.S. Civil War.
“They had to set up a system of apartheid. They had no power so they had to use the power of terror,” Wilson said of the KKK.
Donaldson said after attempting to have a dialogue with the Lorain County Fair Board since 2016, the coalition has been unable to have a constructive conversation about the issue and follow moves by the Ohio State Fair to ban the item.
“We asked them if there was a process to change it formally. They have just been dogmatic in their response that they aren’t going to change their mind,” she said.