FLAG SALUTE HITS A SNAG IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY:
BLACK DELEGATES CRY "RACISM"
Less than a week after the Virginia House of Delegates revived the old custom of saluting the flag of Virginia at the beginning of each day's session, the inevitable charges of racism have begun flying around the Capitol building.
Members of the Black Legislative Caucus say they will refuse to recite the 56-year-old salute because it was written by a Virginia member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Mrs. Cassye Gravely (c. 1960) Photograph courtesy of Desmond Kendrick (Henry County Archivist, President of Martinsville-Henry County Historical Society, and great nephew of Cassye Gravely) |
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Objections to the salute, which was authored by Cassye Gravely of Martinsville and adopted by the Commonwealth as its official flag salute in 1954, appear to center around the term "Old Dominion." Because Mrs. Gravely was a charter member of the Virginia UDC's Mildred Lee Chapter and an Honorary President of the Division, some have assumed that her use of the longtime Virginia nickname hearkens back to the days before slavery was abolished in the Commonwealth.
Richmond Delegate Dwight Clinton Jones was quoted in a January 15 article in the Richmond Times Dispatch as saying "I don't want to be part of the Old Dominion. I want to be part of the New Dominion." Other members of the Caucus expressed similar sentiments.
The name "Old Dominion" actually dates back to the mid-1600's, when King Charles II bestowed it on the first permanent English-speaking colony in the New World in recognition of its loyalty to the Crown during the English civil war. The nickname "Mother of States and Statesmen" refers to the fact that eight U.S. Presidents were born in Virginia; the nickname "Mother of States" recognizes the fact that all or part of eight other states were formed from western territory once claimed by Virginia. (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, West Virginia, and Wisconsin).
| READ what Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist Mark Holmberg has to say in defense of Cassye Gravely, her salute to the Flag of Virginia, and inclusiveness in the Old Dominion. | |
His sentiments were echosed by House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem), who told the Times-Dispatch "We looked at the language. The words are what are important, and it looks to me like this nice lady did very well.... It's all accurate and warm and loving."
Virginia UDC members were initially elated to learn the salute they have used at every official gathering since 1946 had been given a new lease on life. "I just think this is great," said Sam Lougheed of Stafford County, President of the Virginia Division of the UDC. "The salute to the Virginia flag is very heart-felt."
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I salute the flag of Virginia, with reverence and patriotic devotion to the "Mother of States and Statesmen" which it represents - the "Old Dominion," where liberty and independence were born. |
That elation has now turned to despair. The same mindset that tried (and failed) to remove General Robert E. Lee's image from a mural depicting great moments in Richmond's history has now set its sights on a patriotic salute to the flag of the Commonwealth simply because its author claims descent from a Confederate soldier.
In the days since September 11, Virginians have been called upon to reevaluate their patriotism and their commitment to their country. If the salute to the flag of Virginia does, indeed, hearken back to an earlier time, it is to a time when the "statesmen" referred to in Mrs. Gravely's salute -- Virginians like Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson -- asked their countrymen to search their hearts and decide if their patriotism and commitment could withstand a long and bitter war against the might of the British Empire.
The world knows how Virginians responded to that challenge. If we are to honor the memory of the men who gave their lives to insure the birth of liberty and independence, the affront offered by those who refuse to recite the salute to the flag of Virginia because of imaginary racial overtones must not pass unchallenged.
Virginia Division urges you to write your delegate and your senator and let them know where you stand on this issue. If you do not know who your representatives are, please visit our Federal and State Governmental Contacts page.
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