'Don't Tread on Me' flag being investigated by the EEOC as possibly racist A 2014 claim has spurred on the recent probe

William Temple of Brunswick, Ga., a member of the Golden Isle Tea Party, waves a flag outside of Stephens Auditorium at Iowa State University before the Republican presidential debate in Ames, Iowa, Aug. 11, 2011. The debate will feature eight Republican candidates. (Photo By Tom Williams/Roll Call) less William Temple of Brunswick, Ga., a member of the Golden Isle Tea Party, waves a flag outside of Stephens Auditorium at Iowa State University before the Republican presidential debate in Ames, Iowa, Aug. 11, ... more Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close 'Don't Tread on Me' flag being investigated by the EEOC as possibly racist 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

The display of the "Don't Tread on Me" flag, or the Gadsden flag, is under investigation by the federal government as constituting race-based harassment, according to recent news coverage.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received a complaint in early 2014 from an African-American man who felt that a white co-worker’s baseball cap featuring the coiled snake design was racial harassment. Both men work for the United States Postal Service.

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The man’s complaint is now being investigated by the EEOC. According to the Washington Post the agency has already decided that wearing the Confederate Flag can be construed as harassment.

Nothing has been reported about the man with the allegedly offensive cap doing or saying anything racist to the complainant.

The EEOC has not made any determination that the Gadsden flag is a "racist symbol," as hoax-debunking site Snopes notes. There is a link here to the EEOC’s ruling on the case so far. The ruling even defines the flag's history.

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Designed by Christopher Gadsden during the Revolutionary War, the Gadsden flag has been used of late by pro-gun and pro-military types, and in the early days of the Tea Party it was standard at that movement’s meetings around the country.

Some people see it as shorthand for distrust of the government and intolerance. Prior to 2009 or so, this wasn’t the case. It was just a nifty looking historical flag and design that even Metallica had cribbed for a 1991 best-selling album and song.

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The agency is merely taking an extra-long look at it after conceding that, well, the context has changed over the years since our colonial forefathers fought our British enemies.

“Whatever historic origins and meaning of the symbol, it also has since been sometimes interpreted to convey racially-tinged messages in some contexts,” the EEOC report states in its ruling to continue to investigate the man’s claim. Since Gadsden owned and sold slaves at the time of the flag's design, the complainant stated, the flag is perhaps just as racially offensive as the Confederate flag has been termed.

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The so-called "ambiguity in the current meaning" is what is being argued.

The Washington Post posits that if the EEOC decides the current intent of the flag in any form is racially insensitive, then it would open up a Pandora’s Box of issues. Politically charged stickers, shirts, hats and everything else under the sun could now be termed as problematic and up for scrutiny.

Nothing is being banned as of yet by President Barack Obama or anyone, but it’s a case worth following.