From: Vincent Chiarello (e-mail him)

Anthony Sanchez, a "community college" instructor, was deeply offended. The source of his heightened state of anxiety lay in the fact that on Interstate 95 near Fredericksburg, Virginia, a 90 foot flag of the Confederate States of America was unfurled and swaying in the gentle Virginia breeze. [Confederate flag near I-95 has roused both pride and threats (this is the title as it appeared in the paper—emphasis mine), by Susan Svrluga, The Washington Post, August 2, 2014]

That the flag was on private property and perfectly legal seemed to offend Senor Sanchez, even more: "...It's a hostile statement," he complained.

A group called the "Virginia Flaggers," whose members seek to keep their Southern heritage alive, came together when the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond removed Confederate flags from the Confederate memorial chapel on its grounds, a move that Flagger members rightly took as another expression of political correctness run amok.

After Washington and Lee University recently removed its flag from the crypt of Robert E. Lee, "anonymous threats" caused the university to close down the chapel over the weekend but they quickly reopened it, giving one cause to doubt the seriousness of such threats.

On the other hand, the owner of the flag remains anonymous, and with good reason, for a much more credible "threat" has come to the Flaggers.

According to Barry Isenhour, a member of the Flaggers, "There are all kinds of people who threaten us. Who literally call our employers, slander us in the press...It is sad to say, but there are a lot of people out there who have hate in their heart."

Mr. Sanchez, who grew up in California, claims he never saw flags of the C.S.A. I guess the War Between the States was not taught in the history classes of his school. Resorting to the ultimate ploy when there is no logical and/or historical basis for a claim, Senor Sanchez described the presence of the flag thus: "It's a racist statement. I wish someone would put a flag up right next to it or across from it. A Union flag."

My suggestion would be that he marshal all those who wish to do so and proceed, for when last I looked, no one is preventing such an effort.

Chiarello is a retired Foreign Service Officer whose tours included U.S. embassies in Latin America and Europe. See Vincent Chiarello's previous letters to VDARE.com.