City, county lower Confederate flags

The nationwide sweep to remove the Confederate flag from government property came to Pensacola Wednesday when Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward directed city staff to replace the Confederate flag used in the city's Five Flags displays with the flag of the State of Florida.

"While the Confederate Flag undeniably represents a part of Pensacola's history, to many it is a painful symbol of racial hatred and intolerance," the mayor is quoted in a press release. "I proudly celebrate our great city's rich history, but I do not believe that we are defined by our history alone. We will always be the City of Five Flags — but now is the time for us to turn our focus to our city's bright future."

The flags were removed from in front of City Hall, the Five Flags display at the foot of the Pensacola Bay Bridge, the post office on Palafox Street and the city-owned Osceola Golf Course.

In keeping with a March ordinance that they would fly the same flags as the city, Escambia County followed suit hours later ordering the Confederate flag flying at the Pensacola Bay Center to be taken down and replaced with the state flag.

The move was a victory for the 15 or so demonstrators that turned out to Thursday night's Board of County Commissioners meeting calling for the flag's removal.

"I understand the flags are down, but I want to make it permanent," said Escambia County Democratic Women's Club president Dianne Krumel. "I don't want any chance of those flags going back up."

Commissioner Lumon May nearly brought a vote at the commission meeting to fly only the American and state flags at all county buildings, but following opposition from commissioner Wilson Robertson the board agreed to hold the issue until commissioner Grover Robinson could take part in the discussion. Robinson was absent Thursday.

Still, May said the replacement of the flag was a step in the right direction.

"If this flag is going to become divisive and divide our community, it's not what we need," May said. "We need things that unite us."

Hayward's move to remove the flag joins numerous state and local leaders across the nation removing instances of the flag in the wake of the killing of nine people in a historically black church in Charleston, S.C. The flag that had been flown in city displays since 2000 was not the battle flag commonly associated with the Confederacy, but instead the so-called Stars and Bars, or First National Flag of the Confederacy.

The city did fly the battle flag before the year 2000. However, local historians do not believe the battle flag ever actually flew over Pensacola.